Black Sox Trial Case Study

Black Sox Trial Case Study

War Time

1918

The country was in World War I. This lead to an all time low for the interest in baseball.

1919

The country was out of the war and the interest for baseball began to rise once again.

The enthusiasm for baseball after the war surprised all.

Fans followed every game.

It was so high that the MLB decided to make the World Series best of 9. It usually is the best of 7.

Background

• Some say that Comiskey’s reluctance to spend on his players was a major cause for the scandal.
• No other teams roster had the lowest salary than the White Sox. Comiskey got away with paying low player salaries through the “reserve clause” in each player’s contract. This was the clause that prevented players from switching teams without the approval of the owner(s).
• Comiskey would make promises to his players and never had an intention of following through.

Possibly Involved:

pitcher

Background info on the Chicago White Sox

pitcher

infielder

"Shoeless" Joe Jackson

Eddie Cicotte

Claude "Lefty" Williams

Buck Weaver

Arnold "Chick" Gandil

Fred McMullin

Charles "Swede" Risberg

Oscar "Happy" Felsch

A Split Team

infielder

outfielder

Problems with the team striking back before scandal:

(Possible Motive for fix)

Comiskey would charge his players for cleaning their own uniforms.

Protest: players decided to wear the dirty uniforms for every game. Comiskey then removed their uniforms, washed them and fined the players.

• The White Sox played and still play in the American League.
• Owned by Charles Comiskey.
• From the beginning, in 1900, till 1906 The White Sox stayed strong. Winning the league championship and World Series. But for 8 years they hit a dry spell, losing more games than won. Then they won the 1917 World Series. By 1919 the White Sox had the best American League record.

• The players didn’t like each other.

• The team was split into two “gangs”/cliques. One group was lead by Eddie Collins & the other by Chick Gandil.
• Collins’s group consisted of the more educated and sophisticated. They were able to negotiate salaries. Their highest salary was $15,000.
• Gandil’s group were considered the “less polished”. Their salaries were around $6,000.

What Happened?

1919 World Series is known as the most famous baseball scandal of all time.

**Could this diversity within the clubhouse be the reason for the scandal?**

Gambling

8 players from the Chicago White Soxs were said to have thrown the 1919 World Series. They were playing the Cincinnati Reds.

References:

The 1919 World Series

What happened in the scandal and how each player was involved has always been unclear.

Chicago White Sox were in favor of winning.

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/blacksox/blacksox.html

http://www.chicagohs.org/history/blacksox.html

There were rumors of a fix before the Series even started.

• Gambling started in baseball in the 1850s.
• There were rumors that players would take bribes that would be larger than their income to throw a single game.
• Joseph Sullivan
• Rumor has it that Sullivan would give bribes to White Sox’s infielder, Chick Gandil.
• Gamblers were willing to pay the players more than their salaries for them to throw a game.

Chicago lost the first series game and the players did not receive the money they were promised. They said they would lose the next game, which they did, but that the money would need to be in by that night.

Other players, not involved, began suspicions.

The Trial

Gandil went to the gamblers saying they needed the $40,000 they deserve for losing the first two games. They got $10,000 instead.

Game 3= Chicago Win

Players began to lose faith in the fix.

Sullivan was able to get a hold of $20,000 before the 4th game.

Game 5= Chicago Lose

Game 4= Chicago Lose

Game 6 & 7= Chicago Wins

Gamblers didn't pay once again.

After It All

Even though they could not play professional baseball some of the players could not stand not playing at all. Jackson, Cicotte, and Risberg played on semi-professional teams.

Jackson was inducted into the Cleveland Baseball Hall of Fame around 1951, and died shortly after.

Fred McMullin died in 1952.

Buck Weaver appealed to the baseball commissioner to allow him back into the major leagues, but was rejected multiple times. He ended up running a drugstore and died of a heart attack in 1956.

Lefty Williams ran a poolroom then moved to California and managed a landscaping business. He died in 1959.

Happy Felsch ran a bar and died in 1964.

Eddie Cicotte was a game warden & security guard. Then died in 1970.

Charles “Swede” Risberg worked on a dairy farm and died in 1975.

Even if the White Sox won the series they would each get $5,000.

Something Came Out of the Scandal

Club owners decided to change the way baseball was run.

The 3 man national commission was replaced by a one man commissioner.

GAME 8

FUN FACTS---

Gambler, Arnold Rothstein, beted all on Cincinnati winning the series. To make sure of his bet he sent a henchman to pay a visit to Williams (pitcher of game 8). The henchman threatened Williams and his wife if Chicago didn’t lose the next game, which would end the series.

The team was originally named The White Stockings.

Comiskey is credited for being the first person to train his team to adjust their field positions according to a the batter’s batting habits.

Fixing the World Series

People familiar with the case say that Gandil was the leader of the fix.

• The players accused were suspended for the rest of the 1920 season.
• Jackson, Cicotte, Williams confessed and their testimonies were then reported missing. Four years later they turned up in Comiskey’s lawyers hands, no reason for the reappearance was recorded.
• Testimonies went on for 1 month. It took the jury 2 hours and 47 minutes to come up with a verdict.
• Due to lack of evidence and the missing confessions the verdict came out not guilty.
• In the end not much was answered.

Gandil approached Sullivan about fixing the World Series.

• The Deal: Sullivan and other gamblers would pay the players $100,000 to lose the World Series.

Cicotte's Motive:

He had a huge grudge with Comiskey and wanted to get back at him.

Gandil's Motive:

Comiskey promised Cicotte that if he won 30 games then he would get a $10,000 bonus. Comiskey benched Cicotte when he had 29 wins. He says that he wanted to make sure that he was well rested for the pennant games. Comiskey never paid.

Cicotte agreed with the fix as long as he was paid $10,000 up front.

Gandil had a past for being rough around the edges.

He was planning on retiring soon.

Wanted more money before he retired.

Hugh Fullerton:

Gandil recruited Cicotte & Williams into the plan

Risberg heard and wanted in on the action.

Grand Jury Hearings

There is a lot of controversy over whether or not Jackson was involved.

Do you think that Jackson was involved?

Many people say that he never participated in the scandal on the basis of never going to the conspiracy meetings and playing the game as usual.

BUT

In his testimony in front of the grand jury he said that he was involved and was an equal conspirator.

He also testified that Gandil offered to pay him $20,000 to throw the series. He agreed, expecting to be paid after every game.

Weaver attended the conspiracy meetings, but refused to be apart of the plot.

It is said that Comiskey knew about the conspiracy.

After It All

• A sports writer for the Chicago Herald and Examiner.
• He had heard of the rumors of a fix and paid close attention to them. He wrote many columns hinting on the possibility of gamblers’ involvement in baseball.
• The conspiracy might have gone under the radar if the problem of gambling in baseball had not grew.
• Other teams players heard of the gamblers’ offers and decided to throw some of their games.

Even though they could not play professional baseball some of the players could not stand not playing at all. Jackson, Cicotte, and Risberg played on semi-professional teams.

Jackson was inducted into the Cleveland Baseball Hall of Fame around 1951, and died shortly after.

Fred McMullin died in 1952.

Buck Weaver appealed to the baseball commissioner to allow him back into the major leagues, but was rejected multiple times. He ended up running a drugstore and died of a heart attack in 1956.

Lefty Williams ran a poolroom then moved to California and managed a landscaping business. He died in 1959.

Happy Felsch ran a bar and died in 1964.

Eddie Cicotte was a game warden & security guard. Then died in 1970.

Charles “Swede” Risberg worked on a dairy farm and died in 1975.

Something Came Out of the Scandal

• In September of 1920 a grand jury looked into some allegations that the Chicago Cubs had thrown a game against Philadelphia Phillies. This spread over to the 1919 World Series game.
• The jury began bringing in players, owners, managers, writers and gamblers to reevaluate the past years World Series.
• Jackson & Cicotte were the first to confess.
• Indictments were given to the 8 players and the gamblers involved. Rothstein was the only gambler who was not sentenced for this crime. Many of his henchmen were but not Rothstein.
• Rothstein ended up making $270,000 on the 1919 World Series win.

Club owners decided to change the way baseball was run.

The 3 man national commission was replaced by a one man commissioner.

FUN FACTS---

The team was originally named The White Stockings.

Comiskey is credited for being the first person to train his team to adjust their field positions according to a the batter’s batting habits.

by Maggie Crosby

Ms. Sheppard/7

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