Over 100 years later, could some of the banned 1919 White Sox players find their plaques in the Hall of Fame?
This May, Commissioner Rob Manfred made waves by announcing that dead players have been reinstated from the “permanently ineligible list”. That list included OF Pete Rose and the Eight Men Out from the 1919 Chicago White Sox. The move was controversial to say the least, primarily due to it happening a few months after Rose died, after three decades of Rose campaigning for his own removal. But while Rose was the biggest name on the list, the cases of the players involved in the Black Sox Scandal are more interesting to discuss.
No team in Major League Baseball history is more synonymous with controversy than the Black Sox. Likewise, no team in MLB history is more deserving of a nickname than the 1919 White Sox. People called them the Black Sox because of their filthy uniforms, and they are a story of baseball’s less glamorous times, when players needed their paychecks and often made more money during the offseason. But that narrative fails to capture how openly intertwined and brazenly comfortable gambling was with the sport. The legacies and lives of Eddie Cicotte, Chick Gandil, Happy Felsch, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Fred McMullin, Swede Risberg, Buck Weaver, and Lefty Williams were forever changed by their implication in the biggest scandal in sports history.
But the eight players are not entirely to blame for what happened, even if they did everything of their own volition. I will not excuse or justify what the players did, but I will examine contemporaneous standards of sports betting and the modern attitudes towards pro athletes.
A Different Time
Firstly, what sets betting apart from a century ago are the massive contracts players sign, far beyond what most people can comprehend. In 1919, the top player salaries averaged $10,000 per year. That only covered their expenses during the season, and players would find another job during the offseason. Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown worked as a coalminer during his prime years. Babe Ruth worked at a steel mill when he was younger before signing the largest contracts at the time. Walter Johnson dug postholes for a telephone company.
Thankfully, those days are gone, as players use the offseason to recover and prepare for the new season. They also film commercials and volunteer for their charities. Today’s contracts allow players to relax with their families and make an impact in the community instead of doing dangerous work.
This, it would hopefully be nearly impossible to bribe players with cash to throw a postseason game. Furthermore, players today have agents, and outsiders would have to go through them. Agents are bound by law and common sense to report any potential match fixing. None of these elements existed in 1919, when attitudes within baseball were laxer. And so, what the White Sox should not be seen as an isolated incident, but rather the culmination of gambling’s influence on sports. The players knew that as long as they laid low, they would get their cut, and the news would only emerge later.
In fact, White Sox owner Charlie Comiskey knew there was some sort of fix going on before the World Series started. But he and others including AL President Ban Johnson wanted to wait until after the Series to take action, knowing that the public’s reaction would tarnish baseball’s reputation.
Motivations
Another factor setting apart today from yesteryear is a greater desire to win. Ballplayers today are constantly seeking news ways to gain an advantage. The insatiable desire to win drives players to train and study harder instead of accepting money to lose. Plus, contract incentives and performance bonuses encourage players to play better and shield them from bribery. Indeed, the Houston Astros cheating scandal from 2017 stems from going too far to win rather than too far to lose.
A modern-day occurrence of the Black Sox Scandal would seem desperate and silly. Sure, players know which teams are the favorites, and prop bets are massively popular for fans. But players today care more about their personal legacies and relationships with teammates than in the past. Compare that to the White Sox, where some factions in the clubhouse never spoke to each other. Winning can solve all problems. Meanwhile, money is the root of all problems.
There is far more regulation today for sportsbooks than back then, when MLB didn’t even have a commissioner. In fact, the actions of the White Sox spurred the creation of a commissioner. The AL and NL had two separate offices for policing their own leagues, and they feuded with each other instead of working together. Thus, the eight men knew they could avoid suspicion in the immediate aftermath. Therefore, much of the fault lies with the sport itself for allowing its association with gambling to run out of control. The players were simply taking advantage of a situation that never should have existed at all.
Recent Announcement
Perhaps changing attitudes are the main impetus behind Manfred’s decision. If we are choosing to be charitable rather than cynical, reinstatement is a recognition of the sport’s mistakes creating the conditions for a scandal. Fans then had to recognize how wide-reaching gambling was. Without the scandal, the White Sox were huge favorites to win the World Series, which would have been two in three years. Whether they would have won or not playing clean is beside the point. Players should always be trying their best.
The more obvious explanation, though, as with Rose, is that the Black Sox are not alive to pose any “threat to the integrity of the game,” as Manfred said in his statement. But this explanation alone does not suffice to apologize for baseball’s role in the prevalence of gambling in the early years. If Manfred is serious about making up for past mistakes, he must publicly admit that the powers of the game at the time were wrong.
Gambling Today
Since sports betting is now a multi-billion-dollar industry, it is critical that sports leagues emphasize that betting on outcomes can cheapen the entertainment value. Thankfully, the Live Ball Era and Babe Ruth’s many home runs offset the ruinous impact of the White Sox. While gambling in baseball continued after 1919, greater oversight and the threat of ultimate punishment kept players in line. But today, with online technology, MLB must remain on high alert to ensure players, coaches, and fans don’t collude to manipulate the outcome of games. At minimum, there should be greater transparency from the league.
Baseball’s history is often fun to examine. Sometimes, however, we need to discuss heavier subjects through the lens of time instead of projecting self-righteousness. This is certainly one of the times where self-affirming critiques do more harm than good. Indeed, Manfred is responding to a societal shift in regard to sports betting. A century ago, gambling was mostly run by the mob as a criminal enterprise. Today, however, it is no longer taboo or immoral and is simply part of the economy. Bettors simply chalk up their wins and losses to luck, and games go on.
Baseball fans deserve to know that the game will continue to prosper for many years. The 1919 White deserve to be remembered for more than just the scandal. This year, with reinstatement, their rehabilitation begins in earnest. Here’s to hoping baseball can and will truly reconcile with them.
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