Baseball Scandal Analysis

In 1919, eight of the Chicago White Sox allegedly threw the World Series. Charles Comiskey was the ruthless owner of the White Sox and was the main motive of the sox to throw the series. Chick Gandil was the first player to get involved and then he spread it to the other players on the team. The act by these players would be called the Black Sox Scandal. The Scandal nearly ruined America’s pastime. The baseball commissioner, Judge Landis, banned all eight of the players for life. Based on how Joe Jackson played in the world series and how he was proven innocent in a court of law, he should be reinstated into baseball and be put in the hall of fame.

The 1919 World Series resulted in the most famous scandal in baseball history. Eight players from the Chicago White Sox (later nicknamed the Black Sox) were accused of throwing the series against the Cincinnati Reds. Details of the scandal and the extent to which each man was involved have always been unclear. It was, however, front-page news across the country and, despite being acquitted of criminal charges, the players were banned from professional baseball for life. The eight men included the great “shoeless Joe Jackson,” pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Claude "Lefty" Williams; infielders Buck Weaver, Arnold "Chick" Gandil, Fred McMullin, and Charles "Swede" Risberg; and outfielder Oscar "Happy" Felsch.

No sports scandal has similarly shocked America or had such a lasting impact on its culture. The Black Sox players were suspected of throwing the World Series, and underwent trails. On August 2, 1921, the Black Sox were found guilty on all accounts. The final verdict was that all eight players to be permanently banned from organized baseball. The Black Sox players should not be banned from baseball for life. Although the players threw the World Series and had a huge negative impact on the fans and the game, they should not be banned for life because, they were only in it for the money, not all of the players that were banned were involved, and they tried to call off the fix.

Baseball has always been considered as American as apple pie. If that is true than cheating should be just as American. Ever since the creation of America’s favorite pastime, baseball, cheating has been a major part of the game. Each era of baseball has showed more complex ways of cheating the game. Although, cheating in baseball has been around since the introduction of the game, only few scandals have really made history. Some of the most famous scandals include the Black Sox Scandal, the gambling of Pete Rose, and the use of steroids by players to enhance their performance. Despite these corruptions the game has still managed to stay America’s most loved sport.

For anyone who knows anything about baseball, the 1919 World Series brings to mind many things. "The Black Sox Scandal of 1919 started out as a few gamblers trying to get rich, and turned into one of the biggest, and easily the darkest, event in baseball history" (Everstine 4). This great sports scandal involved many, but the most memorable and most known for it was Joe Jackson. The aftermath of the great World Series Scandal left many people questioning the character of Joe Jackson and whether or not he should have relations thereafter with baseball. There is still question today whether or not to let Joe into the Hall of Fame.

This was only the beginning, soon the media would start to look down more upon what is going on in baseball and they would pursue it. In 2002 the Major League Baseball Players Association executive director was asked a question by Senator Byron Dorgan, “Is there a problem?” The Senator know there was a problem because a recent National League Most Valuable Player admitted to using steroids in a Sports Illustrated cover story. The MVP Ken Caminiti even admitted to no regrets for steroid use because of the prevalence in the major league (Steroid Era).

     It was a warm, sultry night in September. The fans were crazed in anticipation as Mark McGwire stepped to the plate. With a gentle stretch, he paused, patiently poised, waiting for what would eventually be the greatest hit baseball had ever seen. The pitcher, Steve Trachsel, came set. He shot a determined look to the dirt. In a rivalry such as this (Cubs, Cardinals) he did not want to be the one to give up the great number 62. He cocked his arm back, to let loose what would be an eighty-eight mile an hour fastball that most men would not see fly by, but Big Mac was not most men. With one mighty swing, sixty-one was no more, ney sayers were silenced, and the game

Since Major League Baseball all-star Ken Caminiti openly admitted to Sports Illustrated to have used steroids during his career, steroid use as a muscle and performance enhancer has been uncovered and become a big issue Major League Baseball is wrestling with. The “ongoing and delicate subject, baseball’s dirty, little secret that is no secret anymore,” is a huge and growing problem (Curry B20). Now that light has been shed on the issue, critics are beginning to realize the magnitude of this problem and do not like it. Steroids are a cheating virus that is spreading quickly. Users cheat other players, themselves, the fans, and the game itself. Action must be taken to rid Major League Baseball of this virus

The Scandal started with gamblers, and they were able to bribe players to win more money for themselves. With dealing with players like the White Sox, it wasn’t uncommon for players to interact with gamblers. They could be bribed to throw games for the gamblers benefit (Szczepanik, 2005). When Chick Gandil interacted with a gambler, he decided to throw the World Series of 1919 (Pellowski, 2003). The reason to take the money was very simple. They had a bad manager named Charles Comiskey, who did not pay the White Sox enough and lied to them constantly. Many think that he could be the potential reason baseball would become extinct (Batchelor, 2016).

The Black Sox Scandal was during the 1919 World Series. The Chicago White Sox lost the series to the Cincinnati Reds. This was the biggest scandal ever in professional sports. Eight White Sox players were later accused of throwing the game in exchange for money from gamblers. The players were acquitted in court, but nevertheless, they were all banned for life from baseball.

The 1919 world series was a Major League Baseball match that was intentionally rigged in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of intentionally losing the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for money from gamblers. The fallout from the scandal resulted in the appointment of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis as the first Commissioner of Baseball granting him absolute control over the sport in order to restore its integrity. Despite peopel in a public trial in 1921 Judge Landis permanently banned the eight men from professional baseball. Despite requests for reinstatement in the decades that followed particularly in the case of Shoeless Joe Jackson the ban remains in force as of 2017.

According to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, Jason Hammel and the Kansas City Royals have agreed to terms on two year contract with a guaranteed $16 million dollar salary.

The film showed how with the black Sox scandal that there is no way to regulate the player on the teams that they needed to create a governing body that will decide if a player is eligible to play professional baseball, based on the actin that the committed. The very first commissioner of baseball was Kenesaw Mountain Landis who came into power because of the Black Sox scandal. The commissioner was given absolute power so his decision was final without any dispute. He decided that with the players that participated and new of the fixed games was not going to be eligible to play professional baseball anymore and to this day that ruling still stands. Even though the player were removed of all charges in relation to accepting money to throw games,

For this paper, I will be researching the controversial topic on whether athletes or coaches, especially in baseball, should be recognized for their achievements if they were involved in any sort of scandals during their tenures. This subject is hotly debated due to the fact that some find it wrong to reward people who have committed major wrongdoings or even cheated the game they were a part of.

This Little League baseball scandal took place in 2001, a little before the devastating day of the Twin Towers’ attack. Danny Almonte, a fourteen-year-old boy, was accused and for cheating in the Little League by lying about his age. The age requirements to be in these teams is 9-12 years of age, so Danny was about 2 years off. Him and his team made it to the Little League World Series, however had to forfeit before the last round, due to Sports Illustrated wanting to dig into Almonte’s information, being their nosy selves, they found what they wanted. They found Almonte’s real birth records from Dominican Republic, where he was originally born, that showed he was actually fourteen.