| 1919 Chicago White Sox | |
|---|---|
| American League champions | |
| League | American League |
| Ballpark | Comiskey Park |
| City | Chicago, Illinois |
| Record | 88–52 (.629) |
| League place | 1st |
| Owners | Charles Comiskey |
| Managers | Kid Gleason |
The1919Chicago White Sox season was their 19th season in theAmerican League. They won 88 games to advance to theWorld Series but lost to theCincinnati Reds. More significantly, some of the players were found to have taken money from gamblers in return forthrowing the series. The "Black Sox Scandal" had permanent ramifications for baseball, including the establishment of the office ofCommissioner of Baseball.
In 1919,Eddie Cicotte led the majors with 29 wins and 30 complete games, going 29–7 for the season with a 1.82 ERA (2nd in AL) and 110 strikeouts (7th in AL). He also led the AL in innings pitched with 240 (shared withWashington Senators pitcherJim Shaw).
Right fielderJoe Jackson hit .351 (4th in AL) with 7 home runs, 96 RBIs (3rd in AL) and had 181 hits (3rd in AL, only 10 fewer than league leaderTy Cobb of theDetroit Tigers). Shoeless Joe headed an offense that scored the most runs of any team.
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago White Sox | 88 | 52 | .629 | — | 48–22 | 40–30 |
| Cleveland Indians | 84 | 55 | .604 | 3½ | 44–25 | 40–30 |
| New York Yankees | 80 | 59 | .576 | 7½ | 46–25 | 34–34 |
| Detroit Tigers | 80 | 60 | .571 | 8 | 46–24 | 34–36 |
| St. Louis Browns | 67 | 72 | .482 | 20½ | 40–30 | 27–42 |
| Boston Red Sox | 66 | 71 | .482 | 20½ | 35–30 | 31–41 |
| Washington Senators | 56 | 84 | .400 | 32 | 32–40 | 24–44 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 36 | 104 | .257 | 52 | 21–49 | 15–55 |
Sources:[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH | |||||
| Boston | — | 9–11 | 4–15 | 9–11 | 10–9 | 14–6 | 9–10–1 | 11–9 | |||||
| Chicago | 11–9 | — | 12–8 | 11–9 | 12–8 | 17–3 | 11–9 | 14–6 | |||||
| Cleveland | 15–4 | 8–12 | — | 8–12 | 13–7 | 16–4 | 11–9 | 13–7 | |||||
| Detroit | 11–9 | 9–11 | 12–8 | — | 8–12 | 14–6 | 14–6 | 12–8 | |||||
| New York | 9–10 | 8–12 | 7–13 | 12–8 | — | 18–2 | 12–8 | 14–6–2 | |||||
| Philadelphia | 6–14 | 3–17 | 4–16 | 6–14 | 2–18 | — | 7–13 | 8–12 | |||||
| St. Louis | 10–9–1 | 9–11 | 9–11 | 6–14 | 8–12 | 13–7 | — | 12–8 | |||||
| Washington | 9–11 | 6–14 | 7–13 | 8–12 | 6–14–2 | 12–8 | 8–12 | — | |||||
| 1919 Chicago White Sox | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
| Pitchers | Catchers Infielders | Outfielders | Manager | ||||||
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Ray Schalk | 131 | 394 | 111 | .282 | 0 | 34 |
| 1B | Chick Gandil | 115 | 441 | 128 | .290 | 1 | 60 |
| 2B | Eddie Collins | 140 | 518 | 165 | .319 | 4 | 80 |
| 3B | Buck Weaver | 140 | 571 | 169 | .296 | 3 | 75 |
| SS | Swede Risberg | 119 | 414 | 106 | .256 | 2 | 38 |
| LF | Joe Jackson | 139 | 516 | 181 | .351 | 7 | 96 |
| CF | Happy Felsch | 135 | 502 | 138 | .275 | 7 | 86 |
| RF | Nemo Leibold | 122 | 434 | 131 | .302 | 0 | 26 |
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shano Collins | 63 | 179 | 50 | .279 | 0 | 4 |
| Fred McMullin | 60 | 170 | 50 | .294 | 0 | 19 |
| Byrd Lynn | 29 | 66 | 15 | .227 | 0 | 4 |
| Eddie Murphy | 30 | 35 | 17 | .486 | 0 | 5 |
| Joe Jenkins | 11 | 19 | 3 | .158 | 0 | 1 |
| Hervey McClellan | 7 | 12 | 4 | .333 | 0 | 1 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eddie Cicotte | 40 | 306.2 | 29 | 7 | 1.82 | 110 |
| Lefty Williams | 41 | 297.0 | 23 | 11 | 2.64 | 125 |
| Dickey Kerr | 39 | 212.1 | 13 | 7 | 2.88 | 79 |
| Red Faber | 25 | 162.1 | 11 | 9 | 3.83 | 45 |
| Win Noyes | 1 | 6.0 | 0 | 0 | 7.50 | 4 |
| Charlie Robertson | 1 | 2.0 | 0 | 1 | 9.00 | 1 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grover Lowdermilk | 20 | 96.2 | 5 | 5 | 2.79 | 43 |
| Bill James | 5 | 39.1 | 3 | 2 | 2.52 | 11 |
| Frank Shellenback | 8 | 35.0 | 1 | 3 | 5.14 | 10 |
| Erskine Mayer | 6 | 23.2 | 1 | 3 | 8.37 | 9 |
| Roy Wilkinson | 4 | 22.0 | 1 | 1 | 2.05 | 5 |
| John Sullivan | 4 | 15.0 | 0 | 1 | 4.20 | 9 |
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dave Danforth | 15 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7.78 | 17 |
| Joe Benz | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |
| Tom McGuire | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 0 |
| Pat Ragan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |
| Reb Russell | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |
NLCincinnati Reds (5) vs. ALChicago White Sox (3)
| Game | Score | Date | Location | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chicago White Sox – 1,Cincinnati Reds – 9 | October 1 | Redland Field | 30,511 |
| 2 | Chicago White Sox – 2,Cincinnati Reds – 4 | October 2 | Redland Field | 29,690 |
| 3 | Cincinnati Reds – 0,Chicago White Sox – 3 | October 3 | Comiskey Park | 29,126 |
| 4 | Cincinnati Reds – 2, Chicago White Sox – 0 | October 4 | Comiskey Park | 34,363 |
| 5 | Cincinnati Reds – 5, Chicago White Sox – 0 | October 6 | Comiskey Park | 34,379 |
| 6 | Chicago White Sox – 5, Cincinnati Reds – 4 (10 innings) | October 7 | Redland Field | 32,006 |
| 7 | Chicago White Sox – 4, Cincinnati Reds – 1 | October 8 | Redland Field | 13,923 |
| 8 | Cincinnati Reds – 10, Chicago White Sox – 5 | October 9 | Comiskey Park | 32,930 |
TheBlack Sox Scandal refers to a number of events that took place around and during the play of the1919 World Series. The name "Black Sox" also refers to theChicago White Sox team from that era. Eight members of the Chicago franchise were banned from baseball forthrowing (intentionally losing) games.
The conspiracy was the brainchild of White Sox first basemanArnold "Chick" Gandil andJoseph "Sport" Sullivan, who was a professional gambler of Gandil's acquaintance. New York gangsterArnold Rothstein supplied the major connections needed. The money was supplied byAbe Attell, former featherweight boxing champion, who accepted the offer even though he didn't have the $80,000 that the White Sox wanted.
Gandil enlisted seven of his teammates, motivated by a mixture of greed and a dislike of penurious club ownerCharles Comiskey, to implement the fix. Starting pitchersEddie Cicotte andClaude "Lefty" Williams, outfielders"Shoeless" Joe Jackson andOscar "Happy" Felsch, and infielderCharles "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 infielderFred 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 andBilly Maharg, somewhat out of their depth, approached Rothstein to provide the money for the players, who were promised a total of $100,000.
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 toEliot 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. In reality, however, Cicotte started the White Sox's last game of the season, September 28th against the Tigers. But, with a 1-0 Chicago lead, Chicago manager Kid Gleason took Cicotte out of the game following the second inning, which assured Cicotte could not get his 30th win.