1919 Chicago White Sox season

MLB yearly infobox-pre1969
name = Chicago White Sox
season = 1919
misc = American League Champions

current league = American League
y1 = 1901
division = American League West
y2 = 1969
Uniform
ballpark = Comiskey Park
y4 = 1910
city = Chicago, Illinois
y5 = 1900
owners = Charles Comiskey
managers = Kid Gleason
television =
radio =|

The Chicago White Sox' 1919 season was their 19th season in the American League. The White Sox advanced to the World Series, but lost. More significantly, many of the players were found to have taken money from gambling concerns in return for throwing the series. The scandal had permanent ramifications for baseball, including the establishment of the office of Commissioner of Baseball.

Regular season

eason standings

Roster

Starting pitchers

Black Sox Scandal

The Black Sox Scandal refers to a number of events that took place around and during the play of the 1919 World Series. The name "Black Sox" also refers to the Chicago White Sox team from that year. Eight members of the Chicago franchise were banned from baseball for throwing (intentionally losing) games.

The Fix

The conspiracy was the brainchild of White Sox first baseman Arnold "Chick" Gandil and Joseph "Sport" Sullivan, who was a professional gambler of Gandil's acquaintance. New York gangster Arnold Rothstein supplied the major connections needed. The money was supplied by Abe Attell, former featherweight boxing champion, who accepted the offer even though he didn't have the $80,000 that the White Sox wanted. Fact|date=October 2007

Gandil enlisted seven of his teammates, motivated by a mixture of greed and a dislike of penurious club owner Charles Comiskey, to implement the fix. Starting pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Claude "Lefty" Williams, outfielders "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and Oscar "Happy" Felsch, and infielder Charles "Swede" Risberg were all involved. Buck Weaver was also asked to participate, but refused; he was later banned with the others for knowing of the fix but not reporting it. Utility infielder Fred McMullin was not initially approached, but got word of the fix and threatened to report the others unless he was in on the payoff. Sullivan and his two associates Sleepy Bill Burns and Billy Maharg, somewhat out of their depth, approached Rothstein to provide the money for the players, who were promised a total of $100,000. Fact|date=October 2007

Stories of the "Black Sox" scandal have usually included Comiskey in its gallery of subsidiary villains, focusing in particular on his intentions regarding a clause in Cicotte's contract that would have paid Cicotte an additional $10,000 bonus for winning 30 games. According to Eliot Asinof's account of the events, "Eight Men Out", Cicotte was "rested" for the season's final two weeks after reaching his 29th win, presumably to deny him the bonus. However, the record is perhaps more complex. Cicotte won his 29th game on September 19, had an ineffective start on September 24, and was pulled after a few innings in a tuneup on the season's final day, September 28 (the World Series beginning 3 days later). Reportedly, Cicotte agreed to the fix on the same day he won his 29th game, before he could have known of any efforts to deny him a chance to win his 30th. [ [http://www.thediamondangle.com/marasco/hist/cicotte.html Cicotte's 29 Wins in 1919 ] ]

World Series

NL Cincinnati Reds (5) vs. AL Chicago White Sox (3)

External links

* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CHW/1919.shtml 1919 Chicago White Sox at Baseball Reference]