The 1919 World Series: The Chicago White Sox

Words: 1234
Pages: 5

If a person were to ask a question about the 1919 world series, what would be the first thought to enter the average person’s head? Some of these could be the images of the Chicago White Sox or the Cincinnati Reds. Others might be the great players that were banned, such as: “Shoeless” Joe Jackson - one of the greatest hitters in baseball history, Eddie Cicotte - a great pitcher that played for the White Sox, or Claude “lefty” Williams - one of the American League’s greatest strikeout pitchers; just to name a few (Ward 133.) But, the main thought that seems to arise is the fact that the world series was “thrown”, meaning that the series was intentionally lost. How could an exchange of less than $50,000 be worth losing some of the best players that the game of baseball had ever seen? Throughout the 1919 season, the Chicago White Sox dominated most of the teams that they played. They finished the season as the top seed in the American League with a record of 88 wins and 52 losses(Smith 1.) Just to put into …show more content…
Coming off of one of their best seasons in history, the Chicago White Sox were set to play the Cincinnati Reds in a battle of nine games. But, prior to this meeting between Chicago and Cincinnati, the White Sox first baseman C. Arnold “chick” Gandil had met with a gambler by the name of Joseph “sport” Sullivan. In this exchange, they discussed the possibility of rigging or even throwing the 1919 world series, that the White Sox were about to be involved in. In this time period, the idea of throwing an event such as the World Series was unprecedented. But, for a hefty price tag of $100,000 the first baseman knew that he couldn’t pass up such an offer. Due to the fact that the White Sox owner, Charlie Comiskey was so close - fisted, that he wouldn't even wash the players jerseys, let alone pay their salaries in