Eddie Cicotte on the Day that Shook Baseball

Abstract

The film Eight Men Out begins with several gamblers watching Chicago White Sox clinching 1919 American League pennant, talking about which players might be open to offers of bribes to throw coming World Series. The perception that naive, simple ballplayers had fallen victim to evil fixers-resulting in event that went down in history as Black Sox scandal-was widespread when scandal broke. That event happened on September 28, 1920, when ace pitcher Eddie Cicotte testified to Cook County grand jury and admitted that fix was indeed in, and that he had accepted a $10,000 bribe before 1919 Series. (There is no sense in cinematic version of Eliot Asinof 's 1963 book Eight Men Out that nearly another whole season was played after tainted Series, with result that film in fact covers up coverup.)Even when it became clear during course of Black Sox in summer of 1921, from testimony of both ballplayers and gamblers, that fix originated with former, and not with underworld figures preying on innocents, most people chose to believe otherwise. Thanks to both 1963 book and 1988 film, that belief has become fairly cemented into public consciousness.There was no real investigation into exactly what happened in October 1919, or in months following. After scandal broke, baseball would rush to support what historian David Voigt called the of baseball's single sin-that is, idea that bribery in 1919 Series was first and last time that otherwise clean sport was ever sullied. Many baseball reporters knew better, but most went along with damage control. A few, like Hugh Fullerton, would speculate that 1919 Series was probably not first to be tainted, and eventually evidence of previous tampering-starting with very first modern Series game in 1903-emerged. But myth persisted, so that even today suggestion that other World Series may have been crooked is shocking and incredible.However, documents in collection purchased in 2007 by Chicago History Museum (CHM), made available in May 2009, contain new information about origin of 1919 Series fix. These documents raise questions about 1918 Series, as well.What Did Eddie Say?In 1920, media was newspapers, and what they reported often went down as history. After Eddie Cicotte left Cook County grand jury, it was widely reported that he had testified in exchange for immunity from prosecution. That was not case, however; he had signed a waiver of immunity in grand jury room. It was also reported that he had confessed to taking bribe money (which was true) and that he had intentionally thrown two games to opposing team in 1919 Series. Many papers promptly looked up play-by-play accounts from previous October and noted that Cicotte, 29-7 with a 1.82 ERA during 1919 season, was knocked out early in a 9-1 win by Cincinnati in Game 1. He also appeared to have lost Game 4 single-handedly, having made errors accounting for both runs in Cincinnati's 2-0 win. In days that followed, Cicotte was said to have told grand jury in detail how he had earned $10,000 that he found under his pillow before Game 1, and there were accounts of how he had fed Cincinnati fat pitches and made those Game 4 errors intentionally.But that was not, in fact, what Eddie had said to grand jury.It was not until 1921 trial that his testimony became public. It was read into record (after a dispute about its admissibility): Cicotte and two other players who spoke to grand jury, Shoeless Joe Jackson (on same day as Cicotte), and Claude Lefty Williams (the morning after), all repudiated their 1920 statements. Advised by their own lawyers-whereas they had not been year before-the trio said that they had been promised that they would not be prosecuted, fined, or jailed if they cooperated and told what they knew. …