Pomrenke: Call the game! The 1917 Fenway Park Gamblers Riot

From SABR member Jacob Pomrenke at JacobPomrenke.com on June 16, 2017:

Today is the 100th anniversary of the Fenway Park “Gamblers Riot,” one of the more outrageous baseball stories you’ll ever hear.

On June 16, 1917, a group of Boston gamblers rushed onto the field in the 5th inning to stop a game the Red Sox were losing to the Chicago White Sox. Buck Weaver and Fred McMullin — two of the future Black Sox — fought back as they tried to escape the mob and were arrested for assault.

It was an embarrassing public spectacle for baseball, which had been ignoring the gambling problems for years, and made national headlines. But nothing of consequence came of the Fenway Park incident and gamblers continued to congregate at ballparks and influence the game, culminating in the Black Sox Scandal two years later.

My story from Base Ball: A Journal of the Early Game on the Fenway Park Gamblers Riot, along with the only known photo of the incident, can be found below.

Read the full article here: https://jacobpomrenke.com/black-sox/1917-fenway-park-gamblers-riot/



Originally published: June 16, 2017. Last Updated: June 16, 2017.