The Black Sox Scandal Analysis

Dean Smith, author of “The Black Sox Scandal”, highlights the biggest scandal in the baseball world. Smith introduces his article with Jim Crusinberry, a sports journalist, who arrived at the Sinton Hotel, Cincinnati for the World Series on September 30, 1919. Smith writes how Crusinberry noticed Abe Attell, former world featherweight boxing champion, screaming his throat out with a handful of money and offering to bet on Cincinnati Reds to beat the Chicago White Sox in the opening match. This behavior of Attell was twitching for Crusinberry, as to why he was betting against the greatest and finest team, Chicago White Sox, in the free-wheeling days of Americans gamblers.
According to Smith, Crusinberry with the help of other tenacious reporters,

In his confession forty years later he highlighted that even an ordinary person told him that he knew firsthand of the series being fixed. It seemed like everyone knew, yet nobody was sure. It wasn’t clear, who bribed whom. Smith then sheds light on the White Sox, who were a match for anything Cincinnati could throw against them. While, the tragic prelude is still difficult for the historians to piece together, however according to the book, Eight Men Out, Chick Gandil collaborated with Joseph Sullivan, a Boston sports gambler and initiated the Scandal of fixing the series. It was later clarified by Gandil to be a false acquisition. Smith reveals Gandil’s enlisted seven players that made sure the defeat of the White Sox. Fred McMullin, a utility infielder and one of the eight conspirators, became part of the scandal by sheer accident. Smith explained that for Gandil consorting with gamblers was an old

Some are in favor of the White Sox and some are against. The rumors about the fix stayed around for many years, a hardcore investigation was led by the reporters still no results. It was Crusinberry to get the clue when he heard drunk Attell spilling the truth out. Finally, he had the information for the big story still his editor refused to publish it. In frustration, he wrote a letter to the Tribune asking for a grand jury investigation for the fix. On September 21, 1920, subpoenas were sent to baseball owners, managers, players, and gamblers by the Cook County grand jury. After a few days, a writer tracked down gambler – Billy Maharag, a cohort of Burns and Attell. In his statement, he implicated Cicotte as the head of the fix, he added that Attell betrayed Burns and himself. In the end of Maharg’s statement, he declared that the White Sox had thrown three out of eight Series games. Smith then says, most of the conspirators confessed about their contribution in that scandal. Comiskey suspended all seven players, Gandil retired after the series. All the conspirators along with the gamblers were indicted by the grand jury. As the Black Sox trial began on June 27,1921, the prosecution revealed that the confessions signed by the players were missing. Even the players denied their testimony and pleaded innocent, none testified during the trial.