Chicago White Sox Scandal

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In 1919, one of the world's largest upsets occurred in the history of baseball. On October 9, the Cincinnati Reds defeated the highly favorable Chicago White Sox with an unlikely 10-5 World Series Win. During the game, the Chicago White Sox threw the game due to the interactions with a local gambling group (Lipowski, David) . Members from the group allegedly threatened and bribed players from the White Sox with large sums of money to assure the unfavorable Cincinnati Reds would win the world series game. Accusations of this scandal were made before the first pitch of the game was even thrown but they were shortly confirmed after the the pitcher, Eddie Cicotte, hit the batter with the ball from one of his first pitches. This is known as the …show more content…
Money was a major deal for these players because they believed that they were not being paid an amount that accurately resembled their talent, they believed that they were being underpaid for their quality. The eight players tried and found guilty for the conspiracy of the rigging were Eddie Cicotte: the pitcher, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson: star outfielder, Oscar “Happy” Felsch: center fielder, Claude “Lefty” Williams: pitcher, Arnold “Chick” Gandil: first baseman, Fred McMullin: utility infielder, Charles “Swede” Risberg: shortstop, and George “Buck” Weaver: third baseman. Together these players formed the best team in baseball, and perhaps one of the best teams to have of ever played the game (Andrews, Evan). Due to this known phenomenon, the players felt like their pay did not accurately resemble their worth. The players made $6,000 per year. While this number seems relatively low, the Cincinnati White Sox had one of the highest payrolls for players. Therefore, when the players were offered with $100,000 (approximately $1,463,224 now a days) each to throw the game, many were tempted. Another event that occurred that led to the 1919 World Series scandal was when Lefty Williams, who was scheduled to pitch, was visited the night before the game by an anonymous hitman who threatened to kill his wife if “the outcome of the game was in doubt after the first inning” (B-R Bullpen). This event assured to the gamblers that the team would cooperate and throw the world series. After this threat, during the first inning of the game, Williams threw nothing but mediocre fastballs and gave up four straight “one-out” hits allowing three runs before his coach, Gleason, replaced him with a back-up pitcher, Big Bill James, who was not involved in the scandal. By the end of the sixth inning, the Cincinnati Reds had built up a comfortable lead of 9-1 against the Chicago White
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