1919 Black Sox Scandal Explained

1919 Black Sox Scandal Explained

1919 Black Sox Scandal: Throwing Games

The first well-documented scandal in Major League Baseball history was the Black Sox scandal of 1919, which involved eight players on the Chicago White Sox throwing games in order to receive money from gamblers. The background of this scandal involved the owner of the White Sox organization, Charles Comiskey, being viewed by his players in a negative light. Comiskey was well known for being cheap, underpaying his players, and preventing some of them from achieving the milestones required to earn their salary bonuses.

A Team Primed for Betrayal

The White Sox went on to win the 1917 World Series, but during the 1919 regular season, pitcher Eddie Cicotte was closing in on a 30-win season, which would have given him a $10,000 bonus. Comiskey had other ideas. He requested that Cicotte be benched to prevent him from winning his 30th game, and the White Sox coaching staff granted Comiskey his request.

Assembling the Fix

The origins of the plot to fix the 1919 World Series reportedly began in Boston, just before the conclusion of the regular season. White Sox first baseman Chick Gandil asked for a professional gambler to visit him in his hotel room. Gandil had a conversation with “Sport” Sullivan and demanded $80,000 for himself and for any other players he could convince to join him.

Recruiting the Players

Discussions of a World Series fix gained steam between Eddie Cicotte, outfielder Oscar “Happy” Felsch, and third baseman Buck Weaver. Cicotte was facing pressing financial troubles after purchasing a Michigan farm that came with high mortgage payments, a fact Gandil used to recruit him. Shortstop “Swede” Risberg and infielder Fred McMullin soon joined the plot, followed closely by pitcher Claude “Lefty” Williams. Last but not least, Gandil attempted to recruit “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, the best hitter on the White Sox.

Two Gamblers, Two Offers

The players met to organize the fix in Gandil’s room at New York’s Ansonia Hotel on September 21. The next day, September 22, Gandil confirmed to Sport Sullivan that the fix was on, provided the $80,000 was paid to the players before the start of the World Series. Not to be outdone by Sullivan, another gambler named “Sleepy” Bill Burns offered five of the players — Gandil, Felsch, Williams, Risberg, and Cicotte — a $100,000 deal split evenly among them.

Questionable Performances in the Series

In the 1919 World Series, Joe Jackson batted .375, scored 5 runs, drove in 6 runs, and hit the only home run of the Fall Classic. Whether Jackson ever actually tried to throw the World Series remains debated, but his 1921 confession makes it a documented fact that he received at least $5,000 from gamblers. Buck Weaver is likewise a questionable figure in the fix, as he batted .324 in the Series.

The Scandal Unravels

Suspicions that the White Sox had thrown the World Series grew throughout the 1920 regular season, but they weren’t confirmed until an impromptu conversation between Sox manager Kid Gleason and professional gambler Abe Attell in a New York bar that July. In this conversation, it was revealed that Arnold Rothstein had been the mastermind behind the fix. Gleason immediately contacted the local Chicago media about the story, but he was unable to get it printed right away.

Another fixed game, this one involving the Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies, was reported on August 31, 1920, prompting the Grand Jury of Cook County to get involved. New York Giants pitcher Rube Benton was one of many to testify before the jury, and he revealed that in late September 1919, he had seen a telegram sent to a Giants teammate. The telegram, from Bill Burns, confirmed that the White Sox would lose the 1919 World Series.

Toward the end of the 1920 regular season, Charles Comiskey sent a telegram to the eight implicated White Sox players, later made public, stating that they would be suspended indefinitely. This effectively ended the White Sox’s hopes of pursuing the American League pennant and World Series title in 1920.

Confessions, Trial, and Lifetime Bans

Eddie Cicotte was the first to confess to his role in the fix during the 1920 regular season, and matters only worsened from there. The eight implicated White Sox players were indicted along with five gamblers on October 22, 1920. Their trial for the fix and the ensuing cover-up began on June 27, 1921, on five official charges, including conspiring to defraud the public, conspiring to defraud White Sox teammate Ray Schalk, conspiring to commit a confidence game, and conspiring to injure the businesses of the American League and Charles Comiskey.

On July 29, 1921, the jury deliberated for only a few hours before unanimously reaching a verdict of not guilty on all counts for all eight players. Their celebration was short-lived: the very next day, the new Commissioner of Major League Baseball, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, announced that regardless of the jury’s decision, he would hand all eight players lifetime bans from the game. Despite their attempts to convince the commissioner to reinstate them — Buck Weaver tried harder than anyone else — Landis upheld the bans, and the Black Sox scandal remains one of the darkest chapters in baseball history.