Eight Men Out: The Black Sox Scandal

All About the Red Sox Founded in 1901, the Boston Red Sox, which used to be called the Boston Americans, were and still are one of the main subjects in Boston. With an average of around 35,000 people attending each game, this is no smalltalk. They won their first world series against the pirates in 1903. The Sox are rivals with the Yankees and in some cases, fights broke out. The Red Sox were the first team to win 3 championship trophies in the 21 century.

Is it smart for the Red Sox to try to sign David Price this offseason? There is lots of spiculation on whether the Red Sox will shoot for the all star pitcher but there is no answer currently. He is a very skilled pitcher and has had many all-star years in his ten year career. David Prices contract is expiring after this season and the Boston Red Sox lack pitching. Although he is getting older and his skills are decreasing, he would be a strong pick up for the Boston Red Sox.

The Chicago Black Sox Scandal On August 4, 1921 eight men were banned from Major League Baseball by newly appointed baseball commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis for allegedly throwing the 1919 World Series. Eight men were accused of fixing the World Series for money. This scandal will forever be remembered in infamy and completely changed the image of professional baseball. Judge Landis became the first commissioner of baseball to fix the broken image of the sport and assure the public of no more scandals and fair play.

“ Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee, who bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has no duty to perform, shall be declared ineligible for one year. (2) Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform, shall be declared permanently ineligible” ("A hundred")(Andrews). The Commissioner put an end to the Scandal, the cheater's career, and to all future cheats involving

Therefore the preconceived notion about the players on the White Sox club could have gotten some of the club members wrongly convicted of betting on the World Series they were playing in. “Immediately Burns asked: was it true? Was there a plan to fix the Series? Cicotte laughed and replied there was always that kind of talk floating around.” (Asinof 23)

Eight baseball players made a decision that ruined their lives. Eddie Cicotte, Claude Williams, Arnold Gandil, Charles Risberg, George Weaver, Joe Jackson, Oscar Felsch, and Fred McMullin called home after an evening of confessing. Did confessing lead to more years of imprisonment and fines or did it bring nothing to their plate to overcome. Black Sox baseball scandal is a malicious disaster for the teammates involved because of all the cheating during the game, how the gambling went down, and all the investigating. To Chicago fans the World Series was a given win, but to the players they would have to play below the sub par and manage to gamble so they could lose the whole series.

In his confession forty years later he highlighted that even an ordinary person told him that he knew firsthand of the series being fixed. It seemed like everyone knew, yet nobody was sure. It wasn’t clear, who bribed whom. Smith then sheds light on the White Sox, who were a match for anything Cincinnati could throw against them. While, the tragic prelude is still difficult for the historians to piece together, however according to the book, Eight Men Out, Chick Gandil collaborated with Joseph Sullivan, a Boston sports gambler and initiated the Scandal of fixing the series.

The Black Sox Scandal Baseball is America’s favorite pastime. People have always thought baseball was a clean game. Until the massive doping scandal that occurred several years ago. However, there was what some called the “greatest scandal in sports history” back in the 1919 World Series (1919 Chicago White Sox).

This amazing film stars some familiar and unfamiliar names like Chadwick Boseman( Jackie Robinson), Harrison Ford(Branch Rickey), Nicole Beharie(Rachel Robinson), Andre Holland(Wendell Smith), and Lucas Black(Pee Wee Reese). This film is biographical sports film about an African American named Jackie Robinson who gets the chance of a lifetime to play professional baseball. In the film Branch Rickey, President and GM of the Brooklyn Dodgers, wants to have an African American play professional baseball. In the film, Jackie must face many challenges like racial integration and starting out playing for Montreal. After his great season with Montreal he is moved up to play with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

In the movie “A League of Their Own”, one can see how the more sexist views of the culture in the 1940s and 50s in America was present in the Girls Professional Baseball League. “A League of Their Own” is a movie about what was once the “All-American Girls Professional Baseball League” which was formed when the young men were sent over to serve in World War II. One of the most obvious cultural views that this movie shows is the feminizing of the baseball players to make them “more acceptable and women like”. Unlike men’s uniforms, that include a full shirt and pants, they were to wear skirts that were very short, too short to play baseball in comfortably. This alone shows how this league was just as much about show as it was about the women’s talent.

The reason for having the Negro Leagues was because it very unlikely to have a colored person be on the same field as a white person. However, one man who stands alone Jackie Robinson’s defeat to break the color barrier in baseball with the help of Branch

The 1920’s were a very exciting and well remembered time era for the changes the way sports are played today. During this time period watching as well as playing sports became much more popular as a method of relaxation or a way to spend some free time having fun, just as it is today. Babe Ruth’s outstanding skill and dedication changed the game of ball since people of all races and colors would watch his games, and was a huge role model to many young kids, giving them a dream to someday become a great player just like him. Babe Ruth’s record setting performances brought a whole new social life to people in the 20’s.

Baseball, America’s greatest pastime, has been documented in thousands of movies; however The Sandlot and The Bad News Bears capture the most memorable aspects and cruel realities of little league and backyard baseball before the sport became a hollywood enterprise. The Sandlot shows baseball in its purest form, a group of neighborhood boys playing a never ending game and playing for the love of the game. The Bad News Bears represents the pains of little league baseball, from learning what a baseball is, to finding a select few athletes who take over the team to win at all costs. Both movies are classics in the baseball genre of film and are alike, yet so different that they are entertaining for all.

“Moneyball” is a movie that was released in 2011 that was based on the rise and fall of the 2002 Oakland Athletics. Manager Billy Beane, played by Brad Pitt, and his assistant Peter Brand, played by Jonah Hill, had to deal with the disadvantage of having one of the lowest payrolls in the MLB. The duo then goes on to make a few low profile signings to replace their three lost stars from the season before. With the combination of Beane’s Motivational tactics and Brand’s use of analytics, after a slow start to their season, the lowly regarded Oakland Athletics go on to win twenty straight games which is the longest win streak in American League history. The win streaks predictably sprung the A’s into the right direction where they go on to win 103 games for the year and

During class, we viewed and discussed segments of films concerning ethical values in sport and academics during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1950s that clearly showed and proved how their formers values were really different than today’s ethical values. Throughout the films, very well known characters appeared such as Sandy Koufax, Nile Kinnick, Eric Liddell, and Tom Povich. First of all, Sandy Koufax is a former American Major League Baseball (MBL) left-handed pitcher that was most likely remembered as one of the outstanding Jewish athletes in American sports. He decided no to pitch Game 1 of the 1965 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur garnered national attention as an example of conflict between professional pressures and personal beliefs.