Tag Archives: Baseball

History

Sad Day for Baseball: Chicago White Sox Players Accused of Throwing World Series

Baseball was forever changed by the Black Sox Scandal where several Chicago White Sox team members were indicted for taking bribes on 20 October 1920 to throw the 1919 World Series. The scandal resulted in new rules of player conduct and the creation of a baseball commissioner to rule baseball as a dictator for decades.

“Fix these faces in your memory” cartoon that ran in newspapers in 1920 after the scandal broker in 1920.
Source: Anderson, Wayne (2004) “The Fix” in The Chicago Black Sox Trial: A Primary Source Account, Great Trials of the Twentieth Century, New York, United States: The Rosen Publishing Group
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

 

The White Sox were heavily favored to win the game in 1919 but many players were upset with being underpaid by team owner Charles Comiskey. It is believed that first baseman Chick Gandil may have initiated contact and through intermediaries New York gambler Arnold Rothstein offered money for the players to lose some of the games intentionally. Rumors of game fixing began on the first day of the game (1 Oct 1919). A lot of money was being placed against the Sox, which raised suspicions. The rumors reached the press box which started getting sports writers interested. As the games went on, plays were being watched more carefully and what the players were doing (or rather, not doing right). By Game 5 though, those involved were upset that they had not been paid and won Games 6 and 7. The gamblers struck back, and threats were made against the players and the families. Game 8 was lost by the Sox ending the series. The main conspirators received $5,000 each with Chick Gandil, who was the one who initiated the scheme, receiving $35,000.

Rumors swirled into the 1920 season and newspaper stories of corruption in other ball clubs emerged as well. Finally, what appeared to be a rigged regular season game between the Cubs and the Phillies in August 1920 led to a grand jury being convened in September to investigate the 1919 World Series. Pitcher Eddie Cicotte confessed to his role and signed a waiver of immunity. Shoeless Joe Jackson soon testified to receiving $5,000 from his teammates. Lefty Williams and Oscar Felsch also confessed as well.  In October indictments for conspiracy were handed down for seven members of the White Sox, forever dubbed the Black Sox:

  1. Arnold “Chick” Gandil (1st Base)

2. Eddie Cicotte (Pitcher)

3. Claude “Lefty” Williams (Pitcher)

4. Charles “Swede” Risberg (Shortstop)

5. Oscar “Happy” Felsch (Outfielder)

6. “Shoeless” Joe Jackson (Outfielder)

7. Fred McMullin (Infielder)

8. Buck Weaver (3rd Base)

The media and the public were unforgiving. Numerous stories appeared on how they sold out baseball and baseball fans over what happened. It was a major public relations nightmare for both the American and National leagues (they were separate leagues back then). As the trial date loomed, the incoming state attorney for Cook’s County, Robert E. Crowe, found that the original grand jury testimony was missing from the file left by his predecessor Maclay Hoyne. It is believed that his secretary, George Kenney, was responsible for the theft. And this is where a certain myth would also come about as well as dramatized in the movie Eight Men Out. In the telling of the story in the movie (and elsewhere), the signed confessions and other documents disappeared dramatically causing the trial to fall back on second-hand accounts to prove the bribery.

That is not what happened. Since sworn confessions are not done with grand juries, they were not there to begin with. Not having the original grand jury testimony though was embarrassing but it was overcome. The shorthand notes taken by the grand jury stenographers were taken to recreate the testimony and it was read to the jury during the trial. Both Eddie Cicotte and Joe Jackson though did recant their testimony given to the grand jury implicating them in the conspiracy. The trial which began on 16 June 1921 where the warm summer heat made the trial unbearable at times, ended on 2 August 1921. The jury returned acquittals of the defendants in three hours.  Bill Lamb, the author of Black Sox in the Courtroom, speculates that the jury stopped paying attention do the stiffing heat in the court room. The transcripts would be used later in a civil trial brought by Joe Jackson against the White Sox and afterwards disappeared completely. What seems most likely to have happened is that they were put box into a box and forgotten. Years later people looking for them found them totally gone leaving just newspaper reports and other accounts about the trial. And since newspapers did not often relay trial proceedings accurately, it would be easy to believe they were missing and never used at trial.

Some documents from the trial have been recovered. A partial copy of the legal transcripts was found in 1988 by a law firm that once employed White Sox team counsel Alfred Austrian. The legal transcripts have Joe Jackson’s testimony to the grand jury. This is neither suspicious nor conspiratorial. It would be common for attorneys connected to the case order copies for their records. In 2007 the Chicago History Museum acquired documents related to the Black Sox Scandal. Within these documents were transcripts from the jury trial of Eddie Cicotte’s testimony. His grand jury testimony is not intact. However, parts if his testimony in Joe Jackson’s lawsuit against the White Sox did survive.

During the trial in 1921, White Sox player “Sleepy Bill” Burns gave the most damning testimony when he said that Rothstein was involved and Cicotte had said he would fix the game. White Sox owner Charles Comiskey, who many felt had mistreated his players by not paying his player enough and not paying promised bonuses, was grilled on the stand so hard by the defense counsel that he became enraged. So, the trial did confirm what was told to the grand jury: that players were bribed and the reasons were due to being underpaid by team owner Comiskey. The jury found otherwise and returned acquittals to all. And then they all had a nice dinner with the players thinking that it was all over.

 Baseball Owners Respond

Prior to the jury verdict and even before the scandal broke out, the baseball team owners wanted to change how things were run. A National Commission governed the sport, but they realized things had to change. One suggestion was to get a recognized federal judge to sit on this commission and help direct baseball in a better direction. They looked at noted baseball fan and federal judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, but he demanded that he be made sole commissioner with nearly unchecked powers as commissioner. Although there were misgivings, the baseball owners agreed to his demands and made him the sole commissioner. This was unheard of back then as usually you wanted power vested in a group rather than one person. Landis would rule baseball from 1920-1944 and he would rule it with an iron fist. He would be the first and the last commissioner to have unchecked powers as he did.

Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, with baseball owners standing beside him, signs agreement making him Commissioner of Baseball.
Date: 12 November 1920
Source (Original): Chicago Tribune. Later reprinted in The Sporting News and subsequently reprinted in other news media and books.
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Commissioner Landis Sets a New Tone for Baseball

Landis speaking at a church in 1921 is reported as saying he would tolerate any crooks in baseball.

Now that I am in baseball, just watch the game I play. If I catch any crook in baseball, the rest of his life is going to be a pretty hot one. I’ll go to any means and to anything possible to see that he gets a real penalty for his offense.

Landis watched the jury trial like anyone else to see how it would play out. The following morning after the acquittal he stated the following:

Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player that throws a ball game; no player that undertakes or promises to throw a ball game; no player that sits in a conference with a bunch of crooked players and gamblers where the ways and means of throwing ball games are planned and discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball. Of course, I don’t know that any of these men will apply for reinstatement, but if they do, the above are at least a few of the rules that will be enforced. Just keep in mind that, regardless of the verdict of juries, baseball is competent to protect itself against crooks, both inside and outside the game.

 The eight acquitted players were put on the illegible list barring them from playing in major or minor league baseball. Comiskey released those still under contract to the team. All appeals were denied by Landis, and the Black Sox were forever banned from professional baseball. However, Jackson, Williams, Felsch, and Weaver were able to play in a semi-pro game though sports writers heavily criticized it and the public for attending. The standard that Landis applied still exists to this day in baseball, that ball players who collude with gamblers to throw a game or gamble against their own team do not belong in baseball. The fact they were acquitted did not erase what they testified to the grand jury where they had admitted to taking money. Other baseball players found to have consorted with gamblers or gambled on the game met the same fate was well. Team owners were not immune either if they were found to be involved in any aspect of gambling. Two owners who had purchased a racing horse track had to sell it. And players who also did things like playing baseball out of season for extra money could face being banned unless approved by him.

Babe Ruth found himself ineligible to play for a while because he did not get Landis’ permission to play out of season. After he met with Landis, and the issue was resolved, he was back playing baseball again for the Yankees. While Landis was not a fan of the farm system, he made sure that team owners disclosed their ownership of minor league teams and that they honored their contracts with players. He is severely criticized that he did not allow black players to play in baseball. At the same time, he understood some teams would react badly to a black ballplayer. Landis feared ugly incidents in the club house that would do more damage to the sport than gambling. Integration would not take place until after World War II and Landis’ death.

 Baseball Commissioner Ends Permanent Ban for 16 Deceased Players

In May 2025 baseball commissioner Rob Manfred removed 16 deceased players and one deceased owner from the permanent ban list. “Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game,” he wrote to the attorney seeking the ban lifted on the now deceased Pete Rose. He added: “Moreover, it is hard to conceive of a penalty that has more deterrent effect than one that lasts a lifetime with no reprieve.” The list of those removed are:

Eddie Cicotte Black Sox Scandal 1921.
William Cox Owner Philadelphia Phillies 1943. Banned for betting on team’s games.
Cozy Dolan New York Giants 1924. As coach he conspired with player Jimmy O’Connell to bribe Philadelphia Phillies player Heiner Sand to throw game between both teams.
Phil Douglas New York Giants 1922. Banned after telling player on St. Louis Browns he planned to spike the pennant race because he hated team manager McGraw.
Happy Felsch Black Sox Scandal 1921.
Chick Gandil Black Sox Scandal 1921.
Joe Gedeon Black Sox Scandal 1921. Played on St. Louis Browns but conspired with gamblers behind the scandal.
Joe Jackson Black Sox Scandal 1921
Benny Kauff New York Giants 1921. Banned for selling stolen cars.
Fred McMullin Black Sox Scandal 1921.
Jimmy O’Connell New York Giants 1924. He and coach Cozy Dolan offered money to Philadelphia Phillies player Heiner Sand to throw game between both teams.
Gene Paulette Philadelphia Phillies 1921. Banned for associating with gamblers.
Swede Risberg Black Sox Scandal 1921.
Pete Rose Manager Cincinnati Reds 1989. Accepted ban as part of legal settlement for gambling and related issues. Admitted to betting on baseball several years later.
Buck Weaver Black Sox Scandal 1921.
Lefty Williams Black Sox Scandal 1921.

Eight baseball players banned by Commissioner Landis in 1921, including Shoeless Joe Jackson, are now off the ineligible list. In a more surprising move, former baseball player and manager Pete Rose was reinstated as well. Rose had accepted a legal settlement which accepted the ban. He had initially denied claims he had bet on games but later in a book admitted he had. He remained popular despite the ban and there were calls over the years to lift it. He passed away at age 83 in 2024.

Manfred made clear that going forward those on the ineligible list will be removed once they pass away. According to current rules, the earliest that these players like Shoeless Joe Jackson or Pete Ross can be eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame is 2028.

Sources

Videos

Movies

[Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.]

Asinof, Eliot, and John Sayles. Eight Men Out. Orion Pictures, 1989. A semi-fictional account of the Black Sox Scandal. Well worth watching as it does follow much of the real history as to what happened. Considered one of the best baseball movies to watch.

Suggested Reading

William F. Lamb, Black Sox in the Courtroom: The Grand Jury, Criminal Trial and Civil Litigation (McFarland, 2013).

Revision history

This was revised from 2025 to correct grammar and punctuation.  Additionally new information added correcting the misconception that sworn written confessions made to grand jury had been lost.

History

Babe Ruth Hits Final Home Run (25 May 1935)

Babe Ruth in his first season with the New York Yankees during a game in 1920.
Public Domain (via Wikimedia Commons)

Babe Ruth, who had spent the best years of his career with the New York Yankees, was released by them in February 1935. The Boston Braves picked him up and was led to believe it would lead to managing the team. However, most of what he was asked to do was promotional, which disappointed him. At forty, his career playing baseball was coming to an end.

On 25 May 1935 the Boston Braves were playing against the Pirates. It was a game to be long remembered. By the seventh inning, the Pirates still led 7-5 despite two home runs earlier by Ruth. Fans were excited to see Ruth and cheered him on as be came to bat. When the ball hit the bat, fans remembered that smack that indicated he had hit a home run. The ball cleared Forbes Field right field roof and the fans roared in delight. As he ran the bases, he saluted the fans with his cap. The Braves tied the game in the inning, but the Pirates would score three more times and in the eighth add one more run for a final score of 11-7. Ruth’s record of 714 home runs would not be broken for forty years.

“Babe Ruth Bows Out”, photograph of Babe Ruth during a ceremony at Yankee Stadium to retire his number on 13 June 1948. This photograph won the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Photography.
Author: Nathaniel Fein
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Ruth played a few more games but retired from baseball on 4 June 1935. His dream of one day managing a baseball team would never happen. He would work briefly as a first base coach for the Dodgers in 1938 but that would be his last baseball position. He would appear at exhibition games and still drew crowds. He appeared at the Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day at Yankee Stadium on 4 July 1930 to honor his former teammate forced to retire due to ALS (or also known as Lou Gehrig’s Syndrome). During World War II, he made many appearances to support the war including the 1943 exhibition game for the Army-Navy Relief Fund at Yankee Stadium. He also became a celebrity golfer often drawing crowds in charity tournaments.

He passed away from throat cancer on 16 August 1948 at Memorial Hospital in New York. Many had gathered outside holding vigil during his final hours. After his death, the casket was taken to Yankee Stadium so that fans could pay their last respects. It was there for two days and around 77,000 people paid their respects. His funeral at St. Patrick’s Cathedral was presided by Cardinal Spellman and was filled and thousands (estimated to be 75,000 total) outside. A monument in his honor was erected at Yankee Stadium. When the stadium was renovated, it and other monuments became part of the new Monument Park that can be seen today.

Sources

“Babe Ruth Hits Last Home Run.” HISTORY. Last modified May 28, 2025. Accessed May 26, 2026. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/may-25/babe-ruth-hits-last-home-run.

“May 25, 1935: Babe Ruth Smashes Three Homers in Final Hurrah.” Last modified October 26, 2020. Accessed May 26, 2026. https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/may-25-1935-ruth-smashes-3-homers-in-final-hurrah/.

Stiner, Kevin. “Ruth Adds to Legend With Three Homers for Braves.” National Baseball Hall of Fame. Accessed May 26, 2026. https://baseballhall.org/discover/inside-pitch/ruth-adds-to-legend-with-three-homers-for-braves.

Videos

Old Ball Game Studios. “Babe Ruth’s Final Game: A Legend Bids Goodbye.” Video. YouTube, November 15, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lchmkB-e79w.

 

History

Death of a Legend: Babe Ruth (16 Aug 1948)

Babe Ruth, 23 July 1920.
Original Author: Irwin, La Broad, & Pudlin
U.S. Library of Congress digital id#cph.3g07246
Public Domain

In the annals of baseball, Babe Ruth is considered one of the greatest sluggers of all time. Called “the Bambino”, the “Sultan of Swat”, or just Babe Ruth, his name is etched forever in baseball history. His professional career spans 22 seasons from 1914-1935. Starting out as a left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, Babe Ruth showed he had a talent as a slugger hitting an impressive. 29 homeruns for the Red Sox in 1919. That beat the record of 24 set in 1884 by Ned Williamson of the Chicago White Sox. Under the Red Sox, he was in three World Series including the one in 1919. Boston fans were thrilled with the Babe, but the team owner Harry Frazee, needing cash for his theatre, decided to sell the champion team to raise cash. Babe Ruth was traded to the New York Yankees. The Boston Red Sox would not win another World Series until 2004. During that long drought, it was called the Curse of the Bambino.

Baseball suffered a major crisis over the Black Sox Scandal. The 1919 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds was tainted by allegations that eight members of the Sox were paid to lose by a gambling syndicate. Evidence was presented to a grand jury and they indicted the 8 players. Key evidence disappeared and signed confessions of two players were recanted. The trial ended up in an acquittal but the new commissioner of baseball, former federal judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, banned all eight from baseball for life. America was stunned by the conduct of the 8 players. While Landis brought the hammer down to clean up baseball, the game needed a reboot for people had turned away from the game.

And it was in New York where a former pitcher, now outfielder, and who could swing a bat like no one else had seen before, would make baseball once again popular for people to pay to see. Crowds would come to see this slugger, with the impossibly shaped body, send balls out of the park. Attendance figures soared for the Yankees. And the home runs would continue to come but the old Polo Grounds, where both the New York Giants and Yankees called home, was a problem. There were tensions between the teams and the Polo Grounds owner decided not to renew the Yankees lease. The Yankees would build their own stadium in the Bronx which opened in 1923. The stadium was designed to accommodate Ruth to make it easier for the lefthanded batter to hit home runs. He would end that year with 41 home runs and the Yankees would win the title. Yankee Stadium would be called later the “House that Ruth Built.”

He would continue to play with the Yankees until 1934. By then age had begun to take its toll on his skills. He also was well known for his excessive drinking, food binges, and frequently cheating on his wife Helen, who he had married in 1914. They were not seen together often, and the last time was during the 1926 World Series. Since both were Catholic, they never divorced but did separate and lived separate lives until her death in 1929. She was living with a dentist Edward Kinder, and everyone assumed she was his wife. Her death caused headlines. At her funeral, the Babe was seen sobbing. He would later marry Claire Merritt Hodgson, an actress and model. She would impose on him structure which curbed his notorious drinking, binging, and adulterous behavior.

Ruth had hoped to become a team manager in his twilight years; he wanted to be the Yankees manager. However, that was not to be. He was offered by the team owner to manage the Yankees minor league team, but he turned that down. Finally, the Boston Braves, in desperate need to improve attendance, would get Ruth. He was traded to the Boston Braves not as a player but to become team vice-president and assistant manager to its skipper Bill McKechnie. The trade was concluded on 26 February 1935. However, his declining skills showed up in playing. And it turned out his vice president position was nothing more than doing public relations for the team. He also realized that Boston Braves owner Emil Fuchs was not going to make him manager. And that he was supposed to invest some of his own money in the team. He asked to be let go but was persuaded to stay on until after Memorial Day.

And it was on 25 May 1935 Babe Ruth would make the last home run of his career. It was the third game of the series between the Boston Braves and the Chicago Cubs. He would hit a soaring home run that went out of Forbes Field. It sailed over the right field upper deck and out of the park. It was the first time anyone had hit a fair ball out of the park in that area. Ruth was urged to end his career right then, but he had given his word and so went to Cincinnati and Philadelphia. His final appearance in Major League Baseball was in Philadelphia. It was a doubleheader, and the Braves lost both. He retired on 2 June 1935. The Braves had the lowest winning percentage in National League history. The team was broke and so was its owner. The Braves would be handed over to the National League to find new owners.

Ruth wanted to manage a team but that would never come. His wife said he would sit by the phone waiting for a call. Of all the players who were the first inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936, he was the only one not asked to manage a major league baseball team. Many attributed this to his days when he was drinking and was not always keen on being disciplined as a reason. Whatever the reason, Ruth would never manage or play for a team again. He would continue to be seen in public playing golf and some exhibition games. His next major appearance though was on 4 July 1939 for Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day. The 1927 Yankees team assembled to honor the great first baseman who was forced into retirement when he contracted ALS or often called today, Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Ruth appeared in the 1942 film The Pride of the Yankees as himself. During World War II he made many personal appearances to support the war effort.

In 1946 Ruth was diagnosed with an inoperable tumor at the base of his skull. Because of his fame and wealth, he was able to get treatment and even access to experimental treatments. Taking both drugs and radiation treatments, Ruth hoped it would allow him to live more years. On 27 April 1947 it was Babe Ruth Day as declared by the new commissioner of baseball Happy Chandler. Ruth attended and many of his former teammates were there to speak in his honor. By then his usual load voice had been turned into a soft whisper by the cancer. He would next appear at Yankee Stadium on 13 June 1948 for the 25th-anniversary celebration of Yankee Stadium-the House that Ruth built. He was visibly different looking thin and using a bat as a cane. The photo taken of him by Nat Fein of him standing near home plate, leaning on the cane, and looking out to what is dubbed “Ruthville” became etched in the minds of millions who saw the photo. And it would win a Pulitzer Prize for Fein.

“Babe Ruth Bows Out”, photograph of Babe Ruth during a ceremony at Yankee Stadium to retire his number on 13 June 1948. This photograph won the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Photography.
Author: Nathaniel Fein
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

On 16 August 1948 at 8:01 PM, the Babe, born George Herman Ruth, would pass away at age 53. Many were already outside the hospital during his final days. And his death came quietly as he died in his sleep. Memorial celebrations took three days. His body was taken to the rotunda of Yankee Stadium and visitors could view the Sultan of Swing one last time in his open casket. It would stay there for 2 days. Between 77,000-100,00 are believed to have past the casket. His funeral mass was celebrated by Francis Cardinal Spellman at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The cathedral was packed and an even larger crowd outside estimated to be around 75,000. He was buried at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York. His second wife is interred next to him.

A granite memorial to Babe Ruth was unveiled on 19 April 1949 near to where similar tributes were erected for Lou Gehrig and Miller Huggins. Due to remodeling between 1974-1975, the area was enclosed and after that became known as Monument Park. When the new Yankee Stadium opened in 2008, Monument Park was moved to the new stadium but unlike the old stadium, not seen from the field. Spectators can visit this area up to 45 minutes before first pitch. His birthplace in Baltimore has been renovated and is now the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum.

Ruth’s contribution to baseball was significant. World War I, the Spanish Flu epidemic, and the Black Sox Scandal all contributed to a sour mood in the early 1920’s. And then this larger-than-life figure appears. Unlike Ty Cobb, who was almost always in a sour mood and not always having good relations with fans, Ruth came across as something completely different. He could swing the bat like no other, flamboyant and flashy, totally unstoppable. He became not just the Yankee’s best hitter, bunter, and base stealer but a symbol when people needed to take their minds off from other things. Seeing Ruth hit a home run was a joyous event where thousands cheered. He transcended the sport and became an icon. Home runs were no longer rare but expected. In the old days home runs were rare, but no more.

Ruth also was an American success story having come up from without any advantage of wealth or social standing. You didn’t need to come from wealth to play ball, you just needed the skill to play the game well. And many young kids would make it a dream to head for a baseball team so they too could be a success like Ruth, Gehring and so many others. In a time when most never saw him play, they read the stories of his feats in the newspapers or heard it on the radio once stations started carrying baseball games. And perhaps one of the strangest-and perhaps sweetest ways-he is remembered is the Baby Ruth candy bar. Marketed originally by Curtis Candy Company and named for the daughter of Grover Cleveland, it came out in 1921 and so many assumed it was named for the famous ball player. In 1995 though the Ruth estate (which manages all licensing of Babe Ruth products and images) licensed his likeness for the candy bar. It became the official candy of Major League Baseball in 2005. And in 2018, President Donald Trump awarded Babe Ruth (posthumously) the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Sources

“Official Website of Babe Ruth,” last modified 2025, https://baberuth.com/.

Allan Wood, “Babe Ruth,” Society for American Baseball Research, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/babe-ruth/.

“Babe Ruth Birthplace Sports Legends Museum Baltimore MD,” Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum Baltimore MD, last modified March 19, 2020, https://baberuthmuseum.org/.

“Babe Ruth Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com,” Baseball-Reference.Com, https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/ruthba01.shtml.

“Ruth, Babe | Baseball Hall of Fame,” https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/ruth-babe.

Rader and Benjamin G, “Babe Ruth | Biography, Stats, Nicknames, & Facts,” Encyclopedia Britannica, last modified August 12, 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Babe-Ruth.

Documentary/Video

Baseball. Florentine Films, The Baseball Film Project, WETA, 1994. A compelling and engrossing documentary on baseball history. This series gives a complete look at the game that is truly American and has a story unlike any other sport. Ken Burn’s really does an excellent job of giving the viewer a full examination of this sport and how deeply engrained it was in the American psyche.

Suggested Reading

Leavy, J. (2019). The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created. Harper Perennial.

Pirone, D. R., & Martens, C. (1988). My Dad the Babe: Growing Up with an American Hero. Quinlan Press (MA).

Ruth, B., & Considine, B. (1992). The Babe Ruth Story. Signet.

Ruth, B., Cobb, W. R., & Dickson, P. (2011). Playing the game: My Early Years in Baseball. Courier Corporation.

Stanton, T. (2008). Ty and The Babe: Baseball’s Fiercest Rivals: A Surprising Friendship and the 1941 Has-Beens Golf Championship. St. Martin’s Griffin.

Titanic News Channel is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

 

History

Remembering History: The Chicago White Sox Accused of Throwing World Series (5 Jul 1921)

The 1919 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds has been forever tainted by allegations that the game was thrown by some White Sox team members being paid by a gambling syndicate being run by Arthur Rothstein. The scandal changed baseball forever resulting in imposition of new rules of player conduct and putting into power a baseball commissioner who would preside like a dictator over baseball for decades. So, what happened? Let’s find out.

“Fix these faces in your memory” cartoon that ran in newspapers in 1920 after the scandal broker in 1920.
Source: Anderson, Wayne (2004) “The Fix” in The Chicago Black Sox Trial: A Primary Source Account, Great Trials of the Twentieth Century, New York, United States: The Rosen Publishing Group
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

The White Sox were heavily favored to win the game in 1919 but many players were upset with being underpaid by team owner Charles Comiskey. It is believed that first baseman Chick Gandil may have initiated contact and through intermediaries New York gambler Arnold Rothstein offered money for the players to lose some of the games intentionally. Rumors of game fixing began on the first day of the game (1 Oct 1919). A lot of money was being placed against the Reds, which raised suspicions. The rumors reached the press box which started getting sports writers interested. As the games went on, plays were being watched more carefully and what the players were doing (or rather, not doing right). By Game 5 though, those involved were upset that they had not be paid and won Games 6 and 7. The gamblers struck back, and threats were made against the players and the families. Game 8 was lost by the Sox ending the series. The main conspirators received $5,000 each with Chick Gandil, who was the one who initiated the scheme, receiving $35,000.

Rumors swirled into the 1920 season and newspaper stories of corruption in other ball clubs emerged as well. Finally, what appeared to be a rigged regular season game between the Cubs and the Phillies in August 1920 led to a grand jury being convened in September to investigate the 1919 World Series. Pitcher Eddie Cicotte confessed to his role and signed a waiver of immunity. Shoeless Joe Jackson soon testified to receiving $5,000 from his teammates. Lefty Williams and Oscar Felsch also confessed as well.  In October indictments for conspiracy were handed down for seven members of the White Sox, forever dubbed the Black Sox:

  1. Arnold “Chick” Gandil (1st Base)

2. Eddie Cicotte (Pitcher)

3. Claude “Lefty” Williams (Pitcher)

4. Charles “Swede” Risberg (Shortstop)

5. Oscar “Happy” Felsch (Outfielder)

6. “Shoeless” Joe Jackson (Outfielder)

7. Fred McMullin (Infielder)

8. Buck Weaver (3rd Base)

The media and the public were unforgiving. Numerous stories appeared on how they sold out baseball and baseball fans over what happened. It was a major public relations nightmare for both the American and National leagues (they were separate leagues back then). The trial took a mysterious turn when signed confessions and other documents mysteriously disappeared from the Cook County Courthouse. Both Cicotte and Jackson retracted their confessions, and without direct evidence what the jury heard were second hand or hearsay accounts. White Sox player “Sleepy Bill” Burns gave the most damning testimony when he said that Rothstein was involved and Cicotte had said he would fix the game. White Sox owner Charles Comiskey, who many felt had mistreated his players by not paying his player enough and not paying promised bonuses, was grilled on the stand so hard by the defense counsel that he became enraged. The jury got the case on 28 Jul and returned with a not guilty verdict three hours later.

 Baseball Owners Respond

Prior to the jury verdict and even before the scandal broke out, the baseball team owners wanted to change how things were run. A National Commission governed the sport, but they realized things had to change. One suggestion was to get a recognized federal judge to sit on this commission and help direct baseball in a better direction. They looked at noted baseball fan and federal judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, but he demanded that he be made sole commissioner with nearly unchecked powers as commissioner. Although there were misgivings, the baseball owners agreed to his demands and made him the sole commissioner. This was unheard of back then as usually you wanted power vested in a group rather than one person. Landis would rule baseball from 1920-1944 and he would rule it with an iron fist. He would be the first and the last commissioner to have unchecked powers as he did.

Commissioner Landis Sets a New Tone for Baseball

Landis speaking at a church in 1921 is reported as saying he would tolerate any crooks in baseball.

Now that I am in baseball, just watch the game I play. If I catch any crook in baseball, the rest of his life is going to be a pretty hot one. I’ll go to any means and to anything possible to see that he gets a real penalty for his offense.

Like everyone else, he watched how the federal trial was going on against the White Sox players. When evidence disappeared requiring some charges to be dropped and new ones added (McMullin was dropped in the new charges), Landis responded by putting all eight on the ineligible list, banning them from major and minor league baseball. Comiskey released the seven who still were under contract, so they were effectively barred from professional baseball. However, Jackson, Williams, Felsch, and Weaver were able to play in a semi-pro game though sports writers heavily criticized it and the public for attending.

The acquittal seemed to end it and everyone in a celebratory mood afterwards. Both players and the jury went to an Italian restaurant and celebrated, it is said, long into the night. Their joy was short lived though. The following day (3 Aug 1921) Commissioner Landis issued the following statement:

Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player that throws a ball game; no player that undertakes or promises to throw a ball game; no player that sits in a conference with a bunch of crooked players and gamblers where the ways and means of throwing ball games are planned and discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball. Of course, I don’t know that any of these men will apply for reinstatement, but if they do, the above are at least a few of the rules that will be enforced. Just keep in mind that, regardless of the verdict of juries, baseball is competent to protect itself against crooks, both inside and outside the game.

 With that statement, Landis set a standard that still applies to this day. No ball player who colludes with gamblers or promises to throw a ball game is going to find a home in baseball. And even if a jury acquits them, baseball is the final arbiter of who can and cannot play. Now one can argue that if a person is legally acquitted of a crime of conspiracy to throwing a game, he should be welcomed back. Except that Landis knew, as did others, that there were signed confessions out there that mysteriously disappeared, and they recanted confessions after they vanished. The jury never got to see those confessions, which likely would have made a difference in the outcome. Unlike someone who steadfastly says he is innocent and is proven at trial that someone else was, the evidence here was certainly conclusive that they had conspired to through the game for gamblers.

Landis refused to reinstate any of the eight even with a lot of support and statements that perhaps they had been misled, their baseball stats from the games showed they had not thrown the games, or other reasons. To this day their expulsions stand despite sympathy for Jackson and Weaver. Landis moved to crack down on any association with gambling. Two team owners who had purchased a racing horse track had to sell it. Other baseball players who associated themselves in any way with gamblers or gambled on the game were struck off and out of the game. Also playing baseball outside of the season for pay was discouraged without permission from Landis.

Babe Ruth got into hot water with Landis for not getting his permission and for a while made him ineligible to play again for the Yankees until Landis met with him. Landis was also strict with the team owners making them disclose holdings they had in minor leagues and to honor their contracts with players. He was not a fan of the farm system, but it has become the way most teams develop promising players for the major leagues. While apparently a liberal on racial matters, he upheld the unofficial ban on black ballplayers playing in professional baseball and forbade teams from playing black baseball teams (though it was done unofficially). While it is debatable how racist Landis was, there were indications many players were and would not tolerate nor accept a black ballplayer. Perhaps, and this is not an excuse for his actions, Landis feared ugly incidents in the club house that would do more damage to the sport than gambling did.

Update 2025

In May 2025 baseball commissioner Rob Manfred removed 16 deceased players and one deceased owner from the permanent ban list. “Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game,” he wrote to the attorney seeking the ban lifted on the now deceased Pete Rose. He added: “Moreover, it is hard to conceive of a penalty that has more deterrent effect than one that lasts a lifetime with no reprieve.” The list of those removed are:

Eddie Cicotte Black Sox Scandal 1921.
William Cox Owner Philadelphia Phillies 1943. Banned for betting on team’s games.
Cozy Dolan New York Giants 1924. As coach he conspired with player Jimmy O’Connell to bribe Philadelphia Phillies player Heiner Sand to throw game between both teams.
Phil Douglas New York Giants 1922. Banned after telling player on St. Louis Browns he planned to spike the pennant race because he hated team manager McGraw.
Happy Felsch Black Sox Scandal 1921.
Chick Gandil Black Sox Scandal 1921.
Joe Gedeon Black Sox Scandal 1921. Played on St. Louis Browns but conspired with gamblers behind the scandal.
Joe Jackson Black Sox Scandal 1921
Benny Kauff New York Giants 1921. Banned for selling stolen cars.
Fred McMullin Black Sox Scandal 1921.
Jimmy O’Connell New York Giants 1924. He and coach Cozy Dolan offered money to Philadelphia Phillies player Heiner Sand to throw game between both teams.
Gene Paulette Philadelphia Phillies 1921. Banned for associating with gamblers.
Swede Risberg Black Sox Scandal 1921.
Pete Rose Manager Cincinnati Reds 1989. Accepted ban as part of legal settlement for gambling and related issues. Admitted to betting on baseball several years later.
Buck Weaver Black Sox Scandal 1921.
Lefty Williams Black Sox Scandal 1921.

Eight baseball players banned by Commissioner Landis in 1921, including Shoeless Joe Jackson, are now off the ineligible list. In a more surprising move, former baseball player and manager Pete Rose was reinstated as well. Rose had accepted a legal settlement which accepted the ban. He had initially denied claims he had bet on games but later in a book admitted he had. He remained popular despite the ban and there were calls over the years to lift it. He passed away at age 83 in 2024.

Manfred made clear that going forward those on the ineligible list will be removed once they pass away. According to current rules, the earliest that these players like Shoeless Joe Jackson or Pete Ross can be eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame is 2028.

Sources

Evan Andrews, “What Was the 1919 ‘Black Sox’ Baseball Scandal?,” History.Com, last modified May 28, 2025, accessed July 2, 2025, https://www.history.com/articles/black-sox-baseball-scandal-1919-world-series-chicago.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Black Sox Scandal of 1919 | Summary, Trial, Players, & Facts,” Encyclopedia Britannica, last modified May 13, 2025, https://www.britannica.com/event/Black-Sox-Scandal.

Bill Lamb, “The Black Sox Scandal,” The Society for American Baseball Research, last modified September 14, 2022, accessed July 2, 2025, https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-black-sox-scandal/.

Wikipedia contributors, “Black Sox Scandal,” Wikipedia, last modified June 15, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sox_Scandal.

History

Death of a Legend: Babe Ruth (16 Aug 1948)

Babe Ruth, 23 July 1920.
Original Author: Irwin, La Broad, & Pudlin
U.S. Library of Congress digital id#cph.3g07246
Public Domain

In the annals of baseball, Babe Ruth is considered one of the greatest sluggers of all time. Called “the Bambino”, the “Sultan of Swat”, or just Babe Ruth, his name is etched forever in baseball history. His professional career spans 22 seasons from 1914-1935. Starting out as a left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, Babe Ruth showed he had a talent as a slugger hitting an impressive. 29 homeruns for the Red Sox in 1919. That beat the record of 24 set in 1884 by Ned Williamson of the Chicago White Sox. Under the Red Sox, he was in three World Series including the one in 1919. Boston fans were thrilled with the Babe, but the team owner Harry Frazee, needing cash for his theatre, decided to sell the champion team to raise cash. Babe Ruth was traded to the New York Yankees. The Boston Red Sox would not win another World Series until 2004. During that long drought, it was called the Curse of the Bambino.

Baseball suffered a major crisis over the Black Sox Scandal. The 1919 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds was tainted by allegations that eight members of the Sox were paid to lose by a gambling syndicate. Evidence was presented to a grand jury and they indicted the 8 players. Key evidence disappeared and signed confessions of two players were recanted. The trial ended up in an acquittal but the new commissioner of baseball, former federal judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, banned all eight from baseball for life. America was stunned by the conduct of the 8 players. While Landis brought the hammer down to clean up baseball, the game needed a reboot for people had turned away from the game.

And it was in New York where a former pitcher, now outfielder, and who could swing a bat like no one else had seen before, would make baseball once again popular for people to pay to see. Crowds would come to see this slugger, with the impossibly shaped body, send balls out of the park. Attendance figures soared for the Yankees. And the home runs would continue to come but the old Polo Grounds, where both the New York Giants and Yankees called home, was a problem. There were tensions between the teams and the Polo Grounds owner decided not to renew the Yankees lease. The Yankees would build their own stadium in the Bronx which opened in 1923. The stadium was designed to accommodate Ruth to make it easier for the lefthanded batter to hit home runs. He would end that year with 41 home runs and the Yankees would win the title. Yankee Stadium would be called later the “House that Ruth Built.”

He would continue to play with the Yankees until 1934. By then age had begun to take its toll on his skills. He also was well known for his excessive drinking, food binges, and frequently cheating on his wife Helen, who he had married in 1914. They were not seen together often, and the last time was during the 1926 World Series. Since both were Catholic, they never divorced but did separate and lived separate lives until her death in 1929. She was living with a dentist Edward Kinder, and everyone assumed she was his wife. Her death caused headlines. At her funeral, the Babe was seen sobbing. He would later marry Claire Merritt Hodgson, an actress and model. She would impose on him structure which curbed his notorious drinking, binging, and adulterous behavior.

Ruth had hoped to become a team manager in his twilight years; he wanted to be the Yankees manager. However, that was not to be. He was offered by the team owner to manage the Yankees minor league team, but he turned that down. Finally, the Boston Braves, in desperate need to improve attendance, would get Ruth. He was traded to the Boston Braves not as a player but to become team vice-president and assistant manager to its skipper Bill McKechnie. The trade was concluded on 26 February 1935. However, his declining skills showed up in playing. And it turned out his vice president position was nothing more than doing public relations for the team. He also realized that Boston Braves owner Emil Fuchs was not going to make him manager. And that he was supposed to invest some of his own money in the team. He asked to be let go but was persuaded to stay on until after Memorial Day.

And it was on 25 May 1935 Babe Ruth would make the last home run of his career. It was the third game of the series between the Boston Braves and the Chicago Cubs. He would hit a soaring home run that went out of Forbes Field. It sailed over the right field upper deck and out of the park. It was the first time anyone had hit a fair ball out of the park in that area. Ruth was urged to end his career right then, but he had given his word and so went to Cincinnati and Philadelphia. His final appearance in Major League Baseball was in Philadelphia. It was a doubleheader, and the Braves lost both. He retired on 2 June 1935. The Braves had the lowest winning percentage in National League history. The team was broke and so was its owner. The Braves would be handed over to the National League to find new owners.

Ruth wanted to manage a team but that would never come. His wife said he would sit by the phone waiting for a call. Of all the players who were the first inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936, he was the only one not asked to manage a major league baseball team. Many attributed this to his days when he was drinking and was not always keen on being disciplined as a reason. Whatever the reason, Ruth would never manage or play for a team again. He would continue to be seen in public playing golf and some exhibition games. His next major appearance though was on 4 July 1939 for Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day. The 1927 Yankees team assembled to honor the great first baseman who was forced into retirement when he contracted ALS or often called today, Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Ruth appeared in the 1942 film The Pride of the Yankees as himself. During World War II he made many personal appearances to support the war effort.

In 1946 Ruth was diagnosed with an inoperable tumor at the base of his skull. Because of his fame and wealth, he was able to get treatment and even access to experimental treatments. Taking both drugs and radiation treatments, Ruth hoped it would allow him to live more years. On 27 April 1947 it was Babe Ruth Day as declared by the new commissioner of baseball Happy Chandler. Ruth attended and many of his former teammates were there to speak in his honor. By then his usual load voice had been turned into a soft whisper by the cancer. He would next appear at Yankee Stadium on 13 June 1948 for the 25th-anniversary celebration of Yankee Stadium-the House that Ruth built. He was visibly different looking thin and using a bat as a cane. The photo taken of him by Nat Fein of him standing near home plate, leaning on the cane, and looking out to what is dubbed “Ruthville” became etched in the minds of millions who saw the photo. And it would win a Pulitzer Prize for Fein.

“Babe Ruth Bows Out”, photograph of Babe Ruth during a ceremony at Yankee Stadium to retire his number on 13 June 1948. This photograph won the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Photography.
Author: Nathaniel Fein
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

On 16 August 1948 at 8:01 PM, the Babe, born George Herman Ruth, would pass away at age 53. Many were already outside the hospital during his final days. And his death came quietly as he died in his sleep. Memorial celebrations took three days. His body was taken to the rotunda of Yankee Stadium and visitors could view the Sultan of Swing one last time in his open casket. It would stay there for 2 days. Between 77,000-100,00 are believed to have past the casket. His funeral mass was celebrated by Francis Cardinal Spellman at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The cathedral was packed and an even larger crowd outside estimated to be around 75,000. He was buried at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York. His second wife is interred next to him.

A granite memorial to Babe Ruth was unveiled on 19 April 1949 near to where similar tributes were erected for Lou Gehrig and Miller Huggins. Due to remodeling between 1974-1975, the area was enclosed and after that became known as Monument Park. When the new Yankee Stadium opened in 2008, Monument Park was moved to the new stadium but unlike the old stadium, not seen from the field. Spectators can visit this area up to 45 minutes before first pitch. His birthplace in Baltimore has been renovated and is now the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum.

Ruth’s contribution to baseball was significant. World War I, the Spanish Flu epidemic, and the Black Sox Scandal all contributed to a sour mood in the early 1920’s. And then this larger-than-life figure appears. Unlike Ty Cobb, who was almost always in a sour mood and not always having good relations with fans, Ruth came across as something completely different. He could swing the bat like no other, flamboyant and flashy, totally unstoppable. He became not just the Yankee’s best hitter, bunter, and base stealer but a symbol when people needed to take their minds off from other things. Seeing Ruth hit a home run was a joyous event where thousands cheered. He transcended the sport and became an icon. Home runs were no longer rare but expected. In the old days home runs were rare, but no more.

Ruth also was an American success story having come up from without any advantage of wealth or social standing. You didn’t need to come from wealth to play ball, you just needed the skill to play the game well. And many young kids would make it a dream to head for a baseball team so they too could be a success like Ruth, Gehring and so many others. In a time when most never saw him play, they read the stories of his feats in the newspapers or heard it on the radio once stations started carrying baseball games. And perhaps one of the strangest-and perhaps sweetest ways-he is remembered is the Baby Ruth candy bar. Marketed originally by Curtis Candy Company and named for the daughter of Grover Cleveland, it came out in 1921 and so many assumed it was named for the famous ball player. In 1995 though the Ruth estate (which manages all licensing of Babe Ruth products and images) licensed his likeness for the candy bar. It became the official candy of Major League Baseball in 2005. And in 2018, President Donald Trump awarded Babe Ruth (posthumously) the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Sources

Admin, W. (2024, July 3). Home. Babe Ruth. https://baberuth.com/

Admin. (2022, October 21). Babe Ruth. https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/babe-ruth/

Babe Ruth Birthplace Sports Legends Museum Baltimore MD. (2020, March 19). Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum Baltimore MD. https://baberuthmuseum.org/

Babe Ruth stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more | Baseball-Reference.com. (n.d.). Baseball-Reference.com. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/ruthba01.shtml

Ruth, Babe | Baseball Hall of Fame. (n.d.). https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/ruth-babe

Rader, B. G. (2024, August 14). Babe Ruth | Biography, Stats, nicknames, & Facts. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Babe-Ruth

Wikipedia contributors. (2024f, August 14). Babe Ruth. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babe_Ruth#

Suggested Reading

Leavy, J. (2019). The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created. Harper Perennial.

Pirone, D. R., & Martens, C. (1988). My Dad the Babe: Growing Up with an American Hero. Quinlan Press (MA).

Ruth, B., & Considine, B. (1992). The Babe Ruth Story. Signet.

Ruth, B., Cobb, W. R., & Dickson, P. (2011). Playing the game: My Early Years in Baseball. Courier Corporation.

Stanton, T. (2008). Ty and The Babe: Baseball’s Fiercest Rivals: A Surprising Friendship and the 1941 Has-Beens Golf Championship. St. Martin’s Griffin.

Titanic News Channel is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

 

History

Remembering History: The Chicago White Sox Accused of Throwing World Series (5 Jul 1921)

“Fix these faces in your memory” cartoon that ran in newspapers in 1920 after the scandal broker in 1920.
Source: Anderson, Wayne (2004) “The Fix” in The Chicago Black Sox Trial: A Primary Source Account, Great Trials of the Twentieth Century, New York, United States: The Rosen Publishing Group
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

The 1919 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds has been forever tainted by allegations that the game was thrown by some White Sox team members being paid by a gambling syndicate being run by Arthur Rothstein. The scandal changed baseball forever resulting in imposition of new rules of player conduct and putting into power a baseball commissioner who would preside like a dictator over baseball for decades. So, what happened? Let’s find out.

The White Sox were heavily favored to win the game in 1919 but many players were upset with being underpaid by team owner Charles Comiskey. It is believed that first baseman Chick Gindil may have initiated contact and through intermediaries New York gambler Arnold Rothstein offered money for the players to lose some of the games intentionally. Rumors of game fixing began on the first day of the game (1 Oct 1919). A lot of money was being placed against the Reds, which raised suspicions. The rumors reached the press box which started getting sports writers interested. As the games went on, plays were being watched more carefully and what the players were doing (or rather, not doing right). By Game 5 though, those involved were upset that they had not be paid and won Games 6 and 7. The gamblers struck back, and threats were made against the players and the families. Game 8 was lost by the Sox ending the series. The main conspirators received $5,000 each with Chick Gandil, who was the one who initiated the scheme, receiving $35,000.

Rumors swirled into the 1920 season and newspaper stories of corruption in other ball clubs emerged as well. Finally what appeared to be a rigged regular season game between the Cubs and the Phillies in August 1920 led to a grand jury being convened in September to investigate the 1919 World Series. Pitcher Eddie Cicotte confessed to his role and signed a waiver of immunity. Shoeless Joe Jackson soon testified to receiving $5,000 from his teammates. Lefty Williams and Oscar Felsch also confessed as well.  In October indictments for conspiracy were handed down for seven members of the White Sox, forever dubbed the Black Sox:

  • Arnold “Chick” Gandil (1st Base)
  • Eddie Cicotte (Pitcher)
  • Claude “Lefty” Williams (Pitcher)
  • Charles “Swede” Risberg (Shortstop)
  • Oscar “Happy” Felsch (Outfielder)
  • “Shoeless” Joe Jackson (Outfielder)
  • Fred McMullin (Infielder)
  • Buck Weaver ( 3rd Base)

The media and the public were unforgiving. Numerous stories appeared on how they sold out baseball and baseball fans over what happened. It was a major public relations nightmare for both the American and National leagues (back then they were separate unlike today). The trial took a mysterious turn when signed confessions and other documents mysteriously disappeared from the Cook County Courthouse. Both Cicotte and Jackson retracted their confessions, and without direct evidence what the jury heard were second hand or hearsay accounts. White Sox player “Sleepy Bill” Burns gave the most damning testimony when he said that Rothstein was involved and Cicotte had said he would fix the game. White Sox owner Charles Comiskey, who many felt had mistreated his players by not paying his player enough and not paying promised bonuses, was grilled on the stand so hard by the defense counsel that he became enraged. The jury got the case on 28 Jul and returned with a not guilty verdict three hours later.

Baseball Owners Respond

Prior to the jury verdict and even before the scandal broke out, the baseball team owners wanted to change how things were run. A National Commission governed the sport, but they realized things had to change. One suggestion was to get a recognized federal judge to sit on this commission and help direct baseball in a better direction. They looked at noted baseball fan and federal judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, but he demanded that he be made sole commissioner with nearly unchecked powers as commissioner. Although there were misgivings, the baseball owners agreed to his demands and made him the sole commissioner. This was unheard of back then as usually you wanted power vested in a group rather than one person. Landis would rule baseball from 1920-1944 and he would rule it with an iron fist. He would be the first and the last commissioner to have unchecked powers as he did.

Commissioner Landis Sets a New Tone for Baseball

Landis speaking at a church in 1921 is reported as saying he would tolerate any crooks in baseball.

Now that I am in baseball, just watch the game I play. If I catch any crook in baseball, the rest of his life is going to be a pretty hot one. I’ll go to any means and to anything possible to see that he gets a real penalty for his offense.

Like everyone else, he watched how the federal trial was going on against the White Sox players. When evidence disappeared requiring some charges to be dropped and new ones added (McMullin was dropped in the new charges), Landis responded by putting all eight on the ineligible list, banning them from major and minor league baseball. Comiskey released the seven who still were under contract, so they were effectively barred from professional baseball. However, Jackson, Williams, Felsch, and Weaver were able to play in a semi-pro game though sports writers heavily criticized it and the public for attending.

The acquittal seemed to end it and everyone in a celebratory mood afterwards. Both players and the jury went to an Italian restaurant and celebrated, it is said, long into the night. Their joy was short lived though. The following day (3 Aug 1921) Commissioner Landis issued the following statement:

Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player that throws a ball game; no player that undertakes or promises to throw a ball game; no player that sits in a conference with a bunch of crooked players and gamblers where the ways and means of throwing ball games are planned and discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball. Of course, I don’t know that any of these men will apply for reinstatement, but if they do, the above are at least a few of the rules that will be enforced. Just keep in mind that, regardless of the verdict of juries, baseball is competent to protect itself against crooks, both inside and outside the game.

 With that statement, Landis set a standard that still applies to this day. No ball player who colludes with gamblers or promises to throw a ball game is going to find a home in baseball. And even if a jury acquits them, baseball is the final arbiter of who can and cannot play. Now one can argue that if a person is legally acquitted of a crime of conspiracy to throwing a game, he should be welcomed back. Except that Landis knew, as did others, that there were signed confessions out there that mysteriously disappeared, and they recanted confessions after they vanished. The jury never got to see those confessions, which likely would have made a difference in the outcome. Unlike someone who steadfastly says he is innocent and is proven at trial that someone else was, the evidence here was certainly conclusive that they had conspired to through the game for gamblers.

Landis refused to reinstate any of the eight even with a lot of support and statements that perhaps they had been misled, their baseball stats from the games showed they had not thrown the games, or other reasons. To this day their expulsions stand despite sympathy for Jackson and Weaver. Landis moved to crack down on any association with gambling. Two team owners who had purchased a racing horse track had to sell it. Other baseball players who associated themselves in any way with gamblers or gambled on the game were struck off and out of the game. Also playing baseball outside of the season for pay was discouraged without permission from Landis.

Babe Ruth got into hot water with Landis for not getting his permission and for a while made him ineligible to play again for the Yankees until Landis met with him. Landis was also strict with the team owners making them disclose holdings they had in minor leagues and to honor their contracts with players. He was not a fan of the farm system, but it has become the way most teams develop promising players for the major leagues. While apparently a liberal on racial matters, he upheld the unofficial ban on black ballplayers playing in professional baseball and forbade teams from playing black baseball teams (though it was done unofficially). While it is debatable how racist Landis was, there were indications many players were and would not tolerate nor accept a black ballplayer. Perhaps, and this is not an excuse for his actions, Landis feared ugly incidents in the club house that would do more damage to the sport than gambling did.

Sources

Andrews, E., & Andrews, E. (2023, August 24). What was the 1919 ‘Black Sox’ baseball scandal? HISTORY. https://www.history.com/news/black-sox-baseball-scandal-1919-world-series-chicago

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2024b, June 21). Black Sox Scandal of 1919 | Summary, trial, players, & facts. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/Black-Sox-Scandal

Lamb, B. (2022, September 14). The Black Sox scandal. https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-black-sox-scandal/

Wikipedia contributors. (2024b, June 26). Black Sox scandal. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sox_Scandal

History

Babe Ruth Hits Final Home Run (25 May 1935)

Babe Ruth in his first season with the New York Yankees during a game in 1920.
Public Domain (via Wikimedia Commons)

It was a game to be remembered. The Boston Braves had only won 8 and had lost 19 games as they faced the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field in Pennsylvania on 25 May 1935. Babe Ruth, who had been with the New York Yankees for most of his best years, had been released by them in February but was picked up by the Boston Braves. Now at 40, his career was coming to an end. Although given other responsibilities by the Braves, those were mostly promotional and disappointed Ruth he would never manage a team. This game though would set a record that would not be broken for 40 years.

By the seventh inning of the game, Ruth had hit two homeruns, but the Pirates still led 7-5. Ruth came to bat. Fans were excited at seeing him play and he did not disappoint. His 714-career homerun came with the ball clearing Forbes Field right field roof. There was no doubt when he hit the ball that it was a homer. Fans could hear that familiar smack that Ruth was so well known for. He rounded the bases and saluted the fans with his cap. He was old and fat, but he had come through. The fans roared in delight. The Braves tied the score 7-7 later in the inning, but the Pirates came back scoring three runs later in that inning and scoring again in the eight for final score of 11-7.

Although he would play five more games with the Braves, this homerun was his last and was a league record for 40 years. He would retire from baseball on June 1, 1935. He would die of throat cancer on 16 August 1948.  On 8 April 1974, Hank Aaron would hit his 715-homerun ending Ruth’s record.

Sources

—. “Babe Ruth Hits Last Home Run.” HISTORY, 21 May 2020, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/babe-ruth-hits-last-home-run.

This Day in Babe Ruth History: May 25th (1935) Babe Ruth Central. www.baberuthcentral.com/day-babe-ruth-history-525.

 

As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases by clicking on some links in this post.

History

Babe Ruth Hits Final Home Run (25 May 1935)

Babe Ruth in his first season with the New York Yankees during a game in 1920.
Public Domain (via Wikimedia Commons)

It was a game to be remembered. The Boston Braves had only won 8 and had lost 19 games as they faced the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field in Pennsylvania on 25 May 1935. Babe Ruth, who had been with the New York Yankees for most of his best years, had been released by them in February but was picked up by the Boston Braves. Now at 40, his career was coming to an end. Although given other responsibilities by the Braves, those were mostly promotional and disappointed Ruth he would never manage a team. This game though would set a record that would not be broken for 40 years.

By the seventh inning of the game, Ruth had hit two homeruns, but the Pirates still led 7-5. Ruth came to bat. Fans were excited at seeing him play and he did not disappoint. His 714-career homerun came with the ball clearing Forbes Field right field roof. There was no doubt when he hit the ball that it was a homer. Fans could hit that familiar smack that Ruth was so well known for. He rounded the bases and saluted the fans with his cap. He was old and fat, but he had come through. The fans roared in delight. The Braves tied the score 7-7 later in the inning, but the Pirates came back scoring three runs later in that inning and scoring again in the eight for final score of 11-7.

Although he would play five more games with the Braves, this homerun was his last and was a league record for 40 years. He would retire from baseball on June 1, 1935. He would die of throat cancer on 16 August 1948.  On 8 April 1974, Hank Aaron would hit his 715-homerun ending Ruth’s record.

Sources

—. “Babe Ruth Hits Last Home Run.” HISTORY, 21 May 2020, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/babe-ruth-hits-last-home-run.

This Day in Babe Ruth History: May 25th (1935) Babe Ruth Central. www.baberuthcentral.com/day-babe-ruth-history-525.

History

Babe Ruth Hits Final Home Run (25 May 1935)

Babe Ruth in his first season with the New York Yankees during a game in 1920.
Public Domain (via Wikimedia Commons)

It was a game to be remembered. The Boston Braves had only won 8 and had lost 19 games as they faced the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field in Pennsylvania on 25 May 1935. Babe Ruth, who had been with the New York Yankees for most of his best years, had been released by them in February but was picked up by the Boston Braves. Now at 40, his career was coming to an end. Although given other responsibilities by the Braves, those were mostly promotional and disappointed Ruth he would never manage a team. This game though would set a record that would not be broken for 40 years.

By the seventh inning of the game, Ruth had hit two homeruns, but the Pirates still led 7-5. Ruth came to bat. Fans were excited at seeing him play and he did not disappoint. His 714-career homerun came with the ball clearing Forbes Field right field roof. There was no doubt when he hit the ball that it was a homer. Fans could hit that familiar smack that Ruth was so well known for. He rounded the bases and saluted the fans with his cap. He was old and fat, but he had come through. The fans roared in delight. The Braves tied the score 7-7 later in the inning, but the Pirates came back scoring three runs later in that inning and scoring again in the eight for final score of 11-7.

Although he would play five more games with the Braves, this homerun was his last and was a league record for 40 years. He would retire from baseball on June 1, 1935. He would die of throat cancer on 16 August 1948.  On 8 April 1974, Hank Aaron would hit his 715-homerun ending Ruth’s record.

Sources:


Miscellaneous

For Your Friday-Roy Hobbs Homer That Wins The Pennant

As baseball is now in postseason, I thought it fitting to perhaps play the famous (but fictional) Roy Hobbs homer that clinches the league pennant for the New York Knights in the 1984 movie The Natural. Barnard Malmud originally wrote Hobbs as anti-hero and in the end makes an unwise choice unlike the movie. For the movie, the director decided to remake Hobbs with elements of Greek and Arthurian stories weaved in. The Greek gods famously put down mortals who dared to think they were on their level (called hubris meaning excessive pride). And Hobbs’ journey in the movie reflects that kind of Greek story of a man who reaches too high, falls back to Earth, and then learns to become better than he was before without the hubris.

Hobbs has been tempted in the movie to throw the game. The Judge, Gus and his gal (who is closely allied with Gus, the Arnold Rothstein of this movie). But he realizes after talking with Iris (a friend from his youth who he was close with and the father of her child)he can still do a lot with his remaining time before a forced retirement (his stomach needed to heal from a silver bullet left in years before when he was shot by a woman desiring to kill men who sought greatness). So he tells the Judge to shove it and throws the money back. They think he will fail. And at first it does not look like he will make it. As the trio looks down thinking Hobbs will loose the game, he takes the bat he made with the teams bat boy called the Savoy Special and delivers a hit never to be forgotten in that fictional baseball world. And the music from the movie is often used when they introduce players of note in ballparks or when awards are given.