"Say It Ain't So Joe"

On the evening of September 21, 1919, a few weeks before the World Series was to get underway, eight players of the Chicago White Sox assembled in first baseman Chick Gandil's room at the Ansonia Hotel in New York City following a game against the Yankees. Gandil spelled out the terms of the deal he had made with a small-time Boston gambler named Joseph "Sport" Sullivan. Each player was to receive $10,000 before the Series began in exchange for throwing the games. In the history of American sports, there is not another meeting that led to such tragic consequences. Yet, the players treated the occasion lightly, even joking that those who made the most errors or left the most men on base ought to receive a bonus.

They were the greatest team of their era, already surrounded by the aura of myth. Few in 1919 doubted that they would again find themselves atop the baseball world. They were that "colossus from the West," the Chicago White Sox. Their fans, it was said, came to the ballpark not to see if they would win, but how.

The Sox boasted such luminaries as knuckle-ball pitcher Eddie Cicotte. A small bundle of dynamite known as Ray Schalk lurked behind home plate. The infield had the sure-handed Arnold "Chick" Gandil at first and the smooth-fielding Eddie Collins at second. Agile George "Buck" Weaver safeguarded third, while Charles "Swede" Risberg played short. Oscar "Happy" Felsch patrolled center as if it were his private domain. Rightfielder John "Shano" Collins could catch, throw, run, and hit with the best players in the American League. But it was the left field that everyone watched. For here, an illiterate son of a South Carolina tenant farmer played. He was and still is, considered one of the finest players in the history of baseball. His name was "Shoeless" Joe Jackson.

Not even the loyal fans of the National League Champion Cincinnati Reds believed the Sox could lose the World Series. No one imagined that eight members of the team, Cicotte, Felsch, Gandil, Jackson, Risberg, Weaver, utility infielder Fred McMullin, and pitcher Claude "Lefty" Williams, had conspired with gamblers to throw the games.

The plot had been "Chick" Gandil's idea. His motives were simple. He wanted money. His teammates reluctantly went along with the scheme for the same reason. Although the Sox had long been one of the best teams in baseball, they were also one of the worst paid. Team owner Charles Comiskey was stingy by nature. At one point, the Sox players asked their manager, William "Kid" Gleason, to approach Comiskey about raising their salaries. When Comiskey refused even to consider the possibility, the players were outraged. It was then that Gandil began to think about "fixing" the World Series.

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