Black Sox Scandal Essay

1689 Words7 Pages

The early 1900s was a time of industrialization and economic prosperity in the United States. Following after World War 1, there were several events that followed like the Harlem Renaissance, the invention of televisions, the advent of credit and the Golden Age of American Sports. The United States had a very strong economy during America’s post-war and many workers had more free time. Advances in architecture resulted in new and bigger stadiums and radios were becoming a social norm. Radios made it easier for citizens to keep up with their favorite teams and newspapers often talked about the popular topics surrounding sports. With the rise of spectator sports, one sport had the greatest impact of all, and it was baseball. Baseball is a sport that has been recognized in American culture for years. As society evolved, the interest in professional baseball has increased, and participating in it was common amongst Americans. Gambling was also amplifying during the era of World War 1, and deteriorated during the Post War Era. The rapid popularity of baseball and gambling during this time in history resulted in the most shameful scandal known to baseball history, the Black Sox Scandal. The World Series is an annual …show more content…

The value being offered by Sullivan was an opportunity to make more than what they have been making and they were all down for it. Cicotte and Gandil went searching for willing conspirators from their team. Claude Williams, Charles Risberg and Oscar Felsch were teammates willing to be recruited in the scandal. Fred McMullin forced himself in after he had secretly learned about it and demanded that unless he was allowed in, he would report the scandal. After recruitment, Sullivan knew in order for the scandal to be successful it was a must that they recruit one more member. That member was Joe