SEPTEMBER 24, 1920 | NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK – An editorial in the New York Times on this date in 1920 admonished Major League Baseball to clean up its act in the wake of the Black Sox scandal. The message reminded baseball of “the financial value of honesty.” A few days earlier prosecutors in Chicago lent credence to rumors that several Chicago White Sox players took money to intentionally not play up to their abilities during the 1919 World Series. The New York Times editorial almost exactly a year after the ill-fated World Series reminded baseball of its own inflexibility with gambling when the National League was in its infancy in the late 1800s:
“Prompt action at almost the very beginning of National League history removed a group of players who made a business of ‘throwing’ games, and ever since then the average American has been as sure of the purity of the national sport as he was of the corruption of national politics, and as proud.”
The Times went on to say that by cracking down on gambling years earlier, baseball “realized that big profits and huge salaries” were only assured if the public had no suspicion games were fixed.
Despite eight members of the 1919 White Sox eventually being acquitted of taking money to lose the World Series, mainly because key evidence was lost, all eight were banned from baseball by commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis August 3, 1921.
Source:
New York Times, September 24, 1920
Tag: Black Sox
Sep 22: Rumors of a fix
SEPTEMBER 22, 1920 | CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – By the fall 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
JAN 13: BUCK WEAVER PLEAS
JANUARY 13, 1958 | CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – The New York Times reported on this date in 1958 that disgraced Chicago White Sox third baseman Buck Weaver pleaded with the Commissioner who banned him to reconsider. Weaver and Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis met informally a week earlier, but it was not publicly disclosed.
Weaver had been kicked out of major league baseball for life for being part of a conspiracy to throw the 1919 World Series. Despite he and seven other players being acquitted of taking bribes from gamblers (mainly because their confessions were mysteriously lost), baseball banned them anyway for associating with gamblers. The evidence was that Weaver refused to take part in the plan but never spoke up about it either.
Weaver hit .324 in the series and played errorless third base, which lent credence to his declaration that he wasn’t involved, but Commissioner Landis wouldn’t budge.
This was the first of several pleas by George “Buck” Weaver during his lifetime to get his named cleared. He died in 1956 at age 65, his pleas going unanswered.
Contributing sources:
The New York Times, January 14, 1922
1919 World Series stats, box scores
NOV 12 – Meet the New Boss
NOVEMBER 12, 1920 • CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – Pete Townsend wrote “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss,” in The Who classic, Won’t Get Fooled Again. That’s not unlike when Major League Baseball owners gave in to Federal Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis on this date in 1920, and named him the game’s first Commissioner.
The public relations nightmare of the 1919 Black Sox scandal was just coming to light. Owners were fearful the effect of the scandal would have on the popularity of the game. They were pursuing an independent 3-member commission to rule the game. A favorite of the owners to be one of the commissioners was Judge Landis, but he would only serve if he was sole Commissioner. That’s how a single baseball Commissioner came to be.
According to Leonard Koppett, author of Koppett’s Concise History of Major League Baseball, Judge Landis negotiated a pretty good deal to help major league baseball “come clean.” He got an annual salary of $50,000 for seven years. He would remain on the federal bench, but his $7,500 judge salary would be deducted from his baseball salary.
Kenesaw Mountain Landis is most remembered for banning eight members of the Chicago White Sox for life in 1921 for throwing the 1919 World Series.
Koppett suspects Landis was named commissioner as payback for bailing out major league baseball when he was the presiding judge over an antitrust lawsuit in 1915.
While the antitrust litigation had a more lasting effect, Kennesaw Mountain Landis is most remembered for banning eight members of the Chicago White Sox for life in 1921 for throwing the 1919 World Series. A jury had found the players not guilty of throwing the series – partly because confessions they made were lost – but Judge Landis didn’t care about the acquittals. His view was they confessed to accepting bribes, so they were forbidden to ever play major league baseball again.
Kenesaw Mountain Landis was Commissioner for 24 years – the longest of any baseball commissioner. That’s what happened TODAY – November 12th – in baseball history.
Contributing sources:
Koppett’s Concise History of Major League Baseball, by Leonard Koppett, 2004