"NERVOUS LETDOWN & ATTENTIONS OF ADMIRING FANS"

WASHINGTON BASEBALL PLAYERS TOO TIRED TO GET THEIR CHECKS

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On October 11, 1924, the Evening Star reports some of the players on the world champion Washington baseball club "were almost too tired...to gather in the fat wads of United States currency that represents their share of the gate receipts."

Manager Bucky Harris, holding "a big sheaf of series' checks," told his players to "come and get these things."

Each check, written for $5959, was courtesy of Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis*.

The Star attributed the players' lack of energy to be from "nervous letdown" after the 7 game series, and "the attentions of admiring thousands" of fans.

JFK+50 NOTE

According to the CPI Inflation Calculator, $5,959 in 1924 would be valued at $109,699.46 in 2024,  According to Sportico, each player on the 2023 World Series championship Texas Rangers earned a minimum of $554,263.  We can find no information on whether or not they were too tired to get their checks.

*Kenesaw Mountain Landis (1866-1944) was born in Milville, Ohio & served as a Federal judge 1905-1922.  KML was the 1st baseball commissioner 1920-1944 & is in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

SOURCES

"C.P.I. Inflation Calculator," www.in2013dollars.com/

"Major League Baseball Post Season 2024:  How Much Players Earn in Post Season," by Kurt Badenhausen, Sportico, www.sportico.com/

"Players So Tired They Don't Hurry For $5,959 Checks," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., October 11, 1924, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

 

 

Landis Throws Out 1st Pitch

1924

Bain News Serivce

Library of Congress

"GET OUT OF JAIL FREE, IF YOU ARE IN JAIL"

PRESIDENTIAL PARDON DOESN'T WORK IF YOU ARE NOT IN JAIL, PHIL

Chicago, Illinois (JFK+50) On December 26, 1923, the Associated Press reports one Philip Grossman, sentenced to one year in jail (on) February 7, 1921, was not released by a presidential pardon from Calvin Coolidge yesterday "when it was found he never had been in jail."

Mr. Grossman had been sentenced by Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis* "for failure to close his saloon in accordance with a federal injunction."

Mr. Grossman obviously did not understand a "Get Out of Jail Free" card only works if you are IN jail.

*Kenesaw Mountain Landis (1866-1944) was born in Milville, Ohio & educated at Union College of Law.  KML served as Judge of the U.S. District Court for Northern District of Illinois 1905-1922 & Commissioner of Baseball 1920-1944.

SOURCE

"Man Not In Jail May Enter to Get Coolidge Pardon," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., December 26, 1923, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

 

 

 

 www.cafepress.com/

"FOR TURNING LOOSE A CONVICTED FELON"

SENATOR CALLS FOR IMPEACHMENT OF JUDGE LANDIS

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On February 12, 1921, Senator Nathaniel B. Dial* (D-South Carolina) called for the impeachment of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis** for turning loose "a man convicted of a crime because (he) had a salary of only $90 a month from a wealthy corporation."

Dial called it "the most outrageous pronouncement he ever heard by any court."  The man in question was Francis J. Carey of Ottawa, Illinois who had pled guilty to the theft of $96,500 from National City Bank of Chicago.

Judge Landis deemed it appropriate to let the man go free since he had left a note behind at the bank saying he would not have done the robbery "if he had been treated differently."

*Nathaniel Barksdale Dial (1862-1940) was born in Laurens, SC & studied law at the University of Virginia.  NBD was admitted to the bar in 1883 & served as mayor of Laurens before his election to the U.S. Senate (1919-1925).

**Kenesaw Mountain Landis (1866-1944) was born in Millville, Ohio & served as Federal Judge of the Illinois Federal Court (1905-1922).  His name came from the fact that his father was wounded at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia in the Civil War. 

In 1907, he fined the Standard Oil Company of Indiana $29 million for violation of federal laws forbidding rebates on railroad freight tariffs.  KML was the first commissioner of baseball, serving 1920-1944. 

SOURCE

"Threat In Senate To Impeach Landis For Freeing Felon," The New York Herald, February 13, 1921, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

 

 

Landis Throws Out 1st Pitch

Bain News Service (1924)

Library of Congress Photo

"I DON'T KNOW WHY I DID IT. I MUST HAVE BEEN CRAZY."

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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