A wild pitch. A low throw. A dropped fly ball. The Chicago White Sox, whose scandal earned them the nickname “The Black Sox,” were not playing their usual brand of winning baseball in the 1919 World Series. Later, it was discovered that several players had accepted money in exchange for throwing the series in favor of the Cincinnati Reds. But how did they manage to fix the series without it being too obvious?
It’s hard to say – especially more than a century later – which plays were on the level and which were part of the fix. Many of the players admitted to taking money, but several denied that they did anything intentional on the field to lose.
“Looking at the statistics, looking at the box scores, even looking at the play-by-play, it’s impossible to determine whether someone was actually trying their best,” Jacob Pomrenke, editor of Eight Myths Out and writer for the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR), told Chicago Stories. “Players make errors every single day. Some of these errors might have been legitimate, but…because we know that some of these White Sox players were part of a conspiracy to fix the World Series, that allows us to question their efforts and say, ‘Was this part of the fix? Or was it not? And in many cases, we’ll never know.”
Below are examples of some plays that roused the suspicion of the fans and sports journalists watching the game.
A Hit-By-Pitch
Eddie Cicotte was the starting pitcher for the White Sox in Game 1 of the 1919 World Series. His first pitch was business as usual. His second pitch, however, was a signal to the people who had slipped $10,000 in cash under Cicotte’s pillow – it hit Cincinnati Reds leadoff hitter Morrie Rath right in the back. The meaning of the signal? The fix was in.
A Double Clutch and a Low Throw
What would have been a double-play to end the fourth inning in Game 1 became another suspicious moment. The game was tied 1-1. A Reds batter hit the ball back to the mound, and “Cicotte fielded it and turned very slowly to second base, and made a low throw to Swede Risberg, the shortstop,” Pomrenke said. Risberg caught the low throw, and double-clutched before throwing the ball to first base, allowing the Reds hitter to beat the throw to the bag by an eyelash. The Reds kept the inning alive, and they went on to score five runs. “This was the turning point in Game 1 when sports writers up in the press box said, ‘Oh, something looks very bad for the White Sox,’” Pomrenke said.
Wild Pitching
In Game 2, Lefty Williams was on the pitcher’s mound. According to Chicago historian Rich Lindberg, Williams had a reputation for “tremendous control,” but was pitching wildly in Game 2 and walked several Reds batters. Williams gave up three runs in the fourth inning. “He was issuing free passes. His control was all over the place.” He was at it again in Game 8, giving up four runs to the Reds in the first inning. The White Sox lost that game – cementing a World Series victory for the Reds.
A Deflection
In Game 4, Pomrenke said Cicotte made “two big errors defensively.” For the first error, Cicotte attempted to get Reds player Pat Duncan out, but Cicotte made a wild throw, and Duncan made it to second base. For the second error, Duncan was on his way to home plate about to score when Shoeless Joe Jackson made a throw toward home. But Cicotte stepped in front of the ball, attempting to cut off the throw and nail the trailing runner, but Cicotte allowed the ball to deflect off his glove and both runners were safe. Duncan scored a run for the Reds, and the White Sox ended up losing the game 2-0.
Dropping a Fly Ball
Another questionable play came in Game 5. Center fielder Happy Felsch ran after a long fly ball. It would have been a tough catch for Felsch, and he got there – but the ball slipped out of his glove and he dropped it. According to SABR, Flesch slipped and fell and dropped the ball again, allowing a Reds player to score a run. The White Sox lost the game 5-0.
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