Chicago Black Sox Scandal. Although the Chicago White Sox were heavily favored to win the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago lost the series to Cincinnati. When an investigation revealed that members of the White Sox had conspired to lose the series in exchange for a payoff from gamblers, the 1919 team became known as the "Black Sox" and the involved players were banned from baseball for life. . The Chicago Black Sox No event in baseball's history tarnished the game as much as the "Black Sox" scandal in 1919. Unbelievably, members of the Chicago White Sox accepted money from gamblers to intentionally lose the World Series. Occurring shortly after the end of World War I, the scandal shattered illusions about the sanctity of America's national pastime. "The scandal was a betrayal of more than a set of ball games, even more than the sport itself. It was a crushing blow to the American pride," wrote Eliot Asinof, author of Eight Men Out, the definitive account of the incident. "The American people were shocked, then sickened." The affair started with Chicago first baseman Arnold "Chick" Gandil. The rough-and-tumble Gandil jumped freight trains, worked in a coal mine, and fought as a heavyweight boxer before breaking into major league baseball. While playing with the White Sox, he made the acquaintance of Joseph "Sport" Sullivan, a gambler and bookmaker. When the White Sox qualified for the World Series, Gandil proposed convincing his teammates to intentionally lose the series to the Cincinnati Reds for $80,000 in cash. Sullivan agreed. The White Sox were ripe to be bought. Owner Charles Comiskey paid his players as poorly as any owner in the league, despite their success on the field. "Comiskey was not only the meanest skinflint in baseball," author Stephen Jay Gould wrote, "but a man who could cruelly flaunt his wealth, while treating those who brought it to him as peons." In 1917 Comiskey reportedly promised a bonus if the Sox won the World Series. When they captured the championship he delivered the bonus in the form of a single case of champagne. In 1918 Comiskey cut their salaries. The team struck. With the 1919 World Series looming, 35-year-old star pitcher Eddie Cicotte found himself in need of money for the mortgage on a new farm. After Gandil approached him several times about fixing the World Series, he relented, agreeing to do so for $10,000 cash. Gandil then convinced the team's other star pitcher, Claude "Lefty" Williams, that the fix was already on and he might as well go along. Gandil fairly easily persuaded Shoeless Joe Jackson, third baseman George "Buck" Weaver, shortstop Charles "Swede" Risberg, outfielder Oscar "Happy" Felsch, and reserve infielder Fred McMullin to participate. In Eight Men Out Asinof reported that the ballplayers gave little consideration to the risks and the enormity of throwing the crown jewel of the national pastime. Meanwhile, a former pitcher named Bill "Sleepy" Burns, an old friend of Cicotte's, wanted to get in on the affair. Burns enlisted former boxer Billy Maharg, who in turn persuaded Arnold Rothstein, a wealthy gambler, to provide the money. Joseph Sullivan also contacted Rothstein. Rothstein agreed and sent Sullivan $40,000 to pay the players and placed another $40,000 in a safe for later payments. Rothstein bet $270,000 on the Reds, who were the decided underdogs in the best-of-nine series. A few days before the World Series began, Sullivan gave Gandil $10,000 of the first $40,000. Sullivan used the remaining $30,000 to gamble and then briefly disappeared. Realizing that Cicotte was the key to the fix, Gandil, who expected the entire $80,000 up front, gave the pitcher the $10,000. As the World Series opened the seven other players hadn't received a dime. With Cicotte pitching poorly, Chicago lost the first game, 9-1. Williams pitched the second game, which the Reds won, 4-2. Before game three, Burns delivered $10,000 to the players from an associate of Rothstein's--still far less than they were promised. Gandil kept the money. In that game Gandil hit a three-run single to score Jackson and Felsch, pacing the Sox to a 3-0 victory. Cicotte pitched brilliantly in the fourth contest but committed two errors and Chicago lost, 2-0. Before game five Sullivan reappeared and kept the fix alive with $20,000. Gandil delivered $5000 each to Risberg, Felsch, Jackson, and Williams. Weaver, the third baseman who had been playing fine baseball, received no money. With Williams pitching, the White Sox lost game five, 4-0. Felsch committed a key error. "The Sox are in a terrible batting slump," William "Kid" Gleason, Chicago's manager, told sportswriters afterward. "The worst slump a team ever had." With the series back in Cincinnati and the Reds leading the series, 4-1, the White Sox took game six, 5-4. Gandil knocked in the winning run in the 10th inning. Cicotte won game seven, 4-1, with Jackson supplying a two-run double. The Reds led the series by only a 4-3 count. Rothstein told Sullivan that the series needed to end early in game eight. Sullivan hired a strongman, who the night before the game threatened harm to Williams and his wife if Williams lasted more than an inning on the mound. Williams did not last the first inning. The Reds won, 10-5, taking the series, 5-3. "I tell you those Reds haven't any business beating us," Gleason said after the game, according to Eight Men Out. "I don't know yet what was the matter. Something was wrong." Sullivan delivered the $40,000 from the safe to Gandil, who gave $10,000 to Risberg and $5000 to McMullin. Gandil, however, kept $25,000 for himself, bringing his total to $35,000. In the off-season, rumors circulated that the World Series had been fixed, and Comiskey offered a reward for any information regarding the matter. As reports of gambling became more widespread during the 1920 season, a grand jury in Chicago convened to investigate. After hearing testimony from several witnesses, the jury called Cicotte, who exposed the entire affair. Jackson also told the grand jury of the conspiracy, admitting that, despite his 12 hits in the series, he gave less than his usual effort. Neither player enlisted a lawyer for advice. As Jackson was leaving the courthouse--as reported in the Chicago Herald and Examiner--a young boy came up to him and pleaded, "Say it ain't so, Joe." The revelation of the fix appeared on the front page of almost every newspaper in the United States. The eight players were suspended from baseball late in the 1920 season. Jackson was hitting .382 at the time. The players, with the exception of McMullin, who had appeared only twice in the series, were brought to trial the next year. In August 1921 the seven players were acquitted. But the next day, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the newly appointed first commissioner of baseball, banned all eight players from baseball for life. The ban included Weaver, who had received no money and hit a strong .324 for the series. Although it tarnished baseball's image, the scandal nevertheless led to needed reform and a new vigilance against the corrupting effects of gambling in baseball. "The Black Sox scandal represents a pivotal moment," said author Gould. "For this incident sparked changes in ... the character of the game itself, in the history of baseball's links to American society at large, and in mythology itself, by dispelling forever the cardinal legend of innocence." Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
