By Ron Griffitts
Contributing columnist
In fall 1919, one of the most famous and consequential World Series in baseball history took place between the Cincinnati Reds (96-44) managed by Pat Moran playing in their first World Series in franchise history, and the Chicago White Sox (88-52) managed by Kid Gleason.
The White Sox were led on offense by one of the greatest hitters ever, Joe Jackson (.351 BA, 96 RBI, 181 H, 14 3b, 10 so), Eddie Collins (.319 BA, 33 SB), Buck Weaver (.296 BA, 89 R, 22 SB), Nemo Leibold (.302 BA, 81 R) and Happy Felsh (86 RBI, 11 3b).
Their pitching staff was anchored by Eddie Cicotte (29-7, 1.82 ERA), Lefty Williams (23-11, 2.64 ERA), Red Faber (11-9) and Dickey Kerr (13-7, 2.88 ERA) in the bullpen.
Cincinnati was led in batting by Ed Roush (.321 BA, 20 SB, and 12 3b), Heinie Groh (.310 BA, 79 R, and 21 SB) and Greasy Neale (121 H, 28 SB).
Their pitching staff consisted of Hod Eller (19-9, 2.39 ERA), Dutch Reuther (19-6, 1.82 ERA), Slim Salee (21-7, 2.06 ERA), Jimmy Ring (10-9, 2.26 ERA), Ray Fischer (14-5, 2.17 ERA) and Dolf Luque (10-3, 2.63 ERA) as their reliever.
Game one was at Redland Field in Cincinnati with Dutch Reuther opposing Eddie Cicotte in what was expected to be a tightly pitched game. But, the Reds broke the game open with five runs against Cicotte in the bottom of the fourth inning with Reuther contributing one of his two triples and the Reds won 9-1 for a 1-0 series lead.
Game two featured Slim Sallee starting for Cincinnati and Lefty Williams for the White Sox. Even though the Sox had ten hits, they could muster only two runs. The Reds, with the help of a triple and two RBI’s by Larry Kopf, took a 2-0 series lead with a 4-2 win.
In game three in Comiskey Park on the south side of Chicago, Dickie Kerr who was one of the players who was not in on the later controversy, pitched a three hitter for the Sox and they got their first win with a 3-0 victory to pull within 2-1 in the series.
In game four, Eddie Cicotte was back against the Reds’ Jimmy Ring. Ring stymied the White Sox, holding them to only three hits while the Reds got two unearned runs off of Cicotte for a 2-0 Reds win to go up 3-1 in the series.
Game five featured Hod Eller pitching against Lefty Williams who was back for his second series start. The game was close until Cincinnati scored four runs off of Williams in the sixth inning on their way to a 5-0 win and 4-1 series lead.
Back in Cincinnati, the White Sox, behind a ten inning performance by Dickie Kerr, eked out a 5-4 victory when Chick Gandil singled in Buck Weaver for the winning run in the top of the tenth and the Sox pull to 4-2 in the series.
Game six had Eddie Cicotte’s only win in the series as he held the Reds to only one run and Joe Jackson and Happy Felsh both had two hits and drove in two runs each for a 4-1 Chicago win in front of only 13,923 fans as there was a ticket glitch before the game. The Reds led 4-3 in the series.
In game seven, Hod Eller went to the mound for Cincinnati and Lefty Williams made his third start for Chicago. Williams only lasted one third of an inning and the Reds scored ten runs off three Sox pitchers on their way to a 10-5 victory in the game and World Series.
While that would have been the end of most other World Series, that was just the start of that one as allegations that the White Sox had thrown the series erupted. Before the controversy was over, eight Chicago players including Jackson and Cicotte were banned from baseball for life by baseball Commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis in 1921.
We may never know the facts of the case but of course the players didn’t make the money they make today so when they were approached by a professional gambler to fix the series, they saw it as a way to make a little more money.
Cicotte was key as he was one of baseball’s best pitchers and lost two series game while Lefty Williams lost three. It also seemed like the players wrangled with the gamblers and the fix was on and then off. Games five and six were probably more indicative as how the Sox could play.
The Chicago White Sox did not return to the Fall Classic until 1959 while the Reds were back in 1939.
The biggest loser was Joe Jackson. He was not a ringleader but he had to be persuaded to go along with the fix for it to be effective. Baseball lost one its greatest hitters as in thirteen seasons, one of in which he batted over .400, he had a lifetime average of .356 third on the all-time list behind Ty Cobb and Rogers Hornsby. He disappeared into relative obscurity after 1921.
Baseball had been associated with gambling to some extent since the 1870’s but Landis’s ban of the eight players effectively cleaned the sport up.
Statistics for this article were from baseball-reference.com and sabr.org.
