Black Sox and Whistleblowing

Anyone familiar with sports, and baseball in particular, is sure to have heard of the infamous 1919 scandal involving the Chicago White Sox and the allegations that they “threw” (no pun intended) the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds that year. The background, for those unfamiliar, is that members of the White Sox were approached by Chicago gamblers to discuss the potential of the Sox throwing the World Series in exchange for a hefty, at the time, payout of close to $100,000. The players involved ranged from pitchers, to infielders, and even the famous “Shoeless” Joe Jackson. As things progressed, talk also began to circulate that individuals related to the mob may have been involved.

This particular World Series was to be a best of nine series, instead of the usual best of seven, and the White Sox players involved were set to split $20,000 per game lost. As the series went on, the Sox reached a point where they were down four games to one, but had yet to receive the full payments they had been promised. According to player accounts, the ballplayers were upset by this and decided that if they weren’t going to be paid what they felt they were owed, then they needed to get back in the game and work to win the series. They did respectable, winning the next two games, but ultimately lost game eight. Whether the game eight loss was due to legitimately poor performance by Chicago, Cincinnati having a much stronger team in this game, or intimidation against the Chicago players and/or their families is unknown, however the damage was done.

Chicago’s owner at the time, Charles Comiskey, adamantly stated that he felt his team had played on the level and there was no impropriety, even though later evidence would contradict his claims of not knowing anything about a fix.

The following season, due to pressure, guilt, or a need to absolve themselves of any sin, the Chicago players involved began to testify about their roles in the scandal. The team became dubbed the “Black Sox” and all involved players were indicted on conspiracy charges. The 1921 season saw them all going to trial for conspiracy. Unfortunately for the trial, all of the previously taken grand jury confessions suddenly vanished under mysterious circumstances, resulting in the players being found not guilty on all counts. The players felt vindicated and relieved that this was behind them, but Major League Baseball was not satisfied, and the newly appointed commissioner, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis felt a need to make a statement that would affect baseball from that point forward. Landis permanently banned all eight players from ever playing professional baseball again. While two of the players, including Joe Jackson, denied involvement in the fix, and Jackson’s series best batting average of .375 seems to suggest he took no part in the scandal, they were all subject to Landis’s edict.

So how do we learn from this? At what point should any, or all, of the players have stood up to say something? As leaders, regardless of the organization or profession, we are expected to do the right thing, even when no one is looking. It shouldn’t be acceptable for leaders or teammates to look the other way when something is amiss, and good teams hold each other accountable for these things. Yes, the pressure to be the absolute best can be daunting, even overwhelming at times, but we should always be looking to set the example for those around us, up, down, and vertically. As a culture, we should be supporting people who stand up to decry wrongs and, to quote from the old Quantum Leap intro, “put right what once was wrong.” If we can epitomize this as a culture, starting at home, then we can make solid strides to bring this into all facets of our lives, including sports.