Rumors of a fix

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – By September of 1920 rumors that the Chicago White Sox threw the 1919 World Series were rampant, but nobody was in trouble, until today.

A prosecutor in Chicago heard enough grand jury testimony on this date in 1920 to say the 1919 World Series between the Sox and the Cincinnati Reds “was not played on the square.” Assistant State’s Attorney Hartley Replogle went on to say, “From five to seven players on the White Sox are involved.” Replogle wouldn’t say what the evidence was, but it later surfaced that nine “Black” Sox took money from gamblers in exchange for intentionally losing World Series games.

Underdog Cincinnati went on to win the series 5 games to 3 (the series was best of nine in those days).

Eight White Sox players were indicted and put on trial in 1921:

• Joe (Shoeless Joe) Jackson
• Eddie Cicotte
• George (Buck) Weaver
• Fred McMullin
• Charles Risberg
• Oscar (Happy) Felsh
• Arnold (Chick) Gandil
• Claude Williams

Thanks to the “mysterious” disappearance of incriminating evidence against them, all were acquitted. Baseball’s first Commissioner, former federal judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis, however, wanted to make a dramatic statement to rid the game of any hint of gambling, so he banned the players for life. None ever played major league baseball again.

Over the years, supporters of Shoeless Joe Jackson and Buck Weaver tried to clear their names. Jackson admitted taking money but denied throwing any games.  Buck Weaver denied taking any money or letting up during the Series, but Judge Landis banned him for not speaking up about what he knew. Their names were never cleared.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
New York Times, September 23, 1920, Page 17, “Says 1919 World’s Series was fixed,”
The Shoeless Joe Jackson Society
Joe Jackson Grand Jury testimony

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