|
|
| word looked up : | home / archive |
Black Sox scandal | |||
By the evening of that day, there were already signs that things were going wrong. Only Cicotte, who had wisely demanded his $10,000 in advance, had been paid. Burns and Maharg met with Abe Attell, a former world boxing champion who acted as intermediary for Rothstein, but he did not provide the next installment ($20,000), wanting to place it out on bets for the next game. The next morning Gandil met Attell and again demanded their money. Again, the players went unpaid.
Although they had not received their money, the players were still willing to go through with the fix. Claude "Lefty" Williams, the starting pitcher in Game Two, was not going to be as obvious as Cicotte. After a shaky start he pitched well until the fourth inning, when he walked three and gave up equally many runs. After that, Williams went back to looking unhittable, giving up only one more run, but a lack of clutch hitting, with Gandil a particular villain, meant that the White Sox lost 4-2. Attell was still in no mood to pay up. Burns managed to get $10,000, which he gave to Gandil, who distributed it among the conspirators. The teams headed to Chicago for the third game.
Dickie Kerr, who was to start Game Three for the Sox, was not in on the fix. The original plan was for the conspirators, who disliked Kerr, to lose this game, but by now dissent among the players meant that the plan was in disarray. Burns still believed, however, and gathered the last of his resources to bet on Cincinnati. It was a decision that would leave him broke, as Chicago scored early -- Gandil himself driving in two runs -- and Kerr was masterful, holding the Reds to 3 hits in throwing a complete game shutout and a 3-0 victory.
Eddie Cicotte was the Chicago's starter for the fourth game, and he was determined not to look as bad as he had in the first. For the first four innings he and Reds pitcher Jimmy Ring matched zeroes. With one out in the fifth, Cicotte fielded a slow roller, but threw wildly to first, for a two-base error. The next man up singled to center and Cicotte first cut off the throw home and then fumbled the ball, allowing the run to score. When he gave up a double to the next batter the score was 2-0, which was enough of a lead for Ring, who threw a three hit shutout of his own. The Reds led the series 3-1.
After the game, "Sport" Sullivan came through with $20,000 for the players, which Gandil split equally between Risberg, Felsch, Jackson, and Williams, who was due to start Game Five the next day.
The next game was delayed by rain for a day and when it got under way, both Williams and Reds pitcher Hod Eller were excellent. By the sixth inning, neither had allowed a runner past first base, before Eller hit a dying quail that fell between Felsch and Jackson. Felsch's throw was off line, and the opposing pitcher was safe at third. Leadoff hitter Morrie Rath hit a single over the drawn-in infield and Eller scored. Heinie Groh[?] walked before Edd Roush hit a double -- the beneficiary of some more doubtful defense from Felsch -- scoring two more runs, and scored himself shortly later. Eller pitched well enough for the four runs to stand up and the Reds were only one game from winning the series.
Game Six was held back in Cincinnati. Dickie Kerr, staring for the White Sox, was not as dominant as in Game Three. Aided by three errors, the Reds jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Chicago fought back, tying the game at 4-4 in the sixth, which remained the score into extra innings. In the top of the tenth Gandil drove in Weaver to make it 5-4, and Kerr closed it out to record his, and Chicago's, second win.
Despite the rumours that were already circulating over Cicotte's prior performances, Chicago coach Kid Gleason showed faith in his ace for Game Seven. This time, the knuckleballer did not let him down. Chicago scored early and, for once, it was Cincinnati that made errors in the field. The Reds threatened only briefly in the sixth, losing 4-1, and suddenly the series was close again.
This did not go unnoticed by Sullivan and Rothstein, who were suddenly worried. Prior to the start of the Sox had been strong favourites and few doubted that they could win two games in a row, assuming they were trying to win. Rothstein had been too smart to bet on individual games but had a considerable sum riding on Cincinnati to win the series. The night before the eighth game, Williams, who was due to pitch, was visited by an associate of Sullivan's who left him in no doubt that if he failed to blow the game in the first inning, he and his wife would be in serious danger.
Whatever Williams had been told had made its impression. In the first, throwing nothing but mediocre fastballs, he gave up four straight one-out hits, yielding 3 runs before Gleason replaced him with relief pitcher Bill James, who allowed one of Williams' baserunnners to score. James continued to be ineffective and, although the Sox rallied in the eighth, the Reds ran out 10-5 victors, clinching the series by 5 games to 3.
The White Sox were defeated and throughout the country rumours were rife that the games had been thrown.
The rumours dogged the club throughout the 1920 season, as the White Sox battled the Cleveland Indians for the AL pennant that year, and stories of corruption touched players on other clubs as well. At last, in September 1920, a Grand Jury was convened to investigate.
During the investigation two players, Cicotte and Shoeless Joe Jackson, confessed and the eight players were tried for their role in the fix. Prior to the trial, key evidence went missing from Cook County Courthouse, including the signed confessions of Cicotte and Jackson, who subsequently recanted their confessions. The players were acquitted. Some years later, the missing confessions reappeared in the possession of Comiskey's lawyer.
The Leagues were not so forgiving. Appointing an Illinois Judge, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, to investigate the fix all eight players were banned from organised baseball for life, and Landis was appointed the inaugural Commissioner of Baseball.
The banned players were:
References:
See also: Baseball/History
From our
we had been riding all the morning, extending for many leagues behind
attention to the beauty of that wide, sunlit prospect.
"Do you know, Demetria," I said, "when the long winter evenings come,
wanderings in the Banda Oriental, and I will call my book _The Purple
stained with the blood of her children.html">children? You will never read it, of
will give to my own children--if I ever have any--at some distant date,
other food than milk. But you will have a very important place in my
to each other. And perhaps the very last chapter will recount this
some blessed refuge far away beyond the hills and woods and the blue
know, in fact--"
I hesitated to tell her that it would probably be necessary for me to
and, glancing round, I discovered that she was fast asleep.
Poor Demetria, she had been dreadfully nervous all night and almost
her. Her position against the tree was uncomfortable and insecure, so,
shading her eyes with her mantilla, I let her sleep on. Her face looked
it while she slumbered, and remembering all the dark years of grief
the innocent cause, I felt my eyes grow dim with compassion.
After sleeping for about two hours she woke with a start, and was
time. But after that refreshing slumber a change seemed to come over
very nearly vanished. Out of the nettle Danger she had plucked the
filled with new life and spirits. The unaccustomed freedom and.
On
wordlookup.net
All is still licensed under the GNU FDL.
It uses material from the wikipedia.
|
|