1919 Black Sox Scandal

The 1919 Black Sox Scandal

In the 1919 Major League Baseball World Series; the Chicago Black Sox were accused of fixing the game. The two gamblers were Joeseph “Sport” Sullivan and “Sleepy” Bill Burns. The eight players that were accused of participating in these actions were: Eddie Cicotte, Arnold “Chick” Gandil, Claude “Lefty” Williams, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, Oscar “Happy” Felsch, Swede Risberg, Buck Weaver, and Fred McMullin. The 1919 World Series was played by the Chicago Black Sox and the Cincinnati Reds. The suspicion of throwing the game came shortly after the first game. “Leading up to game one the Black Sox were heavily favored to win, but right before the game, the betting odds were changed to the Black Sox becoming the underdogs.”

This is when most people began to catch on that something was wrong, the Black Sox were not playing like they did in the regular season. Any other year the World Series would have ended here but because of the postwar interest, the commissioner decided to extend it to the best of 9 games.

Games 6 and 7 were won by Chicago however with scores of 5-4 and 4-1. Up until game 8 no one had hit a homerun in any game from either team. In game 8, while fighting to “stay in the game” Joe Jackson homered in the third inning making the score 5-1. It didn’t do much though as the Reds would go on to win the World Series with a game 8 score of 10-5.

The Scandal would be confirmed a year after the win, with the confessions from Cicotte, Williams, Jackson, and Felsch. The four admitted to intentionally throwing the games due to bribes. Charles Comiskey, the owner of the White Sox, suspended seven players since Gandil was already suspended due to a salary dispute. “The trial took place on August 3, 1921, but were acquitted due to insufficient evidence.” (Black Sox Scandal) Due to the fact that somehow, key evidence, including the confessions were lost in the court’s files. The following year the new commissioner of baseball banned the eight players for