1919 World Series

NickyDeuces · Mar 17, 2004

"Rothstein had sent word that Eddie Cicotte was to hit the first Reds batter with a pitch, as a sign that the fix was on. The first pitch to lead-off batter Maurice Rath was a called strike. Cicotte's second pitch hit Rath in the back. Arnold Rothstein walked out of the Ansonia into a New York rain."

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/blacksox/blacksox.html

wilheim · Mar 17, 2004

Not guilty in a court room, but guilty with MLB. This newspaper photo was taken shortly after the "not guilty" verdicts were handed down. The photo shows the ballplayers and the jury...also shows St. Louis gambler Carl Zork.
(Eddie Cicotte is left front in suit).

wil.

wilheim · Mar 17, 2004

"Shoeless" Joe Jackson in 1909. (colorized)

wil.

NickyDeuces · Mar 17, 2004

Hey Wilheim,

My father, who passed some years back, was a lifelong baseball fan. He was nine in 1919, and a member of the driving force behind, "Say it ain't so."

wilheim · Mar 17, 2004

"Say it ain't so" was the response of a nation to the Black Sox scandal. Natrually I wasn't around when you father was. However, I am also a long time baseball fan, and amateur historian of the game. imo. Charles Cominsky's incredible cheapness had a lot to do with the incident.

wil.