Scandal of Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds

Another impressive aspect of Rogosin’s book is the way he ties the hardships that African American’s faced and baseball together in a seemingly smooth connection. Rogosin realized that although he was writing a book on The Negro Leagues, he also couldn’t neglect the background information that came along with that time period. Rogosin includes stories of how teams remained afloat by scheduling exhibition games whenever possible to make money for the team. Rogosin goes on to say “it was pure economics: white people had more money.”2 Another aspect that is appealing in the book is Rogosin often draws comparisons to The Major Leagues on how the leagues differed and how they were similar. The disparities between the leagues really shocks the reader, and challenges their perspective of the time period the book acknowledges.

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.

In 1919 two teams came together to fight for the title of being the 1919 World Series winner, these two teams where Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago White Sox. The world series is the championship for baseball. Chicago was the team in favor to win the series, but other people wanted the Cincinnati reds to win. This is what started the whole scandal for eight White Sox players to rig the series so that the Reds would win. All eight players were banned from baseball forever and became known as baseball's Black Sox. All players that were a part of the scandal are no longer allowed to play an organized baseball game.

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.

The media affects society in positive and negative ways. This can be seen in America’s national pastime baseball. Baseball is a sport that became the national sport in the United States in the late 19th century. From the beginning of the sport they tried to keep the highest standards to each player and ball club. There were times of scandal, but of all the things that happen to baseball substance abuse has been portrayed as one of the worst thing a player could do. To defame the baseball was to ruin everything the sport stood for. This research paper will look at one of the worst blotches in baseballs history, the steroid era.

Baseball is known as America’s pastime and is one of the most popular, respected sports on earth. Since the beginning of the sport, it seemingly advances with technology every year making faster and stronger players. The use of steroids became rampant and spread among players and has carried them away from the true history of the game they play. Controversy still today runs around the sport today about fines, punishments and record breaking. The past two decades of Major League Baseball have been tainted because of the use of performance enhancing drugs, also known as steroids, causing the loss of many fans and the true meaning of America’s favorite sport.

“I would like to blame the trouble we got into on Comiskey’s cheapness”(The Black Sox: My Side of the Story). The significance of this quotation is how Charles Comiskey paid his players from a former

     The Black Sox scandal was a baseball betting scheme involving a group of baseball players and gamblers which led to the Chicago White Sox intentionally losing in the 1919 World Series. As a result this scandal led to the banning of eight players from the 1919 Chicago White Sox team, Joe Jackson (better known as Shoeless Joe Jackson), Eddie Cicotte, Chick Gandil, Oscar Felsch, Fred McMullin, Swede Risberg, Buck Weaver, and Claude Williams. This event also introduced a new commissioner and strict rules prohibiting gambling in baseball.

Throughout our country’s history there have been many examples of fraud and scandal. One of the most well-known scandals of our century is the 1919 Chicago White Sox Scandal. The movie “Eight Men Out” shows us what really happened throughout the 1919 baseball season with the Chicago White Sox. The Chicago White Sox were a Major League Baseball organization who was run by their penny-pinching owner, Charles Comiskey. He has been under -paying his players, despite the fact that they were the clear favorite to win the 1919 World Series. As a result, the players decide to come up with a plan to get back at their cheap owner.

Book Review of Eight Men Out The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series by Eliot Asinof

Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby were very determined to stick with the game they loved and to make a change. Thanks to their performance both on and off the ball field, “other owners began to seek talented black players, and by 1952, there were 150 black players in organized baseball” (Branch). Their “actions had repercussions far beyond the sports world” (Jim). The integration of baseball was an enormous smack in the face to all of segregation. Many racial barriers quickly tumbled down with the integration of baseball; restaurants, hotels, and stores removed their “white only” signs bringing blacks and whites together. Robinson and Doby could not have won the battle against segregation on their own, the press helped to make their struggle to be known throughout the country.

Attention Getter: In 2008 the New York Giants won the Super Bowl by defeating the previously unbeaten New England Patriots in what most sports fans call one of the greatest upsets in sports history. What would you think if I told you the Patriots lost the game on purpose? They didn’t, but in 1919 eight members of the Chicago White Sox conspired to intentionally lose the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in what people now refer to as the Black Sox Scandal.

About a week before the World Series had even begun, the two teams were set. The Cincinnati Reds were going to take on the Chicago White Sox in the 1919 World Series. There were many bookies wanting to make big money off of the series. Some of these bookies were Abe Attel, Bill Maharg, and Bill Burns. Arnold Rothstein was also suspected, but he was found innocent on every major court. Eight Chicago White Sox players were in search of more money than their contract implied. The fans that knew about this were