The 1919 Chicago White Sox.
Well, it’s Black Friday, and I thought, Black Friday, Black Sox. See where I am going here? We’ve all heard, “Say it ain’t so Joe” (which, in reality, was probably never said). The 1919 World Series left a black mark on baseball, to be later called the Black Sox Scandal. 8 players from the Chicago White Sox agreed to fix the World Series for $100,000. Now, I will just give you some facts. To learn about the whole story, read “Eight Men Out” by Eliot Asinof. He really uncovers all of the scandal.
There were eight players from the White Sox banned from baseball. They were so banned that if anyone played with them, they would also be banned.
Shoeless Joe Jackson ,Eddie Cicotte, Oscar Felsch, Claude Williams, Arnold Gandil, Fred McMullin, Charles Risberg, and George Weaver.
OK, so the story in the most basic terms is this: Gandil and Cicotte supposedly went to a bunch of gamblers and offered to throw the game. The gamblers would give the ballplayers $100,000 to divide amongest themselves.
Jackson never attended meetings with the other players about the fix, but he did take $5,000 and did later confess to the authorities on his part of the scandal. But he later recanted his confession, and the confession went missing from the court. (Ooh, spooky.)
Cicotte, a pitcher, also confessed and recanted, and his confession went missing.
The eight were tried and were acquitted of criminal actions. But with baseball, they were all banned. Weaver heard about the fix and took no part in it, but his punishment was the same because he knew about the fix and did not tell authorities. Baseball Commissioner Landis said about Weaver, “Men associating with crooks and gamblers could expect no leniency.”
Miss Baseball would like to thank http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Black_Sox_Scandal, for giving her such great information.
Miss Baseball 