World Series Quiz: 1) What pitcher holds the record for lowest
ERA, minimum 25 innings? [It”s not Rivera, he hasn”t pitched
that many in Series play. It is, however, a modern day hurler.]
2) Who is the only player to appear in the Series with 4 different
teams? 3) In the 1960s, what two pitchers won 3 games in
separate Series? Answers below.
The Black Sox, Part III
[Conclusion of Johnny Mac”s essay on the 1919 World Series
and its aftermath.]
The opening of the Series was in Cincinnati and it didn”t take
long for the signs of a scandal to emerge. In the bottom of the
first inning of Game One, Reds second baseman Maurice Rath
was hit in the back with a pitch thrown by the Sox Eddie Cicotte.
That was the signal to gamblers everywhere, as they read the
account on the wires, that the fix was on. The Reds won the first
game, 9-1.
In fact, rumors of the fix were so prevalent that Chicago
sportswriter Hugh Fullerton asked Christy Mathewson, with
whom he was sitting in the press box, if he could spot any
“suspicious” plays. Christy spotted a ton.
And as the Series wore on, Chicago manager Kid Gleason
became increasingly incensed when he realized that conspirators
like pitchers Lefty Williams, Cicotte and first baseman Chick
Gandil were throwing it. Both Gleason and the innocent catcher,
Ray Schalk, got in post-game brawls with Williams and Gandil.
Yet, hard as the Sox were trying to throw the Series, the
Cincinnati Reds almost handed it back to Chicago anyway. The
Reds committed the same number of official errors, 12, and
innumerable mental ones. For example, in Game Six, Chicago
batter Buck Weaver looped a pop fly to short left field that
should have been an easy out, but the left fielder and shortstop
stood around and watched it fall between them. Weaver, a
conspirator, was running at less than full speed and the Reds still
couldn”t throw him out. Chicago ended up winning the game, 5-
4.
In fact, the Series went 8 games (it was best of 9 in 1919), with
the Reds finally taking it 5-3.
But I”d like to take some time to clear up a few misconceptions.
There was actually a criminal trial involving the conspirators that
ended in an acquittal. That trial was held not to prove the Series
was fixed but, rather, did it cause harm to baseball or to the
business of the Chicago White Sox and Charles Comiskey.
Technically, just throwing the ballgames was not illegal…the
state had to prove harm. They didn”t. The players had assumed
this would allow them to play ball but Judge Landis, the newly
appointed commissioner, decided to suspend them for life
regardless of the verdict in the conspiracy trial.
Secondly, all this occurred near the end of the 1920 season. It
took months for the story to unfold and the Grand Jury was
impaneled late in the summer of 1920. The actual trial dragged
on until August of 1921. Comiskey was forced to suspend the
players pending the outcome. The team played the season under
a cloud of suspicion, yes, but they played it nonetheless. In fact,
all the evidence points to the conspirators throwing games during
the 1920 season even though they were involved in a tight
pennant race. If the suspensions were not handed down, it was
better than even money that the Sox would again win the
pennant. Then what…let them play in the Series yet again,
knowing what had occurred the prior year? They lost a tight race
late in the season, making it all a moot point. With the core of
the team on trial, a visibly upset and politically incorrect
Comiskey commented that the Sox would finish the season,
“even if I have to field a team of Chinamen.”
In fact, the 1920 team featured a quartet of 20-game winners, a
feat matched only by the 1970 Orioles; Cicotte, Williams, Faber
and Kerr.
The powers that be in baseball were not real thrilled by all of
this. In fact, they didn”t make a real effort to root out the
conspiracy until a few brave sportswriters held their feet to the
fire. Brave sportswriters? Sounds funny, huh…but it was true.
Baseball preferred to keep its head in the sand, not wanting to
bring disgrace to the game (one version), or to hurt themselves
financially by bringing disgrace to the game (more likely
version).
Lawyers had their share of blame too (a shock, I know).
Comiskey”s lawyer and the D.A. encouraged the players to
confess, with promises of immunity that never materialized, and
later help with the charges against the gamblers, specifically
Rothstein. Those confessions and transcripts of the player”s
testimony to the Grand Jury are part of the public record and
make interesting reading for those so inclined.
Rothstein got off, as did the others involved in setting up the
scandal. In keeping with the stupidity of all this, Gandil
absconded with most of the money and the others never really
questioned him. They, too, seemed to keep their heads in the
sand (or some other place where one might keep one”s head).
The entire 1920 season was played in almost utter silence, with
the conspirators barely speaking and the clean players never
knowing what was going to happen next. As the tangled web of
conspiracy unraveled, one is reminded of the wise words of the
famous gambler Nick the Greek. “Never bet on anything that
can talk.”
It has become fashionable in this day and age to forgive
everyone. There is actually a movement afoot to put Joe Jackson
in the Hall of Fame, led by none other than that champion of
good will, Ted Williams. He argues that it was a “lifetime ban”
and since Jackson is dead, the ban should have died with him.
Huh? In his convoluted logic, he is not alone. A recent surfing
of some web sites dedicated to this subject (the existence of
which proves that some people have too much time on their
hands.my surfing them indicates that I suffer from the same
malady) indicates a sentiment that agrees with Williams. In fact,
the surveys usually run 90-10 in favor of Jackson.
Well, I never mind being in the minority, so here goes. As I
stated earlier, we can not and must not accept any actions which
overtly attempt to influence the outcome of the game. The one
thing we must know is that the game is being played straight
up.played to win.this is sports, this is competition, not an
exhibition. I see an alarming trend recently to accept less. Pro
wrestling, a steroid-fueled sham with predetermined results and
vulgarity beyond shame, is wildly popular. Performance
enhancing drugs are so commonplace in some sports that it
seems impossible to compete without them (or is it just a wild
coincidence that every good weightlifter seems to be born in
Bulgaria). Pete Rose, who was well aware of the rules regarding
gambling, is elevated to folk hero, while the reporter who dared
question him is treated like a pariah.
Let”s focus on Jackson. No one questions his numbers…based
solely on statistics, I would be the last one to doubt his
credentials. He hit .356 lifetime (#3 on the all-time list) with a
ton of doubles and triples. He ran well, fielded well and,
although in his thirties when banned, there is every reason to
assume he would have benefited from playing his final years in
the live ball era. Even with a truncated career, he would be in
the Hall hands down. But he cheated…he took the money.he
admitted under oath that he didn”t play his best in the Series.he
knew of the conspiracy from the beginning and did nothing. His
defenders argue that he did relatively well in the Series, that he
tried to tell Comiskey about the scandal, that he was misled into
confessing, that he wasn”t the sharpest Ginzu in the drawer,
whatever. It does nothing to dispel the facts.he cheated. I”ll
admit he wasn”t the architect of the scandal, that others were
more deeply involved. It does little to sway me. If you want to
argue for leniency, you would be better served starting with
Weaver. He didn”t take a dime and he played hard (for the most
part), but his crime was staying silent with knowledge of the
conspiracy. The prevailing sentiment of the day worked against
him reporting his fellow players, but Landis saw fit to ban him
anyway.
I will admit to the inherent inequities in the game. The deck was
stacked against the players, they were used by the owners to a
great extent, they probably didn”t get a fair wage in relation to
the revenues generated…all true. You could make the same
argument for a whole cross-section of society, even today.
Would that then excuse those people for cheating and stealing?
It may be an explanation, but it”s no excuse.
Go ahead, keep lowering the bar. See where it leads.
[Sources: “Eight Men Out,” Eliot Asinov; “American History,”
David Schwalbe; “Historical Abstract,” Bill James;
Blackbetsy.com]
Seals
So it was in the late 1960s / early ”70s that the awful pictures
emerged of seals being clubbed to death in the Arctic regions,
thus precipitating the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act. But,
just as wildlife is proliferating beyond any rational levels in
places like New Jersey, the harp seal population is exploding, to
the point where it is having a severe impact on the fishing
industry…and world food markets.
To wit, in Greenland there are now an estimated 5.5 million seals
and the natives want the ability to expand their allowable hunt
from its current 82,000 a year. While sealskins are no longer
fashionable, the native Eskimos hope to rehabilitate the trade.
But of more concern is a Canadian study which found that 4.5
million seals in Newfoundland and its surrounding environs are
eating some 140,000 tons of cod, or 2 billion fish, which is why,
in part, the Grand Banks cod population has collapsed.
Sharks
A story in the 10/30 issue of U.S. News discusses the growing
demand in China and other parts of Asia for shark-fin soup, a
craze threatening sharks with extinction. Some 60,000 Pacific
sharks are killed each year for their fins. The soup sells for $100
or more a bowl in fine Chinese restaurants throughout Asia.
Sick, sick, I tell ya. And, at the same time, the Japanese continue
to slaughter whales.
But you couple the above two stories and you see that there has
to be a balance in the animal conservation game. It”s rather
complicated. Or else we have to encourage alternative species,
like the feared land shark.
Marching Band
Another PC moment, this time from a high school marching band
in Spokane, Washington. It seems that the school”s band had to
scrap its halftime rendition of the death of George Custer after a
student complaint about its “cartoonish” portrayal of American
Indians.
Instead of some of the band members dressing up as Indians, all
will have to dress as troops or in clothes that suggest cowboy
gear. The crowd will be told that Custer was “a self-proclaimed
Indian killer,” and a new script will describe U.S. Indian policy
at the time of the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.
The marching band spent much of the past year working on the
show, which uses a piece of music written in 1905. The show
had portrayed Custer”s death under Indian attack with Indians
performing a war dance afterward.
Actually, aficionados of Bar Chat will recall my tale of Custer”s
Last Stand (8/28 and 8/30). Many of his troops weren”t that
brave, they fled in all different directions. So there”s really no
need to practice this whole routine. Just run around wherever
you feel like it, boys and girls.
Which reminds me of a story. I was in our high school band and
we were invited to play at halftime of a Giants game back in the
mid-70s. Somewhere there is a tape of our performance, and one
Brian Trumbore totally missing a cue and marching off the
sideline…long before the intended departure. I guess I wanted a
hot dog.
The following Monday, the director played this grainy footage,
taken from atop the stadium, and there I was. But the figure was
too tiny to easily identify. And I will forever be grateful to my
friends who didn”t turn me in!
Frankie Crocker
Crocker was a New York institution as a DJ at the black-oriented
WBLS-FM for close to 3 decades. He died the other day at age
63. At one point in the early 70s, WBLS was the #1 station for
18-34-year-olds.
Crocker was known for his self-promotion, such as riding into
Studio 54 on a white stallion. And he loved to play up to the
ladies. At the end of each day, Frankie would light a candle and
invite female listeners to enjoy a candlelight bath with him.
But all was not soft and sweet. As the New York Times Monte
Williams reports, “In the mid-1970s, Crocker was indicted in
Newark on charges of making false statements before a federal
grand jury investigating allegations of criminal conduct in the
recording industry. Mr. Crocker was accused of lying to the
grand jury when he denied receiving money from record
company representatives to promote their records. He was
convicted, but it was later overturned.”
Top 3 songs for the week of 10/24/64: #1 “Do Wah Diddy
Diddy” (Manfred Mann) #2 “Dancing In The Street” (Martha &
The Vandellas) #3 “Last Kiss” (J. Frank Wilson & The
Cavaliers).
Series Quiz Answers: 1) Jack Billingham, Cincinnati, 25.1
innings pitched, one run allowed. 2) Lonnie Smith appeared
with Philadelphia (1980), St. Louis (1982), Kansas City (1985),
Atlanta (1991, 92). 3) Bob Gibson (1967) and Mickey Lolich
(1968) each won 3 games.
–Since 1968, the World Series with the highest television ratings
were the ”78 Series between the Yanks and Dodgers (32.7) and,
surprise, the 1980 Philadelphia / Kansas City one (32.8).
–1956: Regular season attendance at Yankee Stadium –
1,491,784. Ebbetts Field – 1,213,562.
–2000: Mets / Yankees, combined, drew 6 million.
*Roger Clemens is one sick dude. No telling what he”ll do if
there”s a Game Six.
Next Bar Chat, Friday.
*Don”t forget the Pick the Dow contest. Deadline, 11/1.
