The Black Sox Scandal of 1919 is widely considered to be one of the biggest controversies baseball has ever seen, and one that nearly destroyed the game forever, “the Black Sox scandal may be the biggest most devastating story of its type.” Eight players from the Chicago White Sox conspired to throw the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for money. As you will see, there have been countless works done about this scandal, its background, its impact, and its legacy. Having surveyed a number of books on the subject, one of the main questions that has been consistently raised about the scandal is “who exactly is to blame for it?”The book Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series (New York: H. Holt, 1987), by Author Eliot Asinof is widely considered one of the best pieces ever written about the scandal. Asinof, through his own extensive research, provides a great overview of the scandal. One of the debates Asinof creates as a result of this book is the idea of who is responsible for the scandal. Asinof, himself, seems to point the finger at White Sox owner Charles Comiskey, who was notorious for underpaying his players. Asinof considers the underpayment of these players as a key factor in the scandal. In the book, Past Time Baseball & Its History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), author and baseball historian Jules Tygiel, while declaring Eight Men Out to be “the definitive history of the Black Sox Scandal,” offers his own opinion that it was not Comiskey, but the greed of the White Sox players which was to blame for the scandal.
Another key name is thrown into the mix in the article "The Great Gatsby", the Black Sox, High Finance, and American Law,” Michigan Law Review, Vol. 88, No. 2 (N...
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...ssors”, but as Bennett emphasizes, Jackson “later retracted his confession.” Bennett also does acknowledge that while Jacksons stats do stand out as being extremely productive in the series, “Detractors have commented that he may have compiled impressive statistics, but he didn't hit in the clutch.” One question that can be raised over Bennett’s study, however, is if the method he used can be applied to the dead ball era Jackson played in, and if that somehow taints the results. Shoeless Joe Jackson serves as the most controversial figure to come out of this scandal based on the fact that there is no definitive proof of Joe Jackson’s guilt one way or another. As we will see later in this paper, one can draw a lot of comparisons between Joe Jackson and another accused cheater, Pete Rose, in terms of the cloud that surrounds them both over their guilt or innocence.
A sports writer investigated the scandal and later wrote a famous article called “Is Big League Baseball Being Run for Gamblers WIth Players in the Deal.” The White Sox owner quickly avoided the rumors by saying that ”I believe that my boys fought the battles of the recent World Series on the level.” He wanted to avoid people knowing that he had been tipped off about the scam for the World Series.
Those who have read The Great Gatsby have an understanding that he does not acquire his wealth in legal manners. Fortunately for Cohen, his time consisted of financial scandals and corruption such as the company of Enron, whom he claims would have been an organization that Gatsby could have ruled in the real world. The company of Enron and the character of Gatsby share misconduct in their workings, which makes this an effective comparison by Cohen in understanding the criminal nature of this character. In addition, this man is ranked number one among other well recognized figures in 1900’s literature. One might ponder “What makes Gatsby more special than the great attorney Atticus Finch?” Finch is respected for his morals and positive identity, but the mystery behind Gatsby makes him a brilliant
The 1919 World series resulted in the most famous Scandal in Baseball history. Eight players from the Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing the series against the Reds and were banned from Major League Baseball. (“History files-Chicago Black Sox”) All eight players were expelled in an attempt to save the purity of the game. The White Sox lost the opening game of the series nine to one, and then ended up losing the series five games to three. (“Black Sox Scandal”) They had won the American league pennant and were highly favored to beat the Reds in the World Series. (“Bankston, Carl. L”)
Throughout the history of America’s pastime, baseball has continually battled scandals and controversies. From the 1919 “Black Sox” scandal to the current steroid debate, baseball has lived in a century of turmoil. While many of these scandals affected multiple players and brought shame to teams, none have affected a single player more than the 1980’s Pete Rose betting scandal. Aside from the public humiliation he brought his family and the Cincinnati Reds, nothing has done more to hurt Pete Rose than his lifetime ban from baseball making him ineligible for hall of fame. While many are for and against putting Pete Rose in the hall of fame, the four ethical theories, Kantianism, Utilitarianism, Egoism, and Ethical Realism, each have their own unique answer to the question. Through Kantianism Pete Rose should be inducted into the hall of fame, while Egoism, Utilitarianism and Ethical Realism all support the lifetime ban.
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.
The past fifteen years of baseball have contained dirty play by some of the best players to ever play the sport. Kids all over America look at these athletes as role models. The money hungry players proceed to send a terrible message to fans of the game by taking drugs to succeed. After commissioner Bud Selig cracked down on steroid use in 2005, several baseball player’s legacies have been ruined due to steroid allegations. Players are even being charged with perjury by lying to Congress over steroid use to protect their reputation.
11 Arnold A. Offner, p. 134. 12 Hamilton Fish, p. 133-139.
The World Series of 1919 was found out to be thrown by the Chicago White Sox, creating many problems within the American League. This World Series was different than many others. The 1919 World Series was played in a best-of-nine series, rather than being played in best-of-seven like all other World Series games before it. The other team involved, the Cincinnati Reds, had no idea of the scandal. The Baseball Hall of Fame states in their article “Guide to the Black Sox Scandal (American League),” Gambling was not new to baseball. There is evidence that White Sox players, in 1917, paid pitchers from the Detroit club, who beat Boston during the pennant stretch run $200 each.” This shows that the White Sox not only cheated in the 1919 World Series, but also in the 1917 season. There were 8 players involved in gambling with the 1919 World Series, including many of the league’s best players. The eight players involved included Eddie Cicotte, Oscar “Happy” Felsch, Arnold “Chick” Gandil, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, Fred McMullin, Charles “Swede” Risberg, George “Buck” Weaver, and Claude “Lefty” Williams. These 8 players, threw the game for a cash reward from 5 separate gamblers who were involved in the scandal. Abe Attell, Bill Burns, Arnold Rothstein, Billy Maharg, and Joseph “Sport” Sullivan, were all indicted along with the players for gambling with the 1919 World Series, and was considered as a “crime against baseball
scandal of all time, The 1919 World series. Corruption, money, greed, power, and even organized
While “Shoeless” Joseph Jefferson Jackson may not have been given the same advantages that other ball-players of the time were given, valuable resources, an education, and the favor of the Major League Baseball Association, he nonetheless managed to apply his experiences as a lower middle class American to become a great baseball player. “Shoeless'” life experiences demonstrate not only the clichéd “rags to riches” ideal in many a fair tale, but also the fact that one's experiences early in life can drastically impact an individual's adult life. Regardless of his tarnished reputation in major league baseball, Joe was commemorated after his death in December of 1951 with the typical memorials for any baseball great, ballparks, statues, museums and the like.
Many of us know of the fun game of basketball, the object of the game is to basically run up and down the court and shoot the ball, and block the other team when they try to score. Whichever team has the most points at the end of the game is the winner. According to Bran Faurschou’s article, “ NBA Hoops Online” Basketball was invented in 1891 by, Dr. James Naismith. He was a physical education instructor. Back then the game of basketball was a little bit different, It was the same concept but it was different. When Dr. James was working as the physical education instructor at the YMCA training school, he came up with the game of basketball as an activity for his
Book Review of Eight Men Out The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series by Eliot Asinof
This game of a stick and ball has captivated the United States during good and bad times. In either time most of us today can remember stories of players from the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. These are legendary figures in the sport of baseball that have are celebrated as hero’s and in scandal, i...
Tygiel, Jules. 2001; 2000. Past time: Baseball as history. Oxford England; New York: Oxford University Press.