The Black Sox Scandal of the 1919 World Series
             In 1919 the Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds made their way to the World Series. The 1919 World Series is said to be the most famous scandal in baseball history. Eight players from the Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing the series against the Reds. These players included Eddie Cicotte, Claude Williams, Joe Jackson, Happy Felsch, Chick Gandil, Swede Risberg, Buck Weaver, and Fred McMullin. All eight players were banned from baseball forever and became known as baseball's Black Sox.
             During this time in baseball, a players salary was nothing compared to what players make today. The great players made only a little more than the worst did, and a bribe of money could have an affect on the game easily. For an example, the promised prize for winning the 1917 pennant was a case of cheap Champagne (Reber 45).
             With the fix being led by Chick Gandil, he rounded up seven more players to go along with it. The bookmakers and gamblers that the team was dealing with were Joseph Sullivan and Arnold Rothstein. Sullivan did most of the business with the players and Rothstein provided most of the money (Reber 27). Gandil had 100,000 dollars to deal with. He took 10,000 for himself to start and needed to get the other players to go along. Cicotte went along with the deal for 10,000 dollars up front. Williams, Risberg, and McMullions all agreed with the deal. Shoeless Joe Jackson said that he didn't take the 10,000 when Gandil offered it to him and he still refused the offer when he doubled it. Gandil then told him to take it or leave it because the fix was on anyway. Jackson denied that he ever took the money and said he played his best in the series (Reber 46).
             The night before game 1 in a best of 9 series, Cicotte found 10,000 dollars under a pillow in his hotel room. None of the other players were paid up front except for him. With Cicotte's se...