CINCINNATI REDS WIN 1ST WORLD SERIES WITH A LITTLE HELP
Chicago, Illinois (JFK+50) On Thursday, October 9, 1919, the Cincinnati Reds won the 8th* and deciding game of the 1919 World Series at Comiskey Park here in the Windy City in defeating the Chicago White Sox by a score of 10 to 5. The winning pitcher was Hod Eller. The losing pitcher was Lefty Williams**. Attendance was 32, 930.
By September of 1920, however, newly installed baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned 8 Chicago White Sox players from organized baseball for life for their involvement in a scheme to intentionally lose the World Series in return for $5000 each from gamblers. This scheme became known as the "Black Sox Scandal."
At their trial held in Chicago in 1921, the following eight White Sox players were acquitted but the Commissioner's ban stood...
Arnold 'Chick' Gandil (1B)^
Eddie Cicotte (P)***
Oscar 'Happy' Felsch (RF)^
'Shoeless' Joe Jackson (LF)^
Fred McMullin (IF)
Charles 'Swede' Risberg (SS)^
George 'Buck' Weaver (3B)^
Claude 'Lefty' Williams (P)^
^Played in the final game of the 1919 World Series.
Pitcher Eddie Cicotte told the Grand Jury...
"I don't know why I did it. I must have been crazy."
*All World Series series have been the best of 7 games except 1903, 1919, 1920 & 1921 which were the best of 9.
**Claude 'Lefty' Williams, known as a control pitcher, threw only 15 pitches & managed only 1 out before being pulled from Game 8. He had allowed 4 hits & 3 runs.
***Edward Victor Cicotte (1884-1969) was a right handed pitcher whose specialty was the knuckleball. His career record was 208-149 with an ERA of 2.38. He had 1374 career strikeouts. EVC's banner year was 1917 when he won 28 games.
JFK+50 NOTE:
In 1963, Eliot Asinof published the book "Eight Men Out" which became a popular movie. EA's book shaped basic understanding of the Black Sox Scandal.
SOURCES
"The Black Sox Trial: An Account," by Douglas Linder, 2010, www.law2.umkc.edu/
"Today in History, October 9, 1919: Cincinnati Reds win their first World Series," A.P., www.cincinnati.com/
Shoeless Joe Jackson
Photo by Charles M. Conlon (1913)
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