Gamblers and the '20 Series

[BoofBonser26]

I was reading a baseball book yesterday, and came across a quote by a historian who claims that the 1920 World Series was fixed in favor of the Indians. I've never heard this claim before. Is this something well know/well debated, or one of those "radical" beliefs? Obviously it's not crazy to think something could have gone on because of the time, but I've never heard it said. Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks. :)

[Seattle1]

I've never heard of that before myself.

[bluezebra]

Think about it. The "Black Sox" scandal had come to light that year. There was a well-publicized trial. All baseball was watchful. It would have been insane for anyone to even think about "fixing" the 1920 Series. I've been a serious fan for over 60 years, and read hundreds of books about baseball, and have NEVER read about this "theory". That "historian" must be smoking and/or sniffing smoe weird stuff.

Bob

[BoofBonser26]

Think about it. The "Black Sox" scandal had come to light that year. There was a well-publicized trial. All baseball was watchful. It would have been insane for anyone to even think about "fixing" the 1920 Series. I've been a serious fan for over 60 years, and read hundreds of books about baseball, and have NEVER read about this "theory". That "historian" must be smoking and/or sniffing smoe weird stuff.

Bob
Kind of what I figured, but I didn't know. Thanks.

Just FYI, the book was Paths to Glory, by Armour and Levitt, and the guy they quoted was Richard Lindberg. The authors weren't supporting his view, it was just something that came in front of a statement about the Black Sox, the subject of the chapter, that they quoted from him.

[KCGHOST]

Never heard a thing about the 1920 series being fixed. I really doubt it as the people who believe Tris Speaker was involved in fixing games would have been on this like snakes on grass.

[EdTarbusz]

Think about it. The "Black Sox" scandal had come to light that year. There was a well-publicized trial. All baseball was watchful. It would have been insane for anyone to even think about "fixing" the 1920 Series. I've been a serious fan for over 60 years, and read hundreds of books about baseball, and have NEVER read about this "theory". That "historian" must be smoking and/or sniffing smoe weird stuff.

Bob

The scandal came to light shortly before the 1920 Series and the trial hadn't been held yet. If there was any gambler involvement in the 1920 Series it was probably to make sure that Chicago did not win the pennant and that the Indians finished ahead of them.

[Brian McKenna]

Comiskey took care of that - suspending the eight and causing his team to collapse. Would have been ugly if CHI had won the pennant anyway.

One of the big points and one of the most damaging points IMO about what those eight did is the complete collpase of the White Sox franchise. It was devastated in every fashion for a decade and a half.

It also directly led to the uprising of the Yankees. Between the collapse of Chicago and having Boston feed NY stud after stud, the Yankees volted to the forefront of the AL. What's truely amazing here is that the Senators were able to punch through by 1924.

[Ubiquitous]

I have that book and when I get home I'll have to check that chapter to see how it was phrased.

I believe somebody already mentioned above but if might very well be in reference to what happened in Chicago during the season. It is widely believed that the White Sox were throwing games all during the season or gamblers and that when they got suspended it gave the pennant to the Indians. Other then that I haven't heard anything about a fix in 1920.

[BoofBonser26]

I have that book and when I get home I'll have to check that chapter to see how it was phrased.

I believe somebody already mentioned above but if might very well be in reference to what happened in Chicago during the season. It is widely believed that the White Sox were throwing games all during the season or gamblers and that when they got suspended it gave the pennant to the Indians. Other then that I haven't heard anything about a fix in 1920.
Thanks, ubi.

Obviosuly, I posted this awhile ago, so my memory is fuzzy, but the quote was by the historian describing a game in which the teams were yelling at each other, accusing one of them fixing the game, and the historian describing this made a passing comment about how the same tactics bought the Tribe the '20 Series.

[EdTarbusz]

I think that Timothy Gay's book about Speaker told of an episode in which Speaker and the boys played a joke on some player during the 1920 Series when they stuffed his pillow with Confederate money, as a kind of spoof of 1919.