1918 World Series: The World May Never Know
There’s another baseball scandal in Chicago, and this time it doesn’t involve the White Sox. However, the scandal does involve fixing a World Series. Should the Cubs’ World Series drought really only be ninety years long? That’s what Eddie Cicotte theorizes in a recently opened affidavit. Cicotte was a pitcher, and one of players banned from baseball, for the Chicago White Sox during the 1919 Black Sox scandal. In the affidavit, which now resides with a collection of documents from the scandal in the Chicago Historical Society, Cicotte goes as far as to say that the White Sox were inspired by the Cubs to throw the 1919 World Series. As the story goes, the White Sox were on a train to New York and the team was discussing the previous year’s World Series, which had been fixed. Some members of the Sox tried to calculate how many players it would take to throw the series, and just like that, a scandal was born.
While there’s no proof that gamblers actually got to the 1918 Chicago Cubs team, Cicotte is not alone in suggesting that something was awry during that years World Series. Harry Grabiner allegedly indicated in his diaries, which are now lost, that the series was fixed and Hugh Fullerton, a baseball columnist, suggested the same. If Cicotte and numerous other baseball figures are correct, the Cubs should actually be going on ninety years without a ring, rather than one-hundred. But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves: Perhaps throwing the series has caused the drought.
Still, figures such as Cicotte remain in the minority on the issue. "What you are not going to find is something definitive that says who was innocent and who was guilty,” says Peter Alter, the Chicago Historical Society curator. The documents still refer mostly to the 1919 Black Sox scandal; the 1918 World Series is just a minor aside. Yet, the notes are an important aside.
Some people have gone as far as to suggest that many series prior to the 1919 Black Sox scandal were fixed, yet the 1918 series stands out because the statistics support the idea that it was fixed. The decisive game six was lost by a score of 2-1 on an error by Cubs right fielder Max Flack. During the series, the Cubs were picked off three times including twice during game six. Back during game four, the game was tied 2-2 before pitcher Phil Douglas lost control. He gave up a single, threw a ball behind the catcher, and then another pass ball on a bunt attempt which allowed the winning run to score for the Red Sox.
Although, there are statistics from the series that indicate the series was played fairly, or at least that not all of the players were in on the scandal. Most significantly the fact that the Cubs two top pitchers, James “Hippo” Vaughn and Lefty Tyler, pitched fifty innings over six games and allowed only six earned runs. When the White Sox threw the 1918 World Series, their pitchers—Cicotte and Claude “Lefty” Williams—were surely involved. After all, Cicotte made two errors in the fifth inning of game four and Williams had a series ERA of 6.63. The question becomes: Could you throw a series without the help of your starting pitching?
To quote a classic ‘90s TV commercial for Tootsie Pops: “The World May Never Know.” Anyone with direct knowledge of the 1918 World Series has passed on and we are left to speculate about what could have or should have been. The 1918 World Series was the last time the Red Sox won a series before 2004 and the Cubs drought could have been going on ninety instead of one hundred. The entire affidavit is set to be released to the public sometime in the near future, Alter said. But, even after the release, many questions will still go unanswered.
Can you imagine Eight Men Out by Eliot Asinof referring to the Cubs rather than the White Sox? Can you imagine the 1918 Chicago Cubs appearing from the rows of corn instead of Shoeless Joe and the 1919 White Sox in Field of Dreams? Perhaps gambling in sports was a bigger problem in the early days of baseball than we ever suspected. Perhaps the 1908 World Series, the last time the Cubs won, was also fixed. Either way, Cubs’ fans are looking forward to a successful 2008 and hoping not to make it one hundred years without a World Series, and why not? With the game the way it is today, things can change faster than you can say Kosuke Fukudome.
While there’s no proof that gamblers actually got to the 1918 Chicago Cubs team, Cicotte is not alone in suggesting that something was awry during that years World Series. Harry Grabiner allegedly indicated in his diaries, which are now lost, that the series was fixed and Hugh Fullerton, a baseball columnist, suggested the same. If Cicotte and numerous other baseball figures are correct, the Cubs should actually be going on ninety years without a ring, rather than one-hundred. But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves: Perhaps throwing the series has caused the drought.
Still, figures such as Cicotte remain in the minority on the issue. "What you are not going to find is something definitive that says who was innocent and who was guilty,” says Peter Alter, the Chicago Historical Society curator. The documents still refer mostly to the 1919 Black Sox scandal; the 1918 World Series is just a minor aside. Yet, the notes are an important aside.
Some people have gone as far as to suggest that many series prior to the 1919 Black Sox scandal were fixed, yet the 1918 series stands out because the statistics support the idea that it was fixed. The decisive game six was lost by a score of 2-1 on an error by Cubs right fielder Max Flack. During the series, the Cubs were picked off three times including twice during game six. Back during game four, the game was tied 2-2 before pitcher Phil Douglas lost control. He gave up a single, threw a ball behind the catcher, and then another pass ball on a bunt attempt which allowed the winning run to score for the Red Sox.
Although, there are statistics from the series that indicate the series was played fairly, or at least that not all of the players were in on the scandal. Most significantly the fact that the Cubs two top pitchers, James “Hippo” Vaughn and Lefty Tyler, pitched fifty innings over six games and allowed only six earned runs. When the White Sox threw the 1918 World Series, their pitchers—Cicotte and Claude “Lefty” Williams—were surely involved. After all, Cicotte made two errors in the fifth inning of game four and Williams had a series ERA of 6.63. The question becomes: Could you throw a series without the help of your starting pitching?
To quote a classic ‘90s TV commercial for Tootsie Pops: “The World May Never Know.” Anyone with direct knowledge of the 1918 World Series has passed on and we are left to speculate about what could have or should have been. The 1918 World Series was the last time the Red Sox won a series before 2004 and the Cubs drought could have been going on ninety instead of one hundred. The entire affidavit is set to be released to the public sometime in the near future, Alter said. But, even after the release, many questions will still go unanswered.
Can you imagine Eight Men Out by Eliot Asinof referring to the Cubs rather than the White Sox? Can you imagine the 1918 Chicago Cubs appearing from the rows of corn instead of Shoeless Joe and the 1919 White Sox in Field of Dreams? Perhaps gambling in sports was a bigger problem in the early days of baseball than we ever suspected. Perhaps the 1908 World Series, the last time the Cubs won, was also fixed. Either way, Cubs’ fans are looking forward to a successful 2008 and hoping not to make it one hundred years without a World Series, and why not? With the game the way it is today, things can change faster than you can say Kosuke Fukudome.
