The Time Has Come ...

Before the 1919 World Series, there was an agreement between members of the heavily favored Chicago White Sox and big-time gamblers to throw the World Series. The players, with their compliance would receive $100,000 for losing the Series to the Cincinnati Reds.

For the White Sox, it was a way of sticking to their penny-pinching owner, Charles Comiskey, who on a regular basis treated his players more like indentured servants than ballplayers. The players annual salaries were considerably lower than ballplayers on other teams who were simply not as good. The players' key motivator was the money that they were to receive.

The ringleader of the fix was Arnold "Chick" Gandil, the White Sox first baseman. He quickly got others to join on the fix, like "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, Eddie Cicotte, and "Lefty" Williams. Altogether there was seven ballplayers in on the fix, and one other, "Buck" Weaver, who had knowledge of the fix.

After losing the first two games of the Series, the players, with the exception of Cicotte, had not received any money. Some of the players abandoned the fix and attempted to win the Series outright. It was not to be, however, as "Lefty" Williams lost his third game of the Series in Game 8 (The Series was best-of-nine back then), after a threat was made on his wife's live if he didn't lose. The Sox lost to the Reds five games to three in the Series.

Rumors of the fix grew over the winter and into the 1920 season, and in September the eight players were indicted on charges of conspiracy, and suspended indefinitely from the team. Legal proceedings dragged on, and three players actually confessed to being crooked in the Series. The trial went into 1921, and the players were acquitted of all charges, after the signed confessions of Cicotte and Jackson were lost (or stolen, depending on how you look at it.).

Newly appointed Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis made a statement the day of the acquittal saying that any player who deliberately throws games, or has knowledge of the throwing of games will no longer play in the Major Leagues. With that statement, the eight men were banned from professional baseball.

The purpose of writing this entry is to call for the reinstatement of these men, and to allow Joe Jackson his rightful place in Cooperstown. It has been 90 years since all of this transpired, and these men have been punished long enough. Jackson belongs in the Hall of Fame, as he has the 3rd highest career batting average (.356) and had amassed over 1,700 hits in the 12 years he had played.

It is time to forgive these men and take them off the banned list, and reinstate them. I know I'm not alone on this, but I also know that there are many people that disagree with me, and I welcome arguments on both sides. All I know is that I feel that the "Black Sox" should be reinstated by Major League Baseball, and "Shoeless" Joe Jackson should be enshrined in Cooperstown.