The Chicago Blacksox

The White Sox team was formed in 1900 as a franchise of the American league, under the ownership of Charles Comiskey. The Sox were originally called The White Stockings. They shortened the name to White Sox in 1902. In its first year, the team won the league championship. By 1903, the American and National Leagues had agreed to meet in an end-of-the-year playoff, or a "World Series." In 1906, the White Sox won this national championship by defeating the Chicago Cubs four games to two. The next eight years brought a dry spell for

Chicago lost the first game 9-1, but the players didn't receive the $20,000 in cash Gandil had been promised for losing that game. They were willing to lose game two as long as the money came by the end of the next day. Chicago lost 4-2. The Sox players not involved in the fix were beginning to get suspicious. Catcher Ray Schalk knew something was wrong with the pitching. He and manager Kid Gleason reportedly got into fights with Gandil and Williams over their poor performances. After the game, Gandil looked up Abe Attell to collect the $40,000 owed him and his teammates for throwing two games. He received only $10,000. The players were upset and began to have second thoughts about continuing to lose.

After the 1920 season, fearing baseball might not survive the gambling scandal, club owners decided to clean up their act. The three-man national commission, headed by Ban Johnson, was replaced by a single, independent commissioner with dictatorial power over baseball. Federal Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was appointed commissioner, and he acted quickly to restore the public's faith in baseball. Immediately after they were acquitted of any criminal charges, Landis banned all eight players from the game. Landis said, "regardless of the verdict of the juries, no player who throws a ball game, no player who undertakes or promises to throw a ball game, no player who sits in confidence with a bunch of crooked players and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball." True to his word, Landis never allowed any of the eight White Sox to play professional ball again.

Although they were banned from baseball, several of the Black Sox were unwilling to entirely give up on the sport they loved and the only profession they had ever known. While some of the players distanced themselves from baseball, Joe Jackson, Eddie Cicotte, and Swede Risberg continued to play the game in outlaw leagues or semi-professional teams. When Jackson could no longer play ball, he owned and operated a liquor store. He died in 1951, shortly after being inducted into the Cleveland Baseball Hall of Fame. Fred McMullin died in California in 1952. Buck Weaver unsuccessfully appealed several times to Judge Landis for reinstatement in the major leagues. He ran a drugstore and died of a heart attack in 1956. Lefty Williams ran a poolroom for awhile and then moved to California and managed a landscaping business. He died in 1959. Happy Felsch ran a tavern in Milwaukee and died in 1964. Eddie Cicotte was a game warden and security guard in Detroit and died in 1970. Swede Risberg worked for many years in Minnesota on a dairy farm. He died in California in 1975.

In September 1920, a Cook County, Illinois, grand jury convened to look into allegations that the Chicago Cubs had thrown games against the Philadelphia Phillies. The investigation soon extended to the 1919 World Series and baseball gambling in general. The White Sox were enjoying a good season when the grand jury began calling players, owners, managers, writers, and gamblers to testify about what had happened the previous year. At the urging of Comiskey, who was trying to cover up his own knowledge of the conspiracy, Jackson and Cicotte were the first to admit everything they knew about the fix.

Chicago won the third game and many of the gamblers betting on individual games lost a great deal of money. It was Attell's turn to feel betrayed and he refused to pay any more. Sullivan came up with $20,000 before the fourth game and at least some of the traitors were still willing to lose. Cicotte made several errors, and the Reds won 2-0. Chicago lost game five, as well, with a final score of 5-0.

Although gambling was intertwined with baseball long before the eight White Sox were accused of fixing the Series, the number of gamblers at ballparks

Some topics in this essay:
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