Book Review of Eight Men Out The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series by Eliot Asinof In the golden age of baseball, where the heroes of the diamond became gods, an incident that would scar baseball for life was committed in the World Series of 1919. Eight men of the Chicago White Sox team conceived a plot to throw the World Series for a sum of $80,000. A novel written by Eliot Asinof, entitled Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series, examines the events leading up to the fix, well through the rest of the players lives. The players on the Chicago White Sox team of 1919 had many reasons to believe they were being unfairly treated. One of which was their poor salaries as compared to the rest of the league. Even though this team was compiled of some the greatest players in the league, they were one of the lowest paid franchises. Their owner, Charles Comiskey, was a man who had no ideas of fair play in regards to his employees. He is comparable to a robberbarron of the time, for he treated his players as less then human. He provided them only $3 a day for food allowances when most other teams allotted their players $4, and even reduced the frequency of cleaning the players uniforms to save money to give examples. Chicago’s number one pitcher in the rotation was Eddie Cicotte. He was seemingly the most disrespected player on the team. He only received an annual salary of $6,000 for his spectacular play. He was made promise of a $10,000 bonus if he had achieved 30 wins, and was benched to prohibit him from reaching this goal and acquiring his money. He was the first player to go along with Gandil. The treatment ... ... middle of paper ... ...ading up to this travesty of baseball history. He has presented his information in a fair, objective way that helps shed light on the whole situation that was going on between the White Sox and their many counter-parts in crime. His opinion however is hidden. He hides his opinion regarding the situation, to allow for a more objective presentation of the facts. He was on the players side, yes he acknowledges their wrong doing, but he suggests the punishment was quit harsh, and did not fit the crime. He passively tries to justify the players wrong doing, and places more blame on Comiskey and the gamblers. I disagree, the players initiated the fix, and were prepared to sell out there team members, the city of Chicago, and Baseball itself. The players brought this all on themselves, and should be able to face the music.
“In 1946, there were sixteen Major League Baseball teams, with a total of 400 players on their rosters, every one of the players was white. But when opening day came in 1947, that number dropped to 399, and one man stood apart. (42 2:30)” Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson made his Major League Baseball debut on April 15, 1947, as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Making Jackie Robinson the first African-American to play Major League Baseball (MLB). Jackie’s transition from the Negro Leagues to MLB was not an easy one. As a player, he transitioned very well, but it was Robinson’s teammates, Dodgers fans, the opposing teams and their fans that tested Jackie every chance they got, some hotels even prohibited the Dodgers to stay in their establishments
The teams owner had forced the players to take a salary cut because of the declining attendance. On average they were paid between three thousand and six thousand dollars. The players involved were first baseman Chick Gandil, Eddie Cicotte, Lefty Williams, “Shoeless Joe Jackson,” Fred McMullen, Swede Risberg, Happy Felsch, and Buck Weaver. (“Bankston, Carl. L”) Joseph Sullivan was a gambler from Boston and Arnold Rothstein was from New York City. Chick Gandil approached Sullivan and offered to t...
America’s pastime has been complicated in the last couple centuries, and integration has been a big key in the game of baseball. Like most of America in the 1940’s, baseball was segregated, with whites playing in the Major League system and African-Americans playing in the Negro Leagues. There were many factors that made whites and blacks come together, including World War II. Integration caused many downs in the time period, but as baseball grew and grew it was one of the greatest accomplishments in the history. It was hard to find the right black man to start this, they needed a man with baseball abilities and a man who didn’t need to fight back.
1910 to 1920 was the one of the greatest decades for Major League Baseball. Many amazing events occurred during this decade; although, some devastating and extremely sad events also occurred. Half of these years were taken up by war, even many Hall of Fame players served. This decade still ended up being a great one for Major League Baseball. From Hall of Fame greats to Negro League pitchers, this decade produced greats. The 1910’s also set up the 1920’s for amazing players too.
All three of these films discussed the importance of race in America and how whites treated people of other races during this time. The two films Soul of the Game and The Life of Jackie Robinson are both about African Americans and their struggle of being accepted into the world of baseball. The third film, Hank Greenberg is about the life of Hank Greenberg and how he, as a Jew, was both ridiculed and then accepted into the world of baseball. All of these players, although they were not liked at the time, have gone down in history as some of the best baseball players in history and are certainly well known.
"Over the decades, African American teams played 445-recorded games against white teams, winning sixty-one percent of them." (Conrads, pg.8) The Negro Leagues were an alternative baseball group for African American baseball player that were denied the right to play with the white baseball payers in the Major League Baseball Association. In 1920, the first African American League was formed, and that paved the way for numerous African American innovation and movements. Fences, and Jackie Robinson: The Biography, raises consciousness about the baseball players that have been overlooked, and the struggle they had to endure simply because of their color.
Book Report on Baseball: A History of America's Game by Benjamin G. Rader In "Baseball: A History of America's Game", the Author Benjamin G. Rader discusses the history of baseball and how it developed to present day. Rader explains how baseball started as a simple game consisting of no rules besides the players using a stick to hit a ball and its constant evolution to what the game is today. He also displays several issues which America's favorite sport has had while developing into the complex sport it is today. Although baseball has had several trials and tribulations throughout its history, it still remains America's favorite pastime.
As a 20 year old youth in 1883, Billy played baseball in the lots of his neighborhood in Marshalltown, Iowa. One day the captain for the Chicago White Sox, A.C. Anson, was in the lots watching all the teenagers, young adults, and Billy Sunday playing baseball. Anson was so impressed with what he had seen in Billy’s baseball performance that Billy was signed unto the White Sox soon after.
Alexander builds an admirable amount of sources, writes in a way that takes the reader season by season, and uses visual histories to help enhance his writings. The flaws a reader may see in his writing is forgetting to look at the culture that influenced the players and leaving out Negro baseball. Baseball has been a fixture in American culture for many years and as a historian Alexander encompasses baseball during the Depression in a way that makes it come alive for the
If you like baseball and you need to find a good book, well here is one it's called Shoeless Joe and Me. It's about a kid name Shoeless Joe who's nickname is Joe Jackson, Joe Jackson played on the Chicago white sox in 1919. They were in the World Series but they lost it because of gambling which caused them to lose the series and they were suspended from baseball and could never play professional baseball again. It was Joe Jackson and a couple of his teammates. If you touched a Joe Jackson card you go back in time and change stuff .
For the past one hundred years in the United States, the best American past time was baseball. A typical game day would include a dad and son going to a game and catching a foul ball. But what happens if a war breaks out and the dads and the players on the team are enlisting? Who will play? During World War II, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was created. A movie called “A League of their Own” was based off of the AAGPBL. The director of the movie is somewhat accurate to what happened in the AAGPBL. The director of this movie was Penny Marshall (Barnes and Nobel). The producer of the film is Elliot Abbott and it was copyrighted on July 1st, 1992 (IMDb.com). The movie has three main characters. Tom Hanks plays Jimmy Dugan, Geena Davis plays Dottie Hinson, and Lori Petty plays Kit Keller. I really enjoyed this movie and I hope you might have some interest in it after you read this essay.
Shattuck, Debra (2011). “Women’s baseball in the 1860s: Reestablishing a historical memory.” Nine,19(2), 1-26. Retrieved from http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/nine/vo19 /19.2.shattuck.html
I agree with both sources because after reading Baseball Saved Us I was blown away with the writing style and the illustration. It is a heart-felt story and leaves readers touched after the insight of what was a serious historical event. The book drove me to do extra research to get an understanding of what life was possibly like for those
Lanctot, Neil. 2004. Negro league baseball :The rise and ruin of a black institution. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
A handful of authors dive into the accounts of George “Buck” Weaver, of which all presume he is innocent. The first major publication of the scandal, which focused on Weaver was Eliot Asinof’s Eight Men Out , which was later turned into a movie. At the same time as the release of the movie, Eight Men Out was the opening of “Say It Ain’t So Joe: The 1919 Black Sox Scandal” in the Pauline Palmer Wood Gallery at the Chicago Historical Society. This was the first historical exhibit devoted to the Black Sox scandal, it was the prelude to the Black Sox Scandal. The display illustrated how gamblers infiltrated baseball, which was once seen as the “cleanest of all sports....