What Role Did Joe Jackson Play In The 1919 World Series

Words: 984
Pages: 4

The 1919 World Series was very interesting to say the least. Some of the White Sox players wanted extra money, and some bookies wanted to make big bucks off of the series. Three bookies and eight players changed the game of baseball in the 1919 World Series. I believe that this series is one of, if not the darkest chapter in Major League Baseball’s history.

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 lots of 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.
…show more content…
That is an average that few players have ever been able to maintain throughout the entire year. Although Jackson accepted some money, he played at his best during the series. Joe Jackson actually batted .375 throughout the World Series. He also kept up his play in the field making little to no errors during the series. Nobody is sure if Joe Jackson should have been banned from baseball or not. Unlike Jackson, most of the other players who took part in the scandal played poorly. Swede Risberg hit 2/25 during the World Series. Risberg’s average was an absolutely terrible .80. Happy Felsch batted .192 during the World Series. The White Sox team batting average through the series was .224. That average just goes to show how just a few players can affect a team’s …show more content…
When the series began, fans were very suspicious of most of the players. The players held a meeting as game one was approaching. This meeting was held to make sure that the fix was still in place. To the surprise of none of the players the fix was still on. The highly anticipated game one had over 30,000 fans in attendance. In this game the White Sox were demolished by the Reds. The final score was 9-1 in the Reds favor. Eddie Cicotte, who accepted $10,000 after game one, was donned the game’s losing pitcher. Cicotte was a 29 game winner in the 1919 season. With that being said, that loss was very rare. Cicotte lost another crucial game in the series as well. He finished the series with a less than mediocre record of 1-2. There were multiple instances of unusual events that happened during the series. Some of these events were errors made by some of the league’s best fielders. Because of these events, the under favored Reds stole a couple of quick games. They actually won game 2, game 4, game 5, and game 8 along with game 1. As the series continued, the White Sox had to win a few games to make it look like they were trying. The White Sox would bounce back to win games 3, 6, and 7. However, it was too little too late for the White Sox to come back. Of course fans of baseball in general had been infuriated. This was not a good sign for Major League