Black Sox Scandal of 1919

Introduction:

In 1919 the Chicago White Sox were scheduled to meet the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series. The series was extra special because it was the first series after World War I had ended. In fact it was the first championship of any sort to be played since the end of the war. As a result of this the nation had turned its attention to nation’s pastime. With the nation’s newfound love in baseball, the series was extended to a best of nine games instead of seven in hopes of allowing more people to see the games being played. The White Sox by many people’s standards had a much better year than the Reds and would win the series without much trouble. However, the was trouble brewing in the White Sox camp that ultimately lead to a scandal that has continued to be the talk of baseball circles around the nation.

The White Sox were a very talented team with the likes of Joe Jackson and Edward Cicotte, the White Sox by any means were a team that many people thought to be untouchable. The team however did not get along. In fact there were two factions one led by Cicotte, which involved players who were educated and able to negotiate larger contracts. The other group of players was led by Arnold Gandil. The group of players led by Gandil were not educated and therefore were usually given contract that were well below what they deserved to earn. Another thing is that the team’s owner Charles Comisky was not that liked by many of the players for his ability to break promises. Many of the players were still mad at Comisky for his so-called bonus for winning the pennant. Comisky had promised the players a bonus if they won the pennant, which they did. The bonus that Comisky gave them was a case of cheap champagne for winning the pennant. As a result of all of these happenings some players considered trying to fix the series. However, gamblers in hopes of throwing the series in favor of the Reds approached one man.

Gamblers in hopes of getting the Chicago White Sox to throw the World Series tried to get in contact with one of the players. The player who finally came to help them was Arnold Gandil. Since baseball is a sport where a team needs more than one person to make a difference Gandil needed to “hire” some of his teammates to help him go along with the plan. Gandil recruited seven other players with six being prominent figures on the White Sox team. The seven other players besides Gandil that would go on to thro the World Series were: Gandil, Jackson, Cicotte, Oscar Felsch, Claude Williams, Charles Risberg, George Weaver and Fred McMullin. McMullin was the only player out of the eight that would not have a vital role in the fixing of the series. However, the other players did play vital roles and as a result were ready to spend their share of the money that they would be getting from the gamblers.

The Reds won the first two games of the series. In fact if it weren’t for the fact that the gamblers did not pay the players the money allotted to them after each game the Reds would have probably won the series in five games straight. However, the gamblers who had promised to give money to the players had only given money only to a select few players. As a result of this the White Sox won game three. After receiving money finally the team went on to lose games four and five. However once again they were losing without the money they had been promised. Therefore, the White Sox went ahead and won games six and seven in a fashion that many people thought the rest of the series would be like before it started. With the Reds only leading the series four games to three gamblers were getting worried that the white Sox just might forget about the fix and win the series. As a result of this one prominent gambler set one one of his associates to Claude William’s house to threaten his life and the life of his family if he did not lose the eighth game of the series to give the championship to the Cincinnati Reds. Williams went on to lose game eight and the series was given to the Reds. Thus, it can be said that the White Sox lost the World Series because they had a scared pitcher who didn’t want his family to come into harms way.

In 1920 after the series had been over for a few months Jackson and Cicotte went forth and confessed that a fix had taken place. As a result a grand jury investigation was done to see whether or not the players were going to be indicted with gambling and throwing the World Series. The players were charged. However, the end of the trial resulted in the players being found not guilty. The result of the players being innocent did not persuade new commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis from banning each of the eight players from baseball for life.

Although many of the players involved in the fix did a nice secretive job of throwing the series one player’s involvement in the scandal has been its own terms of debate. The player was “Shoeless Joe” Jackson. Jackson batted .375 in the series 20 points higher than his regular season average. Finally Jackson also set records in hits and did not make an error during the series. These were definitely not things that someone would do if they were trying to throw the World Series.

Despite the evidence that Jackson had no part in the scandal he was still banned from baseball for life along with the other seven members. Finally, it can be noted for sure that Jackson would have made the hall of fame if he had not taken part in the gambling process. However, there are other players as well that could possibly have made it to the Hall of Fame. The players also could have received more money for winning the World Series than from what they got from the gamblers for throwing the series.

Reference Works

Jackson, Shoeless Joe The 2001 Microsoft Encarta Encylcopedia. CD-ROM Encarta

As I will mention on about this source is that it gives biographical information about Joe Jackson and his involvement with the 1919 White Sox who were accused of throwing the World Series. The information on the CD-ROM is short but is very precise in its manner.

Secondary Sources:

Asinof Eliot, Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963), 197.

Asinof writes this book about the Black Sox scandal and raises many questions. This is probably the most talked about book when the issue of the scandal is spoken of and is the most informative in my opinion. The book uses information from primary sources to enhance the story.

Ott, Bill. American Libraries, Oct89, Vol. 20 Issue 9, p936, 1/9p; Review of Asinof Eliot, Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963), 197.

This was a very but precise review of the book. It makes it clear in the review that at the end of the book people have the tendency to feel that Charles Comisky was the villain and the players including Joe Jackson were the victims in the scandal.

Giles, Joseph and Robert H. Shoemaker. Stars of the Series: A completeHistory of the World Series. Thomas Y Cronwell Company. New York 1965

Giles and Shoemaker did an excellent job of looking at the history of the World Series and pointing out some of the key events. One of these of course being the black sox scandal that occurred in 1919. There book was definitely the most informative on how the scandal had an effect on future World Series and how it affected the fans.

Rader, Benjamin G. Baseball: A history of America’s Game. University of Illinois Press. Urbana and Chicago. 1992

Rader, in his book about the scandal does an excellent job of stating a game-by-game process that occurred during the 1919 World Series. His section on the scandal in his book is probably the most extensive in detailing what each of the players did or did not due in the case of Joe Jackson to help throw the World Series for the White Sox.

Ritter, Lawrence S. The Image of Greatness. Crown Publishers Inc. New York 1979.

The basis of this book was that it showcased some of the most prominent baseball players in history including Joe Jackson. Jackson was arguably the best player to be banned because of the Black Sox Scandal. The book gives information about the debate of whether or not Jackson had a role in the fix.

Voigt, David Q. American Baseball Vol. II: From the Commissioners to Continental Expansion. The Pennsylvania State University Press. University Park and London 1983

Voigt uses a section from the second volume in his series about baseball to show how the game was coming off the low of World War I and had not thought anything worse could occur. The Black Sox scandal in Voigt’s work is portrayed as a blow to the sport of baseball as well as to a country trying to recuperate after a war. The section of the book about the black sox scandal shows gives information on each of the players and their role in the series. The information was very informative and easy to follow

Journal Entries

Anderson, William B. Saving the National Pastime’s Image: Crisis Management During the 1919 Black Sox Scandal. Journalism History 2001 27(3) 105-111

This article gives a background on the scandal as well as other interesting topics of interest involving the topic. The article looks at how baseball handled the scandal and whether or not some of the players involved in the scandal should still be banned. The article also looks at in a extensive nature the development of baseball’s office and interaction with the media was affected by an over abundant amount by the Black Sox Scandal

Bachin, Robin. AT THE NEXUS OF LABOR AND LEISURE: BASEBALL, NATIVISM, AND THE 1919 BLACK SOX SCANDAL. Journal of Social History Summer2003, Vol. 36 Issue 4, p941, 22p

This journal article looks at the scandal from many different perspectives. It has probably the most extensive primary research. It uses many quotes from people of the day to enhance the story. The article also did a good job of showing that the scandal did not just have an affect on the game of baseball but also had an affect on the city of Chicago and the labor issues that were part of America post World War I.

Bennett, Jay. DID SHOELESS JOE JACKSON THROW THE 1919 WORLD SERIES? American Statistician, 00031305, Nov93, Vol. 47, Issue 4

Bennett does a good job in raising some questions about the star White Sox player who was banned from baseball for life because of his involvement in the 1919 Black Sox scandal. He looks at Jackson’s batting average during the series and during his career. His paper also allow the reader to come to the conclusion that although Jackson was given money he tried to give it back and did nothing to hurt the White Sox chance of winning the World Series, in fact Jackson was actually batted better during clutch moments as mentioned by Bennett.

Kirby, James. The Year They Fixed the World Series. ABA Journal; Feb88, Vol. 74 Issue 2, p65, 5p

Kirby goes beyond just the players involved in this journal article. He includes the actions of the front office that probably led to the involvement of the eight White Sox players getting money for supposedly throwing the World Series. He also goes beyond the facts of the series and talks about the investigation that took place afterwards.

Smith, Dean. The Black Sox Scandal. American History Illustrated 11(9):16-25

In this extensive article Smith gives a step-by-step detail of what occurred. He gives the names of the players their involvement in the scandal. He also goes a step farther and puts mention of gambling into his story. Although most of the articles about the scandal involve gambling, Smith takes it a step farther in showing how gambling affected the United States after World War I and prior to the 1919 World Series in which gambling played an important role

Internet Sites:

Everstine, Eric W. 1919 World Series: Black Sox Scandal. 1988 3 May 2004 http://www.mc.cc.md.us/Departments/hpolscrv/blacksox.htm

This site was very easy to follow along with. It was easy as it broke each section down. For instance, it didn’t try to jumble everything together. The site also had links to pictures that portrayed the team and some individual pictures of members of the team such as Shoeless Joe Jackson.

The Black Sox Scandal of 1919. 2000 3 May 2004 http://www.inficad.com/~ksup/landis0.html

Like many other sites this sites showcases the events that occurred before during and after the scandal. It tells of how the scandal came about and how each game was played by the players involved depending on whether or not they had received money form the gamblers. The site also does a good job in adding tidbits about gambling in baseball and it has a good bibliography of sources that one could further look into if interested in this topic.

The Eight. 1990. 3 May 2004 http://www.chicagohs.org/history/blacksox.html

This was a very informative website. It gives a small background on the team before the scandal and reason for why they possibly agreed to throw the World Series. The site showcases information of how the Chicago White Sox team members got along. It also shows how the nation was starting to have interest in baseball again after World War I and how gambling was becoming a major part of the game. This site was very informative in finding out information that was not just based on the eight players who were banned from baseball from throwing the World Series.

The Eight Men: Who Were They? 3 May 2004 http://www.blackbetsy.com/soxplayr.htm

This was a unique site in that it placed each individual player separate from the others. It gave information about their stats and gives a biography of each player. The site also has links to other sites pertaining to the scandal as well especially those to do with Joe Jackson and his being removed from baseball’s all time banned list.

Other Sources:

Baseball: Inning 3 Filmmaker Ken Burns PBS Home Video, 1994

In the third part of his nine part series on the game of baseball documentary film maker Ken Burns spends the majority of the video talking about the Black Sox Scandal. He does a good job in using pictures and narration to tell the story. It is probably the most informative video about baseball and possibly about the scandal.

Jackson, Shoeless Joe The 2001 Microsoft Encarta Encylcopedia. CD-ROM Encarta

As mentioned before about this source is that it gives biographical information about Joe Jackson and his involvement with the 1919 White Sox who were accused of throwing the World Series. The information on the CD-ROM is short but is very precise in its manner.

Reflection:

During the process that I did for research there are a few things that were of importance. Throughout the process I found myself realizing that my topic was a topic that people wrote the same thing about it. In other words it seemed that every source that was found did not add that much information to what was already known from previous sources. Another thing I noticed is that it was nice to have web-based searches for scholarly stuff such as EBSCOhost and Lexis-Nexis. It was very difficult finding certain types of sources for the topic I had. However, the two Internet based search sites helped greatly. The ability to go to each one to either find full text articles or a citation for an article in a journal at the library was more convenient than having to do the research through book reading. The only difficulty that came with this was the fact that I had to make sure that my words were clear in my search process. By this I mean that I had to make sure I typed in all the information I could to get the best search results. For instance, I was a lot more successful typing “Black Sox Scandal” than I was typing “Baseball + History”. Overall though, since I have done research before using the different variety of sources that are available including EBSCOhost and Lexis-Nexis; I did not find it too difficult trying to find enough information about my topic that would be needed if I was going to right an extensive research paper on the topic I chose to investigate more into. Although I had some success with finding information about my topic there were a few things that because of time I was not able to do that I wish I could have done.

Because of the time I devoted to researching this topic I was not able to get in contact with a few sources that probably would have been nice to get. It would have been nice to read articles from the Chicago Tribune or any other newspaper during the time of the 1919 World Series and when the players were on trial. The second thing is that it would have been interesting I think to have looked at the Baseball encyclopedia. This would have given a more extensive account of the events that took place than what other reference works would have. Finally, the third thing that I would probably want to do if I had allowed myself more time would have been to actually narrow the search to just one of the players. The player that I would probably choose would have been Joe Jackson. The reason for this was that he was the star of the team and even today thanks to movies like “Field of Dreams” people are debating over whether or not he actually had a part in the fix. For this reason I think it would have been interesting to see the scandal through the eyes of not only him but quite possibly those around him.

Overall, the research method was not that difficult. It seemed to be more time consuming trying to find the perfect journal article or website that would have adequate information about the topic I chose. Even though many of them are repetitive in nature I feel that each one of the sources I found for my topic gives it something different. The research method was quite simple and the only regret is that I wish I had allotted myself more time. With more time I think I would have found many more extensive sources to enhance the story.