Citation Needed - The Black Sox Scandal

Episode Date: September 8, 2021

The Black Sox Scandal was a Major League Baseball game-fixing scandal in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for money from a gambling syndicate led by Arnold Rothstein. Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was appointed as a response to the incident to be the first Commissioner of Baseball, and given absolute control over the sport to restore its integrity. Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you’d like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here.  Be sure to check our website for more details.

So they're gonna be like the bad Avengers. Yeah, well, yeah, it's a suicide squad. Okay, but good though. I did not say but good. No. Okay. Backside. Oh, God, dude. We got him totally got him.

Eli, Tom, what are you guys doing? So problematic. Why are your dicks out? Well, so you know how this week's episode is about the black sock scandal? Yeah, right. Well, we you know how this week's episode is about the Black Sox scandal. Yeah, right. Well, we couldn't be bothered to Google that. That would take a minute. I mean, I started to Google it and it seemed like a sports thing. So we just guessed. Yeah. So Black Sox and our dicks out. Dicks out. Okay. It was with the rubber bait. Great question.

That is a compromise between Tom's idea and my own. I just want to make fun of some Wikipedia articles. Right. All right, well, I think we got him good. Okay, it's going change and record and do whatever this episode is about. You said it, buddy. I gotta say, I would have figured Eli would be on Tom's shoulders. That's what you're upset about right now.

No, I mean, it's just surprising. Okay, yeah, surprising. I mean, it's just surprising. Okay, yeah, surprising. I mean, it's just surprising. Okay, yeah, surprising. I mean, it's just surprising. Okay, yeah, surprising. Okay, yeah, surprising. Okay, yeah, surprising.

Okay, yeah, surprising. Okay, yeah, surprising. Okay, yeah, surprising. Okay, yeah, surprising. Okay, yeah, surprising. Okay, yeah, surprising. Okay, yeah, surprising. Okay, yeah, surprising.

Okay, yeah, surprising. Okay, yeah, surprising. Okay, yeah, surprising. Okay, yeah, surprising. Okay, yeah, surprising. Okay, yeah, surprising. Okay, yeah, surprising. Okay, yeah, the podcast where we choose a subject, or a single article about it on Wikipedia and pretend we're experts. Because this is the internet and that's how it works now. I'm Heath and I'll be the manager today.

And let's meet the bench. Okay. The right fielder, the backup right fielder, and for the designated shitter. No Tom and Eli. Well, you know what, as long as I'm ahead of Tom, I can take it. Starting right fielder. Okay, I was trying to figure out that joke,

so I looked it up. I guess right field is an insult because the ball doesn't get hit there a lot, but I also looked it up and in the majors, they make an average of $5.2 million a year. Jesus Christ. I don't work to dollars basis. This is my kind of job.

Yeah. Yeah. And Heath, I'll have you know now that I'm taking my IBS meds. I'm not a pinch shitter anymore. I knew listener. I'm going to be talking about today. I guess we should just get right into it. Noah, what person plays thing, concept, phenomenon, or event? Are we gonna be talking about today? Today, we're gonna be talking about the Black Sox scandal.

Fantastic. And what was the Black Sox scandal? It was a game-fixing scandal where eight members of the Chicago White Sox conspired to throw the 1919 World Series. It was the biggest scandal in the history of American sports at the time and would remain Major League Baseball's biggest scandal until the steroid era of the modern

Yeah, there's a cheaters also the ass was a cheater The ass is a cheater's a cheat They cheat a different one of the series Tom, Tom, they're doing a sports one You want to go talk about John Gardner or something in the other headphone? You're talking the guys we are not doing separate headphone podcasts just because Cecil is gone Okay, you never let us do anything? Totally can do my Ben Johnson essay. Okay. All right.

Now, before we get into the details, I want to offer up a quick note on how I'm going to tell this story. I'm probably like this. Quick, quick, quick, quick, quick. First time, some background on other earth-formed, quick, quick, quick. Okay, okay, okay. Well, if you don't know the planet's relative gravity, none of the story would make sense.

Anyway, for decades, the narrative of this event has been dominated by the 1963 book, Eight Men Out by Elliot Asinov. And Asinov rotified in book by all accounts, I haven't read it, but his sources were primarily drawn from accounts by the conspirators. Of course, in one sense, those sort of ass people to talk about since they were in the room

where it happened, right? But on the other hand, they're the ones most motivated to lie about it. So the dominant narrative of this story goes to bizarre lengths to try to exonerate the guilty parties at times. Now, I will be using that narrative as the structure for this episode, but I'll try to point out the parts that modern historians take issue with. That's right, bitches.

Get ready for the real story of the time when baseball was rigged with money differently than it is now. 1919, the high to the flu epidemic, and at least some people were worried about who's on fucking first. That would be about as stupid as having an even worse pandemic and still holding the Olympics. That's right. We go well.

Are they spreading spreading? Are there people getting it? Olympics. Yeah. Right. Well, are they in the spread? Is spreading? Are there people? By now that's everyone will know. So, all right. So you have to keep in mind that in 1919, the whole concept of professional sports leagues is still very

new. Right. I know in my head, the idea of cities having sports franchise, this seems as whole this time, but you can only really do that once you have relatively cheap, mass transit. Right. You can't very well have the Brooklyn Robins play in the Louisville Grey several times a season you can only really do that once you have relatively cheap mass transit, right? You can't very well have the Brooklyn Robbins play in the Louisville grays several times

the season back in the horse and buggy days. So the whole concept had to wait for accessible rail service. Yeah, I was born in the wrong era for so many reasons. Yeah, you wouldn't even have to not care. Right. So yes, so the first professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings only came into existence in 1869. I have no idea who they would have played.

It seems like they would have to be two at first. Anyway, the national league, which is by most accounts, the oldest professional sports league in the world, wasn't established until 1871. And the major league, as we know it today, or kind of as we know it today or kind of as we know it's a day didn't come into existence until 1901. The first world series was played in 1903. What was it like? Great question.

I skipped over three geological eras for your undratable ass. I don't want to make that. Of course. So do the history of the world series is do them all right now. It's a base. They're awesome. All right. So base what was a very different game back than scoring was much lower and the game

tended to be dominated by pitchers. Games also moved a lot faster back then because it just doesn't actually take that fucking long to play a game of baseball. No, it doesn't. You could just play baseball. Just go right through it. Absolutely. Yeah.

Back then they would get done with most games in under two hours. And that's not because there were fewer innings or fewer outs or anything. They just didn't intentionally drag ass with every aspect of the fucking game that they do now. It also was nowhere near as profitable, especially for the players of the average MLB player made more than the average worker, but they were nowhere near the million errors that today's top players are the highest paid player in 1919 was the vicious fucking sociopath, Ty Cobb, who made $20,000 a year. That's about 300 grand in today's money.

And that's obviously not in the sneeze app, but it's like the highest paid player in 2021 is going to make $45.3 million. So like, we're talking about 150 times more even when you account for inflation. Yeah, that's lindore. That's a met, by the way. A met is you account for inflation. Yeah, that's lindore. That's a met by the way. A met is going to make 45.3 million. That's about double the salary for the entire Tampa Bay team last year. Jesus Christ.

And they have the second best record in the league. It's ridiculous how fucking bad the Yankees are. Okay, but Noah, I do have to say this. I'm disappointed. He didn't do your essay on Ty Cobb. I mean, we could have made July an old time he races tackler. Are you really missed out here? Okay, what is a tackler? Oh, don't. It's like 20 weeks out of the year. Isn't it? Okay. So yeah, by modern standards, baseball players were way underpaid, but they weren't all equally underpaid. And that's my way of introducing the notoriously miserly owner

of the Chicago White Sox Charles Kamiski. Do you? I don't, yes. I think he's Catholic. Yeah. Because he ends in a Y really? I call him like I see them. He then read it calls him like I see them.

So in 1894, he bought a minor league team called the Sue City Corps in Huskers. He slapped a new coat of pain on them and he moved to Chicago where they would be called the Chicago white stockings. And by any measure, he built a hell of a team. Like by 1919, it wasn't a happy team, though. Commiske had earned a reputation among his players as a penny pincher. There's one example that's always given out. Like at one point, he decided to discontinue team laundry service. And he told his players they would have to wash their own uniforms. And they're super pissed. So in rebellion, they just refused to wash their

shit and played an increasingly dusty, grimy uniforms until Kamiski relented such a good move. Polit Harriet. Well, but then when he did, he just started deducting cleaning fees from everybody's salaries. Yeah. I actually tried that at TGI Fridays. It did not go well. They, okay, but he, I'm proud of you for shooting your pants at the beginning of your

shift, okay? Can't shit their pants at the end of a shift, but you didn't have to begin it. Courage. Okay. I just want to say that it is also the still the flu pandemic and these guys were like, you know what? I'm going to be as dirty as possible. That'll go old man, Kamiski.

And I'm dead. I died. Now, so by all accounts in 1919, the White Sucks were also a team that was divided in the locker room. So remember that we're basically were on the eve of prohibition at this point, like they've already voted for it. It hasn't taken effect yet. So the temperance movement is in many ways at the very height of its power. And that's really

where the team divide was. You had one group that were like the goody-two shoes, clean cut half of the locker room, and then you had the bad boys. The more straight lace players, later known as the clean socks, included pictures, red, paper, and dicky curve. Ah, the good old days when a man's name was just a noun and some sounds, right? And just you wait, Eli. Now, that's good a matter because we're still at the beginning of the dead ball era. And if you want to throw a series, you kind of need the picture on your side. The less straight lace players, though, notoriously dubbed the black socks, also had a couple of pictures on their side, quad lefty Williams and Eddie Seacot.

Okay. For listeners who are not into sports, I looked it up and the dead ball era. That was a period from about 1900 to Bay Breuth hit the ball more than the other guys. So I guess this was a period of time when baseball was somehow and I cannot imagine how actually less exciting than today. Take it down to not try to take the small ball and the chess game of the yeah. Yeah.

Bunting people across. No. Yeah. So C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C.C 1917, Seekat was to a $10,000 bonus if he won 30 games during the regular season. So when he polished off his 29th win with two weeks left in the season, Kamiski benched his ass. That's a good play. That's it. You should have read the contract better.

That's the right way to do it. Yeah. And this part is disputed, but some sources say to the similar thing in 1918, though, to Kamiski's credit, that actually probably had to do with an injury. Well, he only had 12 wins in 1918. Well, it's a hard sell. I mean, maybe he could like bug's bunny it over two weeks. You never know.

You get a whole bunch of wins with one pitch, like one, two, three, three, four, just get a whole bunch of teams all in around two weeks. But that's, that's pretty rare. Yeah. It's just that one episode. So details are slightly different on that one. Yeah. But as Pista Seacat was, he wasn't going to be the ringleader of this operation. That would be Charles Chick Gandalf. Gandalf was six foot, three inches, which is six foot

eight in today's inches. Okay. And there's a conversion rate for inches to fuck wrong era. Six three. That's pretty good. That mean, that's four, but like, that's pretty good. He's pretty tall. And he was as such a mean motherfucker that like, when you look at his picture today, you instinctively give it your lunch money. Okay, he was described by contemporaries as a professional malcontent. And according to Wikipedia, according to his Wikipedia page, he quote, did not hesitate to use sheer strength to get his point across and quote, oh, so like Thai Cobb without

the principles. Yeah, or the skillet playing baseball as it would turn out. But yeah, um, no, there are alternating accounts of how this next bit went down. And like the more dominant narrative is that a group of mobsters reached out to Gandalf about potentially throwing the series. But the more modern scholarship on it pretty much definitively proves that it's actually a Gandal that approached the mobsters. A lot of counts desperately try to turn all the conspirators into like rubs that were the

victims of circumstances scared by these gangsters. So obviously the idea them cooking up the whole idea and then bringing it to the mobsters under cussed that I should point out that that same tendency is also why every account of this story kind of starts with how miserly Komisky was in reality as players were among the highest paid in the league regardless of who comes up with the idea if you do it, you're guilty of doing right. Yeah. Well, right. Yeah, exactly. But if you're threatened into it, it's easier to forgive the, you know, your former heroes or whatever. So sure. So we really don't know the origins of the conspiracy entirely, but on September 21st, a meeting of white socks players took place at Chick Gandals Hotel room in New York City.

Back then, there was no like multi-around playoff system that, like the team with the best record in the National League just played the team with the best record in the American League. And that was that. So it would have been pretty much right after the socks clinched their spot in the 1919 World Series. And it's here that Gandal offers up his proposal. Each player that agrees to throw the game will get $10,000 for every game they lose. And unlike all but I think one of the previous World Series, the one in 1919 was the best of nine formats.

So that would be $50,000 each. Way more than any of these guys made in a year. Right. Plus you obviously bet against yourselves and you make way more money. That would happen too. And then you spend that money on Bitcoin. The second it comes out, boom, trillion air. There you go. Okay, wait. And then you invest that in NFTs of internet pictures and you're back to cleaning the hotel room. Yeah, you cleaned it up. Yep. Yep.

So in all, there were eight conspirators in the room that day. We've already mentioned Gandalf Seacot and the lefty Williams. There was also center fielder Oscar happy falsch, shortstop Charles Swede Rizberg. And of course, legendary outfielder shoeless Joe Jackson. We're going to talk about him a bit more later. I feel like everybody didn't have like a middle quotes name was so fucking pissed. Yeah.

But that like Steve Jones. All right. Yeah, no actually what you're my next guy here is just Fred McBullen. He was actually useless in terms of fix in the series. Now he was a utility in fielder and barely saw any playing time, but he did overhear something about the fix and he threatened to blow the whistle if he didn't get a cut.

And lastly, there was the sad sack, the John Q.Sat character, third baseman, George Buckweaver, the only one of the eight that would never actually take any of the money. You know the next few weeks was everyone trying to kill McMullen, but he kept just like barely missing Ann Vills and like, just pulling the poison that he was back and drinking the glass. Mom says you guys have to let me conspiracy to defraud. Come on. Yeah, right, right. So and of course, bankrolling the effort is a gambling syndicate led by the notorious Arnold Rothstein. Jew. That one, yes, yes. Okay.

He will also, like he will certainly eventually get his own fucking episode. Okay. Supposed to say he was a real mob boss, a mob boss. He was the mentor to future crime bosses, Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, and Frank Costello to name a few. He was also very much the kind of guy that would like break your mother's legs if he thought you were insufficiently motivated. Okay, he was a mob boss is mob boss. I like the idea of a pro labor socialist mob boss.

You'll love every labor union literally ever. Fun fact, fun fact fact Arnold Rockstein took my grandmother on a date. I'm sure she told you that. So okay, so game one of the World Series is scheduled for October 1st. There were no night games back then. There were no television stations and we were still two years away from the first radio broadcast of the World Series. So this game started at 3 p.mpm on a Wednesday and nobody found that weird. How the fuck is the World Series even worth betting on if there's nobody there to watch

it or listen to? No, that's actually a really good question. The reason baseball was so popular is because you could put the scores and everything in the evening newspapers, right? That's how everybody kept up with it. So in the conspirators caught a break in the lead up to the series when picture red paper came down with flu-like symptoms and got left off the roster. 1919, I'm gonna guess that was the flu. No, I'm gonna go for the flu. That's the flu.

Lot of people had flu-like symptoms that year. I'm on a limb here. Yeah, you're kind of known for its flu-like symptoms, really. He wasn't gonna live in fear though, you know. Right. Ah! So yeah, so now paper is one of those clean socks that I was talking about earlier. There is no way he would have gone along with the fix.

And you might not think that would matter much, right? Like after all, you've got seven players out of a 25 man roster on your side, including the star outfit, like the star player. How hard could it possibly be to lose? Well, the black socks were about to learn. It was a hell of a lot harder than you would think. A barely a few of them are about to panic entirely

and play like they're doing an infomercial, just like in the dollar. But before we get the series going, we're gonna take a quick break for some opera povna. Alright fellas gather round. If we're gonna pull off this, who's gal we're gonna need. Everybody's knows firmly in the pie. So let's go around here. This is Futsma Clinty. He's a man to the outside

He's gonna be jumping a damp and dulling out the cash. Hello And this is Squeaks yellow hash a fine first basement But you wouldn't know it based on the way he's gonna play isn't that right squeaks It sure is and of course where would we be without nouns that noise of fork makes when you scrape it across the plate, the outfielder. I-I. Now, a quick reminder, we're gonna need gravels, fin That sounds great. These are our names. Yep, our real names. And we're back. When we left off, the story was just getting done with batting practice. What's next? Yep.

Yeah. Okay. So Eddie C. Cott gets the start in game one and unlike the other conspirators, he's already been paid the night before the game. He's given $10,000 in advance by Rothstein's intermediary for a world featherweight boxing champion, A. Batel, whose nickname was the little Hebrew. Oh, dude, dude. Yes.

Yes. Yeah. So in the bottom of the first inning, he takes the mound against lead off hitter Mori Wrath. And as a signal to the mobsters that the fix was in, he hits Wrath in the back with the second pitch. Okay. It feels like the signal could have just been, you know, taking the 10 grand.

I don't understand. He hits him in the leg instead of the back. He's just like, time out, time out, I have to pick phone call. I meant, I meant back. I meant back. Everybody saw me mean back. I just appreciate that the mob paid before he even threw the game. Like, there's not enough honor system mobsters these days.

Right. There's no trust in mobstoring anymore. Yeah, you're right. Now, the key from this point is you got to lose, but you can't make it look like you're trying to lose. Now, baseball is the kind of game where that's relatively easy. Errors are already a fucking stat while pitches are a thing, even in the major league. So you'd have thought that this would be a pretty simple ordeal, but you would have been disabused of that notion. The second you saw C cut very obviously blow a double play in the bottom of the four inside of the infomercial universe. Yes, exactly. Exactly. He then proceeded to go a haywire according to contemporary reports

allowing a number of hits and succession. And then he topped that off with a two out triple to the opposing picture. I'm trying very hard to picture what you just described. No, but I have no fucking idea what a two out triple could possibly be just like bear. Uh oh, Clyde Froggy, Bamser, through a double underplugger to the right hand. He crossed out to feel the end. That's the game. So he's close to that. Yeah. So anyway, so Seekout was relieved at that point, but but the socks were already down six to one. They'd go on to lose by an even worse margin than that. And you don't have to limp, man.

Just be at a baseball bud. You switching legs. Okay. He's switching legs. So you got two big problems coming out of game one. The first is that Seekots Melt that was so blatant that sports writers at the time were already wondering in print if the series was fixed. The second was that he was the only one of the conspirators that had been paid. The rest of them figured that they would be getting their 10 grand after the game. Well, they're mobsters. They wouldn't lie to us, right? Yeah, yeah, but the money man for Austin decided that he had a way better idea. He had another $20,000 that he was supposed to distribute

to the other conspirators after the game, but he decided instead to bet that $20,000 on the Cincinnati Reds in game two. And then he could just, you know, he could pay them off and keep all the winning. Yeah, that actually became a tradition in Cincinnati baseball. So, okay, so lefty Williams is a starting game too and he's determined to lose less obviously than C cut and he did the reds win for two and what appears by all accounts to be a legitimate game.

So after the game, Gandalf gets a hold of a tell and he demands some fucking money. Like, they've already thrown two games him and his co-conspirators are starting to get game. So after the game, Gandalf gets a hold of a tell and he demands some fucking money. Like they've already thrown two games him and his co-conspirators are starting to get antsy, but a tell has this great idea. See, instead of distributing that original 20 grand that he was supposed to give him today before and the money he was supposed to give him after that game, he figured he could keep all of that. They maybe, you know, keep Gandalf at bay for one more day with 10,,000 and then bet the rest of it plus his winnings from that second game on the reds for game three, then he could pocket the winnings

and then pay them. And the problem with that logic though is that Dickey Kerr was pitching game three, he wasn't in on the fix and he didn't give up a single fucking run. They didn't know who was in on the fix. What did this idiot didn't so a tell lost all that fucking money. All the money that was entrusted to him by the archetype of all mobsters Arnold Rothstein. It tells you sitting there watching the game

and just like fuck, they better use that utility in fielder soon and he better make so many guy in there. Brad MacBall and let's go. Infielder runs on side tackles the pitcher who isn't in on it. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. I'm a skeeto. Nick caps. Well, let's see. It's the best of nine series. We want to make it look real. Well, you bet on those boys making it a sweep for realism. I'm very bad at mob stuff. It was very bad at mob stuff. So now, okay to be honest like the conspirators probably could have lost game three even with curved pitching

but Most of them hadn't been paid and nobody had been paid the full 20 grand they were owed to that point So some of them decided to send a message by actually playing really good ball I help fucking Gandalf drove in two runs early in the 3L win They show up the next day guys. I found a severed horse head in the dugout. That's new. What is this? No, that wasn't here last night.

Was it? So, okay. So, C.Cott pitched game four, and though he was a little less flagrant about it, he still made some super obvious errors and added to the general suspicion about the whole series. By now, Ross Steen had a new money, man. Oh, we did. He replaced the guy who used all his money on magic beans. That I had.

That he did, yeah. So Gandalf gets a full 20 grand after game four, which he splits evenly between himself and three of the conspirators. But everybody's starting to get a little pissed about the discrepancy between how much they were promised and how much they're actually getting. And it's not like they can like go back and win those previous games if

Rossi doesn't make good. We will build a spite time machine. Give us our five dollars. Right. Yeah, exactly. So they lose game five, but Dickey Kerr pitches again in game six, and they win that one, leaving the series at four two. Seek out's pitching again, but he hasn't seen a dime since that first $10,000 payment and the papers are already calling him a cheat. So he buckles down and he plays a hell of a game and the socks win 4-1. So now all of a sudden the socks are only one game down and they're two games away from winning the fucking series.

Now, Rothstein is smart enough he didn't bet on any individual game but he's got $270,000 riding on the series. Now, Rusty is smart enough, he didn't bet on any individual game, but he's got $270,000 right on the series. That's like $4 million in today's money. See, if I had $4 million riding on something, I would make sure all my accounts were in order with the guys so pissed about money that they were willing to throw the world series. But that's me. That's me. Not the archetype of mobsters. The mobsters show up with bats to make a point like, okay, no, I see it now. We'll come back. We'll come back with a different thing. It doesn't make sense. Only building that wouldn't work in. It's great.

That's great. That's great. Cricket bats will do cricket bats next. What a week. So, okay. So lefty Williams, who's slated the pitching game eight, gets a visit that night from a man that history knows only as Harry F. Now Harry F makes it super clear to lefty that both he and his family would be in serious trouble at the socks somehow managed to win game eight. And he was so convinced by this visit that he might as well have started off by throwing his first pitch into his own fucking face by the end of the first inning. The Reserup for nothing. It would never be that close to get first

Hour of the game is just hitting every batter in the back on the second pitch You see this right this is what's happening. You see I'm helping I help Yeah, I once had a work event at a minor league baseball game and twice in that game the players just ran into each other trying to catch the ball and Now I'm wondering if that was a fixed minor league twice in that game, the players just ran into each other trying to catch the ball and now I'm wondering if that was a fixed minor league. All of a sudden the rubber explodes. All right. So by the time the series was over, a lot of sports writers had given up on any pretense

that it was a legitimate contest. One contemporary journalist mentioned in the Wiki, Hugh Fullerton of the Chicago Herald in Examiner was so disgusted by the socks and aptitude in throwing the damn series that he said no world series should ever be played again. By the start of the next season, the rumors were so rampant that a grand jury was in panel to investigate the issue. And it turns out that when he was facing perjury charges, any seacot was pretty forthcoming about his involvement. Right. So Eddie, we just want to ask you a few questions. I threw the world theory. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I'll get some cops around here. I mean, I just want to know if you want to hear

the specials tonight. Yeah. The answer is either soup or salad. So this is a Wendy's. So as soon as Seacat's confession comes to light, Kamiski suspended all seven players involved. Gando wasn't with the team anymore. And less than a month later, eight players and five gamblers had been implicated at a string of indictments followed the supposedly notoriously stingy Kamiski cut a $1,500 check to everybody who played in the series, but wasn't in on the fix. That would have been the difference in how much they'd have made

if they won and how much they made for losing. The resulting trial was, of course, a fucking circus somehow right before the trial, by the way, a few pieces of key evidence when missing from the Cook County courthouse, including the signed confessions of both Eddie C. Cott and Shulis, Joe Jackson. Those would show up later in their lawyer's possession. Ultimately, after a month-long trial and two hours of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty for every player involved. The jury got the yips. They couldn't turn double play.

Just trying to make them for you. See how hard it's turned up? Played up. We didn't throw this. It's hard to do. I get it. Guys, is it me or is every member of the jury Arnold Rothstein in a different hat or mustache?

So shut the fuck up. Oh, yeah, I'll shut the fuck up. I will. I should have already done that. Now, one of the most enduring questions to come out of this scandal revolves around the guilt of shoeless Joe. Okay. Though not unremarkably, shoeless Joe was seen sporting $2,000 Gucci loafers and changing his stupid fucking nickname. Definitely was shot afterwards. So with the exception of that one time when he signed a full confession, he always maintained his innocence like Sir Hands or Hand. Yeah, exactly.

He did take money from the syndicate. That much can be proven, but whether he did anything at all to throw the series is a lot harder to answer. And not only did he have the best batting average in the series, at 375, he had the best batting average in the history of the world series to that time. He hit the series only home run. He handled 30 balls in the outfield with no errors and he threw out five base runners. Okay. So he's definitely a cheater, but the question is whether or not he sucked at it. I'm glad we cleared that up. Yeah. Just a lot of that. Yeah. I would have thrown out six guys if I was playing at my fullest.

This would be clear. So ultimately, it wouldn't matter though. To have any chance at all of legitimizing their sport after this big ass scandal, Major League Baseball knew that they had to come down hard on everybody involved. So the team owners got together and created the office of Commissioner of Baseball.

Now, they offered this position to another guy that probably deserves his own episode eventually. This is his real fucking name. Canna saw mountain landess. Yeah, he owed his name to the battle where his dad was when he got shot during the Civil War. And he had the kind of reputation for toughness that dude named after a battle kind of shit. My name would be Heath hospital bed that we bought for the extra room that we named to the area. It's sad.

So anyway, so Landis is a judge in Chicago that made a name for himself by imposing tough fines on big businesses, including a record smashing $29 million fine that he imposed on standard oil for price fixing that got overturned on appeal. Ultimately, Landis agreed to take the job and tie his sterling reputation to the tarnished image of baseball. But he did so on the condition that he be granted essentially fucking unlimited power over the sport. And one of his first actions

was to ban every player remotely involved in the black sock scandal for life. Like even Buckweaver, the innocent yogurt who attended the first meeting with Gandalf said no and never took a penny was permanently banned from the sport for his failure to alert the team's owner. Once he knew that might be happening. Okay. Good. You're supposed to tell about that. Yeah. Maybe we get Kenneth saw a mountain to take over all the police now. He was a notorious fucking racist. So probably not. Yeah. One thing he did there. It's not as it relates. So things said. Now, despite anti racism. Yeah. Right. That's the message of my thing. I think. So despite numerous appeals and popular support for the banish players,

none of them would ever play again. In fact, when they tried to organize a barnstorming tour outside of the league's authority, Landis issued a warning that any players that participated would join them on the black list. And as harsh as he was, the punishment worked. Faith publicly was restored in the integrity of the game. Crowds did come back to the ballpark, and baseball players never cheated or involved the league in a major scandal ever again. All right, and if you had to summarize what you've learned in one sentence, what would it be? Kevin Koster should have just grown more fucking corn.

They didn't, they didn't deserve to play. And are you ready for the quiz? Sure. Why not? All right. Noah, which of the following baseball wacky facts is true? Hey, Eddie Gatle was the shortest man to ever play in a major league baseball game. He was three feet seven inches tall.

And he was put in the game entirely as a publicity such a smart play. Be there is an actual minor league baseball team named after the Springfield isotopes of the Simpsons episode hungry hungry Homer. And they are the albacurkey isotopes. See, pitcher Doc LSS he threw his June 12, 1970 no hitter while under the influence of LSD or D. All of these I guess I don't know, I fell asleep trying to find something interesting to say about baseball. I tell me about it, man, I had to whole fucking essay. It's definitely D. It is. All right. No, which of the following is the best movie about cheating in baseball and organized crime. Oh, hey,

raging bulldum. Yeah, being walk, buck and two corking barrel. Nice. Nice. There's two baseball things and then a third what cork, you cork the barrel. It's an illegal thing.

You know, it makes you hit the ball further. Yeah. Three baseball things. Three. Or see. Donnie Brastrow. That's just, you know what? Honestly, I like to be better, but I'm going to have to, for your sake, he say see it's

Donnie Brastrow. Thank you. See is correct. The other one's also kind of, but you mostly see. All right. No, what's more interesting than baseball? Hey, listening to that Bitcoin guy at your job, talk about Bitcoin. B, watching any child you don't love.

Do any kind of performance and kind of arts? See, looking at your wife's friend's handmade jewelry. Well, being pressured to buy it. Yeah. D all of the above, including soccer, which is so boring, it has fucking ties. All right. More interesting than base was definitely not the handmaid. I'm going to go with B watching some other mother fuckers kid do stuff.

Ah, I'm so sorry, but my child is interesting no matter what he does. It was actually- Oh, sh- that's right. This is the Bitcoin guy. Oh, okay. Alright, I get it now. I see it, so I'll be as once you say that. By the way, soccer is awesome, but yeah, the Thai thing.

You gotta get rid of the Thai thing, guys. Come on, D. U. That's ridiculous. Eli wins or something? Alright, I win, so I'm gonna choose next week's S.E.S. Tom, which means you all lose. Ha ha ha ha! Alright, I win! So I'm gonna choose next week's S.A.S.T. Tom. Which means you all lose. Ha ha ha ha! Alright, well for Tom, no an Eli, I'm Heath. Thank you for hanging out with us today.

We'll be back next week and by then Tom will be an expert on something else. Between now and then you can hear Tom and Cecil on the cognitive distance, and you can hear Eli knowing myself on God-Alpha movies, skating atheists, skepticrat, and D&D Monos. And if you'd like to, pay for your porn. You can make a per episode donation at patreon.com slash excitation pod. And if you'd like to get in touch with us, listen to past episodes, connect with us on

social media or take a look at show notes, check out cetationpod.com. And now I just moved my leg over here. Ow, ow, ow, you're stretching the band again. The band is going to stretch Tom. I have told you this. We should have just done my idea. Well we certainly should have done one of our ideas shouldn't we? And this is Squeaks Yellow Hash. I find first basement but you wouldn't know it based on the way he's gonna play isn't

that right Squeaks. It sure is. And of course, where would we be without now and stuff? Why? Because he's squeaks. Yeah. Wait, did I just block Tom's joke like twerk house? Yeah, I think more naturally in it.

It's fine. Sorry, that's two times I blocked a joke and I did. That's okay. I'm keeping all of this. I'm really glad that it. People need to now stay in. People need to know what he did to top. Works better, works better.