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Chicago white Sox trial

by Lionel Wijesiri

It was year 1919: a time when baseball was picking up as the national pastime in USA. This was also the year for the World Series final between the Chicago White Sox (short for white stockings) and the Cincinnati Reds.

It appeared, at first, to be like any other final game: two highly competitive teams playing their best to see who would be crowned champions of baseball, and who would simply go home. In this game, the Reds seemed to barely survive to win 5 games to 3. But they had "invisible" help: the game was "fixed".

Enter the gamblers. There were two: "Sleepy Bill" Burns and Billy Maharg. Burns was an ex-major league pitcher and was the connection to the players. Maharg was the gambler with the connections underground. The two men approached initially two of the White Sox players, and then six more, about fixing the Series. Amongt them was one of the most popular stars ever, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson.

In order to pay off eight men, however, Burns and Maharg would need to come up with some more cash.

They hit up "The Big Bankroll" Arnold Rothstein for a much needed loan. In the end, the gamblers bet nearly half a million dollars on the Reds, while agreeing to pay the players US $100,000 to split.

The game was played, and, despite gallant efforts by the white Sox, Reds won. Nobody suspected any foul play.

Exposure of the fix came from an unexpected source-just as the Sox were in a close fight for the 1920 American League pennant. Reports on another fix elsewhere, led to the convening of the Grand Jury of Cook County. Assistant State Attorney sent out dozens of summons to baseball personalities.

One of those called to testify was New York "Giants" pitcher Rube Benton. Benton told the grand jury that he saw a telegram sent in late September to a team-mate from Burns, stating that the Sox would lose the 1919 Series.

He also revealed that he later learned that at least four players were among those in on the fix. He named the players.

Shocking revelations

News of Benton's revelations was leaked within hours of his testimony. A couple of days later, a leading newspaper ran an interview with Billy Maharg, providing the public for the first time with many of the shocking details of the scandal. One of the players - Cicotte regretted his participation in the fix and decided to talk. "I've lived a thousand years in the last twelve months. I should not have done that thing for a million dollars," he said.

It was Joe Jackson that turned up next, in the chambers of this presiding judge. Two hours after he began testifying, Jackson walked out of the room, telling two bailiffs, "I got a big load off my chest!"

More details about the fix began coming out. Lefty Williams became the third White Sox player to tell his story to the Jury. Then Oscar Felsch told his version of events in an interview that ran in the Chicago American. "Well, the beans are spilled and I think I'm through with baseball," Felsch said.

On October 22, 1920, the Grand Jury handed down its indictments, naming the eight Chicago players and Bill Burns. Rothstein was not indicted. The indictments included nine counts of conspiracy to defraud various individuals and institutions.

Some of the best and most expensive defense attorneys agreed to appear for the players.

Clearly, the impoverished Sox players weren't going to be footing the legal bills-so who was paying for them? No one who knew talked.

Defendants

The defendants were arraigned on February 14, 1921. All the ballplayers were present, but none of the gamblers. State Attorney then announced the shocking news that the players' confessions had been stolen, and asked for the reconvening of the Grand Jury.

On June 27, 1921, the case re-opened. With the confessions still missing,the State Attorney knew he faced a difficult fight. However, he did have one key witness who could tie the players to the fix: Sleepy Burns.

Promised immunity from prosecution, Burns reluctantly agreed to testify.

For three days, Burns remained on the stand, recounting the many trials and tribulations of the fix. On cross-examination, defense attorneys tried unsuccessfully to shake Burns' assertion that it was the players, and not him, that came up with the idea of throwing the Series.

The big battle of the trial, however, was over the issue of how to handle the missing confessions. Judge ruled that no evidence of the confessions could be introduced unless the State could prove that they were made voluntarily, and without duress.

Cicotte testified that he had been promised that in return for his statement "I would be taken care of," which he assumed meant not prosecuted. Joe Jackson took the stand to offer a similar story. Jackson said that he was told that "after confessing I could go anywhere."

The first witness for the defence was Sox manager. He testified that the indicted Sox players were practising at the Cincinnati ballpark at the time Burns alleged he was meeting with them in a hotel room. Later, Sox financial officer was called to show that the gate receipts in 1920 were well above those in 1919, when the players allegedly defrauded.

The jury seemed intensely interested in the financial testimony.

The outcome of the trial may have been sealed when Judge charged the jury. He told them that to return a guilty verdict they must find the players conspired "to defraud the public and others, and not merely throw ballgames."

The jury deliberated only two hours.

The players were acquitted. However, their joy was short-lived. The day after the jury's verdict, the new commissioner of Baseball released a statement to the press:

"Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player who throws a ballgame, no player that undertakes of promises to throw a ballgame, no player that sits in conference with a bunch of crooked players and gamblers where the ways and means of throwing a game are discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball."

Despite the best efforts of some of the players to gain reinstatement, none of the Eight Men Out would ever again put on a major league uniform.

The Black Sox scandal of 1919 turned into the biggest, and easily the darkest event in baseball history.

The players and conspirators are long dead, but the controversy rages on. How much did everyone know? How big a part did people play? Who did what?

Most disputed

Jackson was one player whose involvement in the fix was most disputed. Jackson is believed by many today to be innocent of participating in the conspiracy or is seen as a naive and reluctant participant who has been unjustly grouped with the other players bent on throwing the series.

After being marred by the scandal in 1919, the White Sox would not reach another World Series until 1959 and not win another World Series until 2005, eighty eight years since their last championship.

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