The Black Sox Scandal: A Betrayal of America's Pastime
The focal point of today's discussion revolves around the infamous Black Sox scandal, which emerged from the 1919 World Series, a pivotal event in the annals of American sports history. We transport our listeners to the electrifying atmosphere of October 1, 1919, at Cincinnati's Redland Field, where the Chicago White Sox, heralded as champions, faced unexpected disgrace. The narrative unfolds with the underperformance of star pitcher Eddie Sicott, leading to an outcome that not only shocked fans but also ignited suspicion regarding the integrity of the game itself. As we delve deeper, we explore the intricate dynamics within the White Sox team, the influence of gambling syndicates, and the consequential fallout that led to the lifetime ban of several players, including the iconic Shoeless Joe Jackson. Ultimately, this scandal transcended mere sports; it encapsulated a profound crisis of faith in a nation grappling with disillusionment in the aftermath of World War I.
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Takeaways:
- The 1919 World Series featured the Chicago White Sox, who were heavily favored to win, yet they suffered a shocking defeat against the Cincinnati Reds, igniting suspicions of foul play.
- The scandal surrounding the White Sox, known as the Black Sox scandal, involved several players conspiring to intentionally lose games for financial gain, reflecting deep-rooted issues within the team.
- White Sox owner Charles Comiskey was viewed as a villain for his treatment of players, including accusations of stinginess that fostered resentment among the team members.
- The aftermath of the scandal led to the life bans of eight players, including the renowned Shoeless Joe Jackson, fundamentally altering the landscape of Major League Baseball forever.
Transcript
It's game one of the world Series.
Speaker A:The air is electric, thick with the smell of popcorn and cigar smoke.
Speaker A:There are over 30,000 people filling the stands.
Speaker A:On the mound for the heavily favored Chicago White Sox is Eddie Sicott, often referred to more casually as Knuckles.
Speaker A:Eddie was the team's 29 game winner, their ace, the master of the spitball, the knuckleball, the shine ball.
Speaker A:A pitcher at the absolute peak of his powers.
Speaker B:He throws his first pitch.
Speaker B:It's a perfect strike, slicing through the autumn air.
Speaker B:The crowd roars.
Speaker B:Everything is as it should be.
Speaker B:The pinnacle of America's pastime is underway.
Speaker B:Then comes the second pitch.
Speaker B:It doesn't find the catcher's mitt.
Speaker B:Instead, the ball smacks Cincinnati's leadoff hitter squarely in the back.
Speaker A:Was it just a wild pitch?
Speaker A:A simple mistake by the professional pitcher?
Speaker B:At the time, that seemed the most likely explanation.
Speaker B:The Chicago White Sox were expected to beat the Sox off of the Cincinnati Reds.
Speaker B:Pun intended.
Speaker A:But during the fourth inning, White Sox pitcher Eddie Sicott began to fall apart.
Speaker A:It's like he never thrown a pitch before in his life.
Speaker A:By the time the stunned Chicago manager took Saikot out, the White Sox were behind 6 1.
Speaker A:The final score was a lopsided Cincinnati, 9, Chicago 1.
Speaker B:Initially, the reaction of the Chicago White Sox's loss was surprise and disappointment.
Speaker B:The New York Times reportedly marveled at the quote, disastrous dubbing the White Sox received in the opening game.
Speaker B:But soon that surprise turned to suspicion.
Speaker A:The very next night, during game two, a different White Sox pitcher, known as Lefty Williams, was on the mound.
Speaker A:But in a deja vu moment, left Lefty, who was generally an excellent pitcher, experienced a sudden bout of wildness in the fourth inning, walking three batters, allowing three runs.
Speaker A:And again, the White Sox lost to the Cincinnati Reds, this time 4 to 2.
Speaker B: The: Speaker A:The next morning, two of Chicago's biggest name newspapers, the Herald and the examiner, published a column by the famous American sports writer, Hugh Fullerton.
Speaker A:In his column, Fullerton questioned the integrity of the White Sox Series performance.
Speaker A:He also made a startling assertion that quite a few White Sox players would not be wearing a Chicago uniform in the next season.
Speaker B:And Fullerton wasn't the only one who had an inkling that something wasn't right.
Speaker B:White Sox owner Charles Comiskey had apparently privately received reports that his team was planning to throw the championship series.
Speaker B:And during the series itself, White Sox manager Kid Gleason reportedly stated, quote, I don't know what's the matter, but I do know that something is wrong with my gang.
Speaker B:End quote.
Speaker A:Welcome back to history's greatest crimes.
Speaker A:I'm Michael.
Speaker B:And I'm Elena.
Speaker A:And in this episode, we're going to cover the story of the Black Sox scandal.
Speaker A: nally losing and throwing the: Speaker A:While players on the team who were not involved were known as the Clean Soc.
Speaker B:Ultimately, this crime resulted in the banning of eight implicated players from Major League Baseball for life, including the team's famous and beloved outfielder and hitter, Shoeless Joe Jackson.
Speaker A:But the exact details of the Black Sox affair remains murky and is subject to debate.
Speaker A:Did all eight players actually participate in the scandal?
Speaker A:And if so, to what degree?
Speaker B:But one central and indisputable truth endures.
Speaker B: The: Speaker B:It revealed the dark underbelly of professional baseball, exposing the potential for corruption and the influence of gambling syndicates.
Speaker B:And ultimately, the scandal shook the faith of many fans who felt betrayed by the players they idolized.
Speaker B:To fully understand the Black Sox scandal, you first have to understand the team.
Speaker B: The: Speaker B:Arguably one of the greatest teams ever assembled.
Speaker B:They had Eddie Collins, a future hall of Famer.
Speaker B:At second base, they had the brilliant third baseman Buck Weaver.
Speaker B:And they had Joseph Jefferson Jackson, better known as Shoeless Joe, a man with a lifetime batting average of.356.
Speaker B:That figure is still the third highest in baseball history.
Speaker A:But beneath the surface of this dominant team, the clubhouse was a toxic, free, fractured place.
Speaker A:It was a divided team into two warring factions.
Speaker A:On the one side were the educated college bred players.
Speaker A:For example, second baseman Eddie Collins was a graduate of Columbia University.
Speaker A:And pitcher Red Faber attended college prep academies before being signed into the minor leagues.
Speaker A:In contrast, the other half of the team was more of a hardscrabble group who had grown up in poverty.
Speaker A:For example, Shoeless Joe Jackson.
Speaker A:He was functionally illiterate.
Speaker A:He had started off playing on the baseball team for the mill.
Speaker A:He worked at 12 hour shifts when he was a young boy.
Speaker B:According to contemporary accounts, these two factions of the White Sox, one affluent and educated and the other impoverished, rarely spoke to each other on or off the field.
Speaker B:And ultimately, many of the players who were condemned for their part in the White Sox scandal and came from that hardscrabble group, while those who belonged to the affluent group were not involved and came to be known as the, quote, clean socks.
Speaker A:In addition to this division within the team, another complaint that White Sox players had concerns with was the team's owner, Charles Comiskey.
Speaker B:Now, the popular narrative of the Black Sox scandal paints Comiskey as the story's primary villain, a miserly and narcissistic capitalist who treated his star players like property.
Speaker B:Stories circulated that he was a notorious tightwad who underpaid his team and promised bonuses he never delivered.
Speaker B: ore the scandal took place in: Speaker A:The biggest example of Comiskey's stinginess was a story about Eddie Knuckles Sicott.
Speaker A: t game of the World Series in: Speaker A: bonus in: Speaker A:As Sicot closed in on the milestone with 29 wins, Comiskey supposedly had him benched for the final weeks of the season, deliberately delaying and denying him that bonus.
Speaker A:His excuse at the time was that he had to protect his star's pitching arm.
Speaker B: And after winning the: Speaker A:But like most things in this story, the truth about Comiskey is more complicated.
Speaker A: poor, salary data reveals the: Speaker A:For example, second baseman Eddie Collins had a salary of $15,000, making him the second highest paid baseball player in the American League at the time.
Speaker A:And a total of four Chicago players ranked among the top 20 highest paid players.
Speaker B:So Comiskey, the owner, wasn't always cheap.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:And he also had a pretty good public reputation.
Speaker A:He was known for acts of public generosity, handing out thousands of free tickets to school children, and even staying by a player's side in the hospital during a near fatal appendicitis operation.
Speaker B:So if it wasn't just about the money, what was it?
Speaker A:Well, the real issue was power.
Speaker A: In: Speaker A:For life, or until the team decided to trade or release him.
Speaker A:There was no free agency at the time, no union, and no bargaining power.
Speaker A:Players were assets, not partners.
Speaker A:So in this context, grievances over laundry fees or flat champagne weren't just about pennies.
Speaker A:They were symbols of a profound and inescapable powerlessness, and the players felt trapped.
Speaker B:I see.
Speaker B:So the scandal then wasn't born simply of greed.
Speaker B:It was some players misguided attempt to seize a measure of financial control in a system designed to deny them any.
Speaker A:Exactly, Elena.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A: eyond baseball into the early: Speaker A:The Great war, World War I, had just ended the previous year, and while Americans were on the winning allied side of the war, the whole experience left many feeling very pessimistic.
Speaker A:Nine million people around the world had died, and the survivors felt a widespread loss of faith in the traditional institutions, in governments, in political ideologies.
Speaker B:Political leaders had encouraged their citizens to expect that peace after the war would bring improvement in the tenor and quality of life.
Speaker B:But the reality was actually economic turmoil, social chaos, and a gnawing sense that the sacrifice had been for nothing.
Speaker B:This disillusionment created a deep crisis of faith in societal norms and traditional values.
Speaker A:But in the face of this disillusionment, Americans continue to trust in the national pastime of baseball.
Speaker A: Since its origins in the late: Speaker A:By the Civil war.
Speaker A: In the: Speaker A: By the: Speaker A: ring the first decades of the: Speaker A:Large stadiums were built dedicated to the game itself, including Boston's Fenway park and Wrigley Field on the other side of Chicago.
Speaker B:And for the city of Chicago in particular, baseball was important.
Speaker B:Against the backdrop of Chicago's rapid industrialization and the influx of immigrants.
Speaker B:Baseball.
Speaker B:Many people saw baseball as a sport that could overcome social turmoil and unite everyone.
Speaker A: So by: Speaker A:It was a cultural institution.
Speaker A:It was a secular religion that reflected American values of teamwork, of fair play, of perseverance.
Speaker A:It was supposed to be a pure arena, a refuge from the corrupt and messy realities of everyday life.
Speaker B:The Black Sox scandal, therefore, was not just a sports crime.
Speaker B:It Was seen as a cultural symptom.
Speaker B:In an era where the public already felt betrayed by presidents and generals who had led them into a pointless, brutal war.
Speaker B:The betrayal by their baseball heroes felt like a grim, almost inevitable confirmation of a new cynical reality.
Speaker B:The shock was not just that it happened, but that even baseball, the one thing that was supposed to be clean, was just as rotten as everything else.
Speaker A:This climate of cynicism and moral ambiguity was the perfect breeding ground for organized crime.
Speaker A: th Amendment in: Speaker A:At the same time, fragmented street gangs took advantage of that black market and developed into highly structured criminal enterprises.
Speaker B: angster Al Capone in the late: Speaker B: reading westward in the early: Speaker A:The leader of the Jewish mob in New York City was Arnold Rothstein.
Speaker A:Rothstein was not your stereotypical dumb gangster.
Speaker A:He was nicknamed the brain.
Speaker A:And he was a brilliant criminal entrepreneur who, according to one biographer, quote, transformed organized crime from a thuggish activity by hoodlums into a big business run like a corporation.
Speaker A:End quote.
Speaker B:The son of an affluent and respected businessman, Rothstein dropped out of school at 16 and immersed himself in the world of underground gambling.
Speaker B:He was a master of numbers and risk, A man who famously quipped that he'd bet on anything but the weather, since that was the only thing he couldn't control.
Speaker A: By: Speaker A:He was a fixer, a shadowy figure who moved comfortably between the worlds of crime, politics and business.
Speaker A:In the lead up to the World series that year, Rossin was actually approached by not one, but two different bookkeepers to help fix the World Series.
Speaker A:Rossi chose to work with one, and he agreed to provide the financial backing to the players.
Speaker B:Although Rothstein would never actually admit to his role in the fix, you don't have to squint too hard to assume some level of participation.
Speaker B: During the: Speaker B:Quite a bit of money at that.
Speaker A:Time, millions of dollars in today's money.
Speaker A:Now, just as an aside, the Arnold Rothstein was apparently the inspiration for the gangster character Meyer.
Speaker A:Wolfsheim in F. Scott Fitzgerald's the Great Gatsby.
Speaker A: he story set in the summer of: Speaker A:And perhaps not coincidentally, the fictional Mr. Wolfsheim is described very similarly to the known appearance of the real life New York gangster, but Arnold Rothstein.
Speaker A: The conspiracy to fix the: Speaker A: ,: Speaker A:According to most accounts, it was Gandil who made the pitch.
Speaker A:He specifically told Sullivan that the World Series could be bought for $80,000.
Speaker B: Now, years later, in a: Speaker B:He claimed it was Sullivan who approached him.
Speaker B:But regardless, once introduced, the idea spread quickly through the hardscrabble faction of the White Sox clubhouse.
Speaker B:Just two days later, a meeting was held in Gandil's room at the Osonian Hotel in New York City.
Speaker A:The initial group of conspirators was small but potent.
Speaker A:It included Gandal the ringleader, Eddie Sighcott the team's ace pitcher, Claude Lefty Williams the number two starter, Oscar Happy Felsh, the center fielder, and Charles Swede Risburg, the shortstop who would act as the group's muscle.
Speaker A:They would soon be joined by utility infielder Fred McMullen, who wasn't actually involved, but overheard the others talking and threatened to expose them unless he was cut into the deal.
Speaker A:The plot was solidifying.
Speaker A:Now they just needed to recruit the team's biggest stars.
Speaker B:Eddie Sicott was the key.
Speaker B:Without the team's best pitcher on board, the fix was impossible.
Speaker B:Gandil knew Saikat was in financial trouble, and like many White Sox players, he resented the owner, Comiskey.
Speaker B:Saicon eventually agreed to participate for $10,000.
Speaker B:In his grand jury confession, he told the prosecutor, quote, they wanted me to go crooked.
Speaker B:I needed the money.
Speaker B:I had the wife and the kids, end quote.
Speaker A: ,: Speaker A:He later explained, quote, once I had the cash there in my fingers, I went ahead and threw the game, end quote.
Speaker B:The most debated, most tragic figure in this entire saga is Shoeless Joe Jackson.
Speaker B: Babe Ruth copied his swing in: Speaker A:As mentioned, Jackson began playing baseball for the mill he worked at as a child.
Speaker A:In a later interview, Jackson recalled that he got his nickname early on during a mill game played in Greenville, South Carolina.
Speaker A:Jackson had blisters on his foot from a new pair of cleats, which hurt so much that he took off his shoes before he went to bat.
Speaker A:A heckling fan noticed Jackson running the bases in his socks and shouted, you shoeless son of a gun, you.
Speaker A:And the resulting nickname, Shoeless Joe, stuck with him throughout the remainder of his life.
Speaker B: But in: Speaker B:In the following season, before he was suspended for being part of the Black Sox scandal, he was having one of his best overall seasons, leading the American League in triples and setting by large margins, career marks for home runs, RBI and fewest strikeouts per plate appearance.
Speaker A:But Jackson was part of that hardscrabble faction of the team that found themselves at the center of the Black Sox scandal, and his association with those who were clearly guilty and meant that he had pulled into it as well.
Speaker A:And in the end, however, it isn't clear how guilty Shoeless Joe personally was.
Speaker B:He was not part of the initial meetings, but was instead approached privately by his teammates.
Speaker B:His story, though, is a knot of contradictions, best seen in his own words from the sworn grand jury testimony.
Speaker B: th of: Speaker A:Jackson's reply was unambiguous.
Speaker A:Quote, they did.
Speaker B:He went on to testify that he refused the bribe twice and had only accepted $5,000.
Speaker B:After game four when his teammate, pitcher Lefty Williams, tossed the cash on the floor of his hotel room.
Speaker A:Yet in the same testimony, Jackson insisted he never did anything on the field to earn that money.
Speaker A:He told the grand jury that he played to win in the entire series and made no intentional errors.
Speaker A:This is the central irreconcilable conflict of this story.
Speaker A:He admitted to taking the money for the conspiracy, but he denied ever being part of the conspiracy's execution.
Speaker A:It's a contradiction that has fueled a century of debate.
Speaker B:And then there was Buck Weaver.
Speaker B:The team's popular third baseman attended the initial meetings.
Speaker B:He knew about the fix from the very beginning, but he refused to take any money.
Speaker B:And by all accounts played his heart out in the series.
Speaker B:His crime was one of omission.
Speaker B:He knew his teammates were betraying the game and he stayed silent.
Speaker B:And for that silence, he would pay the same price as all the others.
Speaker A:So the cast of this tragedy was set.
Speaker A:Eight men, for different reasons, made a pact to commit the ultimate sin in sports.
Speaker B:The original deal was for $100,000 in total, to be paid in installments of $20,000 after each loss.
Speaker B:But the players were, of course, dealing with criminals, and criminals rarely keep their word.
Speaker B:After losing game one, the promised payment didn't arrive.
Speaker B:After losing game two, only $10,000 was delivered, a fraction of the $40,000 that they were owed.
Speaker A:So the players were furious.
Speaker A:They felt that they had been double crossed.
Speaker A:So they decided to stage a double cross of their own.
Speaker A:A double cross of the double cross.
Speaker A:Angry about the non payment, the conspirators resolved to actually play to win the series.
Speaker A:And they took game six and game seven.
Speaker A:And suddenly they had put the White Sox back in a place where they could win the Series.
Speaker B:But backing out of a deal with gangsters proved to be a dangerous proposition.
Speaker B:Before the decisive game eight, the story takes its most sinister turn.
Speaker B:Several players received threats of violence against themselves and their families if they didn't ensure a Cincinnati victory.
Speaker A:For example, Lefty Williams claimed that a cigar smoking thug in a bowling hat paid him a visit and made the violent threats to ensure that he continued to throw the games as they agreed.
Speaker B:And sure enough, Williams pitched poorly in game eight of the series.
Speaker B:He threw only 15 pitches, allowing four hits and three runs before being taken out of the game with only one out.
Speaker B:Cincinnati went on to win that game in the series 10 to 5.
Speaker A:What began as a cynical cash grab had now escalated into a situation of genuine fear and coercion.
Speaker A:The players were no longer just greedy, they were trapped.
Speaker B:Exactly, Michael.
Speaker B:In the end, chick Gandal received $35,000, whereas the others only received a measly $5,000 each.
Speaker B:That was a great deal less than they had been promised.
Speaker A:Now, to be clear, even though the plan was to throw the game and it was supposed to be secret, it was more of an open secret in the gambling world.
Speaker A:On the day of game one, a sudden influx of money on the underdog Cincinnati Reds caused the betting odds to plummet.
Speaker A:A clear sign to insiders that something was wrong.
Speaker B:The rumors reached the press box, where legendary sports writers like Hugh Fullerton and Ring Lardner, along with former pitching great Christy Mathewson, resolved to keep their own scorecard.
Speaker B:Comparing Notes on any suspicious plays they witnessed.
Speaker A:Fullerton was so convinced that he wired his syndicated newspapers a curious and cautious but clear warning.
Speaker A:Quote, advise all not to bet on this series.
Speaker A:Ugly rumors afloat, End quote.
Speaker B:The players, for their part, were brilliant athletes, but amateur criminals.
Speaker B:Their attempts to throw the games were often clumsy, a performance of incompetence that was painfully obvious to the trained eyes watching them.
Speaker A:For example, in game one, pitcher Eddie Saicott hit the leadoff batter with his second pitch.
Speaker A:Later on, Saikot would admit that the specific act had been the signal that the fix was on.
Speaker A:During the fourth inning, with two outs, sicot had an opportunity to carry out a double play, but instead he hesitated.
Speaker A:He turned slowly to second base and made a low throw.
Speaker A:The runner was safe.
Speaker A:The inning continued and the reds exploded with five runs, blowing the game wide open.
Speaker A:Sports writers in the press box knew immediately that something was very, very wrong.
Speaker B:In game two, pitcher lefty Williams, who was known for his tremendous control, suddenly couldn't seem to find the plate.
Speaker B:In the fourth inning, he walked three batters.
Speaker B:All three came around to score.
Speaker B:The chicago Tribune's report called his wildness, quote, almost criminal.
Speaker A:And in game four, during the fifth inning, Shoeless Joe Jackson unleashed a perfect throw to home plate with the intention of gunning out a runner.
Speaker A:But Eddie Saicott inexplicitly stepped in front of the catcher and the ball deflected off his glove.
Speaker B:The runner scored, and in Game 5, center fielder Happy Happy felsh catches a long fly ball, only to have it slip out of his glove.
Speaker B:The play allowed a crucial run to score.
Speaker A:During game eight, the final indecisive game, Lefty Williams took the mound and completely imploded.
Speaker A:He faced just five batters in the first inning, giving up four straight hits in three runs before the manager yanked him from the game.
Speaker A:And that was that.
Speaker A:The fix was complete.
Speaker A:The White Sox had lost the world series.
Speaker A: For nearly a year after the: Speaker A:It was an open secret in the baseball world.
Speaker A: Then In September of: Speaker B: th of: Speaker B: the White Sox's Chance in the: Speaker A:That was quite a shame since the White Sox had played well that entire season and it looked quite possible that would be in the World Series again.
Speaker A:But without seven players, including Eddie Sicott and Shoeless Joe Jackson, the team didn't stand a chance.
Speaker A: ns who would go on to win the: Speaker B:After the seven suspected players were suspended from the team, the pressure mounted on them to tell the truth.
Speaker B:Pitcher Eddie Saicott was the first to crack.
Speaker B:He went to the office of the White Sox team lawyer and in a tearful mea culpa, confessed everything.
Speaker A:He was immediately taken before the grand jury.
Speaker A:His testimony was a portrait of regret.
Speaker A:He allegedly stated, quote, I don't know why I did it.
Speaker A:I must have been crazy.
Speaker A:Now I've lost everything.
Speaker A:Job, reputation, everything, end quote.
Speaker A:Psychot went on to explain exactly how he'd thrown the game, admitting to how he lobbed pitches so that, quote, a baby could have hit him, end quote.
Speaker B:Shortly after, Shoeless Joe Jackson confessed, then Lefty Williams and as we explained earlier in the episode, Jackson admitted to the grand jury that he had reluctantly accepted the $5,000 in bribe money, but had not actually tried to throw the game.
Speaker B:But as Jackson left the courthouse, he was surrounded by reporters.
Speaker B:And it was there that he made one of his most damning statements, claiming that after the players had been stiffed by the gamblers, the eight of us did our best to kick.
Speaker A:In short, Jackson indicated that once they realized the gamblers involved in the fix had tried to screw them over, they started trying to win the games again.
Speaker A:It was a clear admission of a conspiracy involving the eight players.
Speaker B:But taking part in the fixing of the World Series wasn't just an offense against baseball and its fans.
Speaker B:It was also literally criminal.
Speaker B:The eight accused players would face felony charges of conspiracy to defraud, which was serious stuff.
Speaker A: l began in Chicago in June of: Speaker A:The courtroom in Chicago was jammed every day.
Speaker A:The indicted players were treated not as criminals, but more like fallen heroes.
Speaker A:Jurors, often starstruck, openly fraternized with the defendants.
Speaker B:An article in the New York Times described the scene, stating, the spectators added to the bleacher appearance of the courtroom, for most of them sweltered, and shirt sleeves and collars were few.
Speaker B:Scores of small boys jammed their way into the seats.
Speaker B:And as the prosecutor told of the alleged sellout, they repeatedly looked at each other in awe, remarking under their breaths, quote, what do you think of that?
Speaker B:And we'll all be damned.
Speaker B:End quote.
Speaker A:Adding to this chaos, right before the trial began, transcripts of the players confessions went missing from the courthouse.
Speaker A: y, almost a century later, in: Speaker A:Among those documents were some of these missing transcripts.
Speaker B:One theory is that Comiskey had hoped that by suspending and investigating his own players, he might actually be able to keep his team intact.
Speaker B:It would look like he was doing something to clean him up corruption in his team.
Speaker B:But ultimately, he wanted his players to be acquitted.
Speaker A:In the end, the jury deliberated for less than three hours before returning verdicts of not guilty on all charges for all of the accused players.
Speaker B:The simplest explanation for this outcome is that the legal charge of conspiracy to defraud was and is very difficult to prove in court.
Speaker B:The prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that an agreement, expressed or implied, existed between the alleged co conspirators to defraud.
Speaker B:And that can be difficult when direct evidence of an agreement, such as written documents or eyewitness testimony, is scarce.
Speaker A:And it's possible that the lost legal documents that ended up in Comiskey's hands may have somewhat contributed to that.
Speaker A:But in general, the charge of conspiracy to defraud the public is a difficult charge to make stick.
Speaker B:And more importantly, the jury simply refused to convict their heroes.
Speaker B:This is a phenomenon known as jury nullification, where jurors ignore the evidence and the law because it conflicts with their own sense of justice or morality.
Speaker A: ,: Speaker A:One newspaper reported that the jurors hoisted the players onto their shoulders to carry them out of the building.
Speaker B:So it looked like the players connected to the Black Sox scandal might make it out alive to continue their baseball careers.
Speaker B:But in the long run, that proved not to be the case.
Speaker B: nd minor League Baseball from: Speaker A: r commission beginning in the: Speaker A:But Judge Landis was a man of stern, unbending morality with a reputation for ruling with an iron hand.
Speaker A:And he made it clear to the owners that he would only accept an appointment as baseball's sole Commissioner, and even then only on the condition that he be granted essentially unchecked power over the sport.
Speaker B:This was a pretty controversial change for the major league baseball at the time, right, Michael?
Speaker A:Absolutely, elena.
Speaker A: Prior to: Speaker A:But the owners agreed that Judge Landis terms because they were desperate to clean up the game's image.
Speaker B: ,: Speaker B:Standing in his Chicago office, he delivered.
Speaker A:His verdict regardless of the verdict of juries.
Speaker A:No player who throws a ball game, no player who undertakes or promises to throw a ball game, no player that sits in conference with a bunch of crooked players and gamblers where the ways and the means of throwing a game are discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it or will ever play professional baseball again.
Speaker B:With that one statement, he banned all eight black sock scandal players for life.
Speaker B:His edict was absolute overriding the court of law.
Speaker B:With the court of baseball.
Speaker B:Landis swift, decisive action was widely praised for saving the game's integrity.
Speaker A:So while the eight black sock scandal players were declared legally innocent in a court of law, they were still judged guilty and bad, banned for life from the major leagues in the court of baseball.
Speaker B:Interestingly, for the rest of his life, Shoeless Joe Jackson maintained his innocence, becoming a rather tragic figure in American folklore.
Speaker B: trial a couple years later in: Speaker B:At that time, Jackson sued the White Sox for back pay he felt that he was owed on his contract.
Speaker A: im with the transcript of his: Speaker A:The White Sox lawyer read Jackson's own words back to him in response to the question, quote, did anybody pay you any money to help throw the series in favor of Cincinnati?
Speaker A:Jackson had stated they did, end quote.
Speaker B: But now in this: Speaker A:Over and over, more than a hundred times.
Speaker A: nts that were in the official: Speaker A:The trial judge was appalled.
Speaker A:Before the jury even returned its verdict, he bound Jackson over on a charge of perjury, stating from the bench, quote, jackson stands self convicted, self accused.
Speaker A:His testimony as given here in court has been impeached in and shown to be false by the testimony he gave before the grand jury.
Speaker B: r on field performance in the: Speaker B:While his overall batting average was an impressive.375 with a record 12 hits, a deeper statistical analysis reveals a troubling pattern.
Speaker B:In the first five games when the fix was on, Jackson came to bat and clocked clutch situations with runners on base seven times and failed to get a single rbi.
Speaker B:His big hits and home run came in games the players were trying to win or in the final game when the Sox were already hopelessly behind.
Speaker B:The numbers, like Jackson's testimony, tell two different stories.
Speaker A: did or did not do during the: Speaker A: oeless Joe Jackson's death in: Speaker B: In: Speaker B:End quote.
Speaker A: In: Speaker A:Again, the request was denied with the explanation that, quote, it is not possible now over 95 years since those events took place place to be certain enough of the truth to overrule Commissioner Landis determinations, end quote.
Speaker B: However, in: Speaker B: sic Baseball era committee in: Speaker A:And I'm glad that you mentioned Pete Rose.
Speaker A: e Cincinnati Reds in the late: Speaker A: In: Speaker A:This lifetime ban has up until now prevented him from being inducted into the hall of Fame.
Speaker A:Now you might ask yourself, Michael, why are you going off on a tangent about Pete Rose and his gambling?
Speaker A:This is an episode about the Black Sox.
Speaker A:Yes it is.
Speaker A:But historically the two are actually very much connected.
Speaker A: Judge Landis,: Speaker A:It carved out a new commandment in the stone tablets of baseball.
Speaker A:Thou shall not gamble.
Speaker A:It established an ironclad zero tolerance precedent that has defined the sport's morality for over a century.
Speaker A: roken line from the events of: Speaker B:The comparison between the two scandals has been a source of endless debate for fans.
Speaker B:What is the greater crime against the integrity of the game?
Speaker B:Is it taking money from gamblers to intentionally lose the World Series as the Black Sox did, or betting on your own team to win as Pete Rose did?
Speaker B:The Black Sox actively corrupted the outcome of the sports championship, while Rose's actions, though a clear violation of the rules, didn't involve intentionally losing.
Speaker B:This debate highlights the complex and often emotional definition of what it means to portray the game.
Speaker A:And for nearly a century, the ghosts of the Black Sox scandal kept sports betting in the shadows.
Speaker A: But in: Speaker A:Today, sports betting is legal in dozens of states, including the great state of Louisiana.
Speaker A:And it's no longer a back alley activity.
Speaker A:It's a mainstream, heavily marketed part of of the fan experience.
Speaker B:MLB players are still not permitted to gamble on anything related to baseball.
Speaker B:But even so, this new gambling landscape has created a new era of temptation and pressure for athletes.
Speaker A:With the rise of prop bets, wagers on individual player statistics, athletes are now subject to direct harassment from spans who have lost money on their performance.
Speaker A:Carter Hicks, a baseball director at unc, noted, quote, if we don't have an outcome that someone bet on, our players are going to hear about that.
Speaker A:And sometimes it's not always in the nicest way, end quote.
Speaker B:In just the last few years, MLB has suspended multiple players for gambling.
Speaker B: And in: Speaker A:Yet the ultimate legacy of the Black Sox scandal in the present 21st century is a profound paradox.
Speaker A:The very system that has normalized gambling is also the most effective tool for policing it.
Speaker A: The: Speaker A:Today's scandals, like the one involving Johntay Porter are often uncovered by the legal sports books themselves.
Speaker A:These regulated companies use sophisticated algorithms to detect unusual betting patterns and have a legal and financial incentive to report suspicious activities to the leagues to protect their own integrity.
Speaker B:And a strange twist of history.
Speaker B:The crime committed by the Black Sox created its own antidote.
Speaker B:The century long obsession with rooting out gambling has culminated in a transparent regulated system where the various very active betting is now the primary mechanism for ensuring the games are clean.
Speaker A:So why does this story still grip us more than a century later?
Speaker A: its most famous line from the: Speaker A:That line has since become part of the American lexicon.
Speaker B:No doubt.
Speaker B: ing to the legend, during the: Speaker A:It's a heartbreaking image of lost innocence.
Speaker A:It's almost certainly a fiction largely created by the press.
Speaker A:Jackson himself denied it ever happening in an interview decades later.
Speaker A:But the myth of it endures because it captures the essence of the crime.
Speaker A:It wasn't about a conspiracy to defraud the public out of their ticket money.
Speaker A:It was a betrayal of public faith.
Speaker B:F. Scott Fitzgerald understood this perfectly.
Speaker B:In the Great Gatsby, when the narrator learns that the gangster Meyer Wolfshine was the man behind the fix, he's staggered.
Speaker B:He reflects.
Speaker B:It never occurred to me that one man could start to play with the faith of 50 million people with the single mindedness of a burglar blowing a safe.
Speaker B:End quote.
Speaker A:That was the true crime of the Black Sox scandal.
Speaker A:They didn't just steal a World Series, they stole a piece of America's belief in something pure.
Speaker A:In an age of renewed cynicism and ever present temptation, it's a crime whose echoes we can still hear today.
Speaker A:Thanks for tuning in with us today on History's Greatest Crimes.
Speaker A:I'm Michael.
Speaker B:And I'm Elena.
Speaker A:And as always, stay curious.
Speaker B:Sam.
