Jansen: A century later, contemplating the Black Sox scandal with 200 other baseball nerds
From Laura Jansen at South Side Hit Pen on October 10, 2019:
In 1919, heading into the World Series, the Chicago White Sox were a “popular and well-known team.” Let that quote sit with you for awhile.
A little more than year later, on Sept. 28 1920, Sox pitcher Eddie Cicotte confessed to his part in fixing the 1919 World Series.
Exactly 99 years after that, on Sept. 28, 2019, I spent four hours at the Chicago History Museum at the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) Black Sox Scandal Centennial Symposium.
(“You are such a nerd,” I’ve been told multiple times recently about this — always lovingly, of course. Also, site note: Of the roughly 200 attendees, I counted only 15 women and 10 people of color. Props to South Side Hit Pen for having the most inclusive bunch of writers in the Sox-fan-blog-sphere.)
You can listen to the entire symposium here (including a question by yours truly!), which I highly recommend for every Sox fan. If all you know of the scandal is Eight Men Out (book and/or movie) and Field of Dreams, you owe it to yourself to spend some time digging into the SABR website. Did you know that the Black Sox probably threw the 1920 pennant, too? There was a clear and bitter divide between the “Clean Sox” and the Black Sox on those 1919 and 1920 teams. (Did you also know that you can watch bits of Games 1 and 3 on YouTube?)
Read the full article here: https://southsidehitpen.com/2019/10/10/100-years-later-contemplating-the-black-sox-scandal-with-200-other-baseball-nerds/
Related links:
- Listen to highlights from the SABR Black Sox Scandal Centennial Symposium
- Check out SABR’s Eight Myths Out project on common misconceptions about the Black Sox Scandal
Originally published: October 10, 2019. Last Updated: October 10, 2019.