They Were Black Sox Long Before the 1919 World Series

Abstract

(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)Eight players on the 1919 Chicago White Sox have gone down in history for agreeing to lose the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. The statistical and circumstantial evidence suggests that St. Louis gamblers were conspiring with some of those players to lose games on purpose during the 1919 regular season.Lefty Williams and Happy Felsch Were Disenchanted with the White SoxThe White Sox won the World Series in 1917. Their infield of Arnold (Chick) Gandil, Eddie Collins, Charles (Swede) Risberg and George (Buck) Weaver, and utility man Fred McMullin was formidable offensively and defensively. Outfielders Joe Jackson, Oscar (Happy) Felsch, and Nemo Leibold were even better. Veteran and future Hallof- Famer Ray Schalk did the catching, and starting pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Claude Williams were among the best in the majors.The 1918 season was so disrupted by World War I that, for all practical purposes, it should not have counted. Every major league team had lost front line players to military enlistment, the draft, or to jobs related to the war effort. This last category had a particular effect on the White Sox in 1918. Their best player, Jackson, leftthe club in May to work at the shipyards of Bethlehem Steel subsidiary Harlan & Hollingsworth in Delaware. Williams followed Jackson to Harlan on June 11, moving with his wife Lyria into a rooming house in Wilmington with Jackson and his wife Katie.1Ballplayers jumping to industry jobs were widely seen as slackers, and many baseball writers predicted that the players would be roundly booed, and when they returned. The defections particularly enraged White Sox owner Charles Comiskey. He declared to the press that none of the jumpers would be welcomed back. Comiskey even went so far as to withhold Williams' last paycheck, for $183.66 for the first eleven days of June. That is not a misprint. Williams, who turned 25 right before the 1918 season, had won 17 games in the championship year of 1917 and would win 23 more in 1919. He was, by any measure, more than just an established pitcher. Still, Lefty was making only $3000 a year-a little more than $16 a day.2Center fielder Felsch at least waited until he collected his paycheck before he leftthe White Sox for good on July 1.3 The press speculated that Felsch would follow Jackson and Williams to the shipyards.4 Felsch did contact Bethlehem Steel,5 and even got an offer the Steel league. On that basis, he demanded a trade before he would return to the White Sox.6 Comiskey's response was to indefinitely suspend Felsch from organized baseball.7 Comiskey held that position for months, saying if it takes every ounce of my strength and the last cent I have I'll keep them [Jackson, Felsch and Williams] out of organized baseball forever.8 There was wide speculation about why Felsch had leftthe White Sox. One report was that Felsch had a row with Secretary Harry Grabiner over a salary cut.9 The Sporting News reported that Felsch complained of not receiving a bonus he was due for quitting drinking, and that Felsch was docked for a period of several days in May that he was away from the team visiting his injured brother at an Army camp.10Williams filed a formal grievance against the White Sox for his $183. The National Commission, which governed baseball in the days before sports league commissioners existed, upheld Comiskey's action.11By Opening Day 1919, Williams Needed MoneyAfter the Armistice ended World War I in November 1918, Comiskey hired William (Kid) Gleason to manage the White Sox for the upcoming season. Gleason's first order of business in January 1919 was to visit Jackson, Williams and backup catcher Byrd Lynn at the Harlan plant in Wilmington. Upon arrival, Gleason learned that Jackson and Lynn had quit their war jobs and returned home, but he found Williams working, literally, on top of a boiler.12Lefty was making about $40 per week in the shipyards, plus $40-50 per game playing on the weekends for the Harlan team. …