The Chicago Black Sox Scandal
On August 4, 1921 eight men were banned from Major League Baseball by newly appointed baseball commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis for allegedly throwing the 1919 World Series. Eight men were accused of fixing the World Series for money. This scandal will forever be remembered in infamy and completely changed the image of professional baseball. Judge Landis became the first commissioner of baseball to fix the broken image of the sport and assure the public of no more scandals and fair play. The players went through trial and even though they were acquitted and were happy, it didn't last long because less than 24 hours later they were banned for life. The aftermath of the Black Sox Scandal and life after
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Swede will always be remembered as a light-hitting, rifled armed shortstop on the 1919 Chicago White Sox team. Swede was the youngest of the eight men who were banned. Even though he went through some rough patches he had a pretty successful life after his banishment. Swede supposedly made a great amount of money compared to the rest of his teammates in the fix. Every player who participated was supposed to make ten thousand dollars each. Most players made five thousand or less for their participation, Swede reportedly made anywhere from ten to fifteen thousand dollars. In todays world thats equivalent to $224,112.73. Swede went across the U.S. and up north to Canada playing baseball in two different leagues, and from time to time would end up on the same team as some of his old teammates. His wife didn't like the way he started to live his life so she filed for divorce in 1922 and the divorce got finalized in December of the same year. During the summer of the 1922, he teamed up with his boys from the White Sox on a the same team lefty did, the Ex-Major League Stars. An altercation arises between Swede and Eddie Cicotte over money and Swede ended up punching Eddie in the mouth and also leaving the team. Swede packed his things and got on the road and moved to Minnesota, where he would find find his next wife and who he also had two kids with. Swede also became a business man and had a small farm and sold his product to Rochester Aces Clinic. In 1923, Swede threw a great game and struck out 21 players in what what became to be a no hitter. Unlike the MLB in the semi-pros you could ask for more money and actually get it, so Swede took the opportunity and capitalized on it for the rest of his baseball days. In 1926 Judge Landis asked Swede to give a testimony that had something to do with the Detroit Tigers. Swede said the Tigers