1919 World Series Baseball Scandal Have you ever thought about some easy ways to make thousands or even millions of dollars? Well the 1919 World Series The 1919 World Series Black Sox Scandal was an interesting time in Major League Baseball History. The Scandal could not have come at a worst time. It was a post-war depression and racial discrimination starting to take its effect on people.
The 1919 World Series Scandal occurred 98 years ago and is still talked about to this day in a lowered voice and a disappointed look on their face Eight players from the Chicago White Sox had been paid money to throw the 1919 World Series, but they were never proven guilty. The players include: Joe Jackson, Eddie Cicotte, Claude Williams, Arnold Gandil, Charles Risberg, George Weaver, Oscar Felsch, and Fred McMullin. Seven of eight players confessed that they were apart of the scandal, but Joe Jackson was a suspicion to everyone because of his outstanding performance in the World Series. Gamblers had finally found a way to make a lot of money in the World Series without being proven guilty of the charges. Another person involved in the scandal was Arnold Rothstein. Rothstein was born on January 17, 1882 in New York City.
Later in his years, Arnold moved into liquor and narcotics businesses during prohibition. He started hanging out with the wrong crowd and became lured by the life of crime. Rothstein started out small, gambling and became a moneylender to the locals.
He began acting as a “fixer” and his gambling winning led him to the nickname “Big Bankroll”. Rothstein was so confident on everything he had bet on, but he would not bet on the weather because he can not control it. Arnold was one of the most likely suspects for creating the fix. He was never charged of the crime because documents were stolen, so he remained innocent for the rest of his life despite rumors about making a fortune gambling on the 1919 World Series. Arnold Rothstein opened a Manhattan Casino and invested in race tracks. His earnings moved him to the big leagues, so when he was 30, he became a millionaire.
Arnold was approached by groups involved in the scandal. They asked him to finance the bribery of the several White Sox players. The White Sox later became known as the Black Sox because of the scandal. It was believed that Arnold had made over $300,000 by betting on Cincinnati. Prohibition came into effect the following year and Rothstein was one of the first to get involved with sneaking liquor into illegal businesses. Rothstein’s fun times came to an end when he joined a poker game, and later that night in 1928, Rothstein was shot and nobody had said who shot him and nobody was convicted of his death.
Like Rothstein had said “Anyone who’d sell out a whole town wouldn’t hesitate to double-cross one man.” Rothstein did not tell anyone about the fix and did not tell on anyone involved in it. In the 1919 Scandal, salary was an issue so when the gamblers arranged the fix, they had paid the players a lot more money than they had already been paid. Eight players were suspected to have accepted money to throw the World Series. White Sox players had received their bribes in five $20,000 installments, making $70,000-$100,000. Some players did not receive as much because some gamblers had failed to deliver the full amount of money. They received each installment one after each loss in the series. Historians who have studied the Black Sox Scandal say that a lot of people were involved in it, but it is hard to convict people because it was hard to find proof that they did it unless they came forward and confessed about it.
There were a lot of people and players involved in the Scandal, but the most important ones were Eddie Cicotte, Joe Jackson, and Charles Comiskey. Cicotte was one of the first Black Sox players to get tossed out of baseball. “I don’t know anyone who ever went through life without making a mistake.
Everyone who has ever lived has committed sins of their own. I’ve tried to make up for it by living as clean life as I could. I’m proud of the way I’ve lived and I think my family is too.” – Eddie Cicotte.
Comiskey first got introduced into baseball when he was driving in a wagon and seen that a pitcher was performing badly, so he got out of his wagon and took his place, and that was the start of his career in baseball. He made $50 a month playing baseball for Dubuque Rabbits 2 years later. He started out his career pitching, but his arm began to have problems so he moved to first base, and truth be told that he had revolutionized how 1st was played. Comiskey went on to play professional baseball for the St.
Louis Browns, and then in later years received a lot of blame for the 1919 World Series. The effect of World War 1 had forced owners to cut players salaries the next year. “When attendance in Chicago went up, Comiskey refused to bring salaries back up to their previous level (Black Sox Scandal,2) In Comiskey lifetime, he had developed two nicknames. Some people called him “Old Roman” because of his personal features and physical makeup. He was known as “Commy” to his friends. Comiskey died at age 72 in 1931. Another important player was Joe Jackson. He started working at 6 years of age sweeping cotton dust off floors.
Joe never learned to read or write because he did not have time for school. By the time he was 13, he was playing on the Brandon Mill men’s team and people say when they heard the crack of the bat, they knew it was him. Joe got the name “Shoeless Joe” because the new spikes he had gotten wore blisters on his feet, so he took them off, and he got a triple in his bare feet. In his rookie year, he batted .408, which was the highest ever by a rookie.
Joe was the traded to the Chicago White Sox for $31,500 cash and three players on August 1915. The White Sox were supposed to beat the Reds, but the Reds had beat them and took the title. Jackson remained a point of dispute for almost 90 years.
He was batting .375 for the series, highest on either teams. Joe had 12 hits, six RBIs and no errors in eight games. Joseph Jefferson Jackson still continues to be one of the most beloved ball players of all time. Several movies, plays, songs, poems, books, television documents, and articles have been spun about Joe Jackson. The 1919 World Series had a disastrous effect on the baseball world, and will forever be remembered. In August 1921, the Black Sox were found guilty and the vindication did not last long. Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis decided that all of the ball players were permanently banned from baseball.
“Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player who throws a baseball game, no player that undertakes or promises to throw a ballgame, no player that sits in means of throwing a game are discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball.” Judge Landis The verdict ruined the careers of the ball players, some of them tried to win reinstatement to the league, but Landis made sure they did not step foot on a baseball diamond ever again. Jackson claimed he was an unwilling participant and tried to hint to Comiskey about the scheme. “Shoeless Joe” level of involvement still remains a mystery to this day, but his series best batting average was .
375 which indicates he had no role in throwing the 1919 World Series. The 1919 World Series Black Sox Scandal was an interesting time and changed the way people thought about baseball for a long time.
