World Champion Cincinnati Reds to Play DeKalb (Illinois) Baseball Team in 1920

From the May 27, 2020, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1920, 100 Years Ago.

"The Champions of DeKalb are going to play the champions of the world.  Arrangements have been made whereby the Cincinnati Reds, the champions of the world by virtue of licking the Chicago White Sox last fall, will play  in this city in a match game with the local nine on August 18."

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"DANCING -- At Electric Park, Saturday night , May 29th."

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Imagine a major league baseball team visiting a small town in Illinois for a game these days.  Plus, we know there was a problem with the 1919 World Series.  I couldn't find out anything about the game, but the Reds played at the Chicago Cubs on August 17 and won 3-2.  On August 19 they beat the Brooklyn Robins 3-2 in 13 innings in Cincinnati.

Plus, there was this thing called the Spanish flu still going around in 1920.

Electric Park was a big amusement spot just south of Sycamore on the DeKalb-Sycamore Road (now Illinois Highway 23).  Click on the Electric Park Sycamore Ill. label to find out more about the park.

--Cooter

Talking Football Rivalry, George Trafton Takes On "Mr. Chicken-- Part 2:

The Decatur Staleys (future Chicago Bears) and the Rock Island (Illinois) Independents clashed in two of the roughest games of 1920.  In the first one, Trafton sent four Independents off the field with injuries as the Quad City crowd booed.  The worst fate befell halfback Fred Chicken, who broke his leg when Trafton tackled him into a fence post near the field.

Three weeks later, the same two teams met again in Rock Island.  Gamblers -- who had started to turn their attention toward pro football after the baseball Black Sox scandal in the previous year got involved.

Bears owner, coach and right end George Halas sequestered his team across the Mississippi River in Davenport, Iowa, hoping to keep his players away from the gamblers.  But word got around that the smart betting money was on the Independents winning and Trafton being knocked out in the first quarter.

The only information they could get on the player who was to take George out was that he went by the name "Mr. Chicken,"

Most of the Bears honored Halas' directive and didn't bet.  But not George Trafton.  He took all his money and bet on his team and himself.

Was This "Mr. Chicken" Fred Chicken?  --DaCoot

August 2 in History: Declaration, Census, Bad Day for Wild Bill, Black Sox and Gulf of Tonkin

From the Chicago Tribune.

**  1776   Members of the Continental Congress began signing the Declaration of Independence.  (And most people think it was signed on July 4, 1776.)

**  1790   The enumeration of the first U.S. census began.  When it was over, the final total was 3,929,214.

**  1876   "Wild Bill" Hickok was fatally shot from behind while playing poker in a saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory.  He was holding two aces and two eights, a combination that became known as the "Deadman's Hand."

**  1921   After two hours of deliberation, the jury in the "Black Sox" trial of eight White Sox players returned a verdict of not guilty in the plot to fix the 1919 World Series.  (However, Baseball Commissioner Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis banned them from baseball for life.)

A real sad day for us Sox fans as we might have had that successful reign that the Yankees had after that.

1964   The Pentagon reported the first of two attacks on U.S. destroyers by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin.  This was a major step for the U.S. escalation in the Vietnam War.

--  SadSoxCoot

MLB says "No" to "Shoeless Joe"

From the September 2, 2015, Chicago Tribune."Says it's no: MLB denies Jackson."

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred decided not to re-open the case of "Shoeless Joe" Jackson, meaning that he remains formally banned from baseball and, worst of all, ineligible for inclusion in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum in Greenville, S.C., on Tuesday released a letter from Manfred dated July 20, said he agreed with past rulings by baseball commissioners.  He noted that Jackson was eligible for inclusion in the Hall of Fame from 1920 to 1991, but never came up with the necessary votes for induction.

Jackson had a career batting average of .356, third highest in MLB history.  But, he was banned by then baseball commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis along with seven other White Sox players after being accused of fixing the 1919 World Series.

Jackson was not officially banned from Hall of Fame consideration until 1991, when the HoF ruled that anyone on the sport's permanently ineligible list could not be voted into Cooperstown.  This rule is largely there to keep Pete Rose out of it.

Time Has Come to Let Jackson In.  --Cooter

The Last Big Baseball Scandal-- Part 6: The Chicago Black Sox

The trial finally started in 1921 and was a circus. Rothstein refused to show up, saying that the Arnold Rothstein mentioned was another Arnold Rothstein, not him. The missing confessions figured in the trial as well. The judge who had originally heard them was allowed to verbally give his memory of them.

Charles Comsikey, team owner, went ballistic when he was accused of "contract jumping" to make a few extra bucks.

Surprisingly, the jury found the players innocent, but newly appointed baseball commissioner Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis confirmed Comiskey's suspensions and permanently banned all the players from ever playing baseball again.

That set off a long streak of losing and no World Series for the White Sox. With the exception of appearing in the 1959 World Series and the championship in 2005, it continues on to this day. Too bad as I still believe the Sox would have had a dynasty instead of the hated Yankees.

The other players faded into obscurity, but Joe Jackson's supporters continued to push to clear his name, even after his death in 1951. They feel he was just a poor country boy who was duped. During the series, he hit .351 and made no errors, surely not what a player on the take would do.

These Chicago Black Sox have been featured in the movies "Eight Men Out" and "Field of Dreams."

Way Too Bad. --Cooter

The Last Big Baseball Scandal-- Part 5: The Black Sox

By the fall, three players: Jackson, Cicotte and Williams had confessed on paper, but these confessions went missing. The Tribune reported that Arnold Rothstein, the New York gambler who had set up the whole scheme, had bought them for $10,000. When he saw his name was not mentioned, he offered to sell it to the Tribune which refused.

Comiskey suspended those three and five others he felt were involved, even though the Sox were in another pennant race in which they ended up barely missing a trip to the World Series.

--Cooter

The Last Big Baseball Scandal-- Part 4: The 1919 World Series

The White Sox had won the World Series in 1917 and were heavy favorites to to defeat the challengers from the National League, the Cincinnati Reds. Some even talked of a dynasty as the Sox had it all: pitching, hitting and defense.

But the series opened poorly for the Sox with starting pitcher Eddie Cicotte hitting the Reds' leadoff batter to signal the fix was on. The Sox lost 9-1. Game two was a 4-2 loss, but the Sox won game three.

The fix returned in game four with a 2-0 loss. The Reds went on to win the 8th game of the nine game series and the world championship on the same day that Mrs. O'Leary's cow started the Chicago Fire 48 years earlier.

Rumors of a fix were immediate. Comsikey offered a $10,000 reward for information that the series had been thrown, but refused to pay several claimants. Everybody returned for the 1920 season and played well.
A Sad Time For Us Sox Fans, Indeed.  --Cooter

The Last Big Baseball Scandal-- Part 3: Cheap Old Comiskey

The story of the Black Sox has been told in movies like "Eight Men Out" and "Field of Dreams."

Today, part of the responsibility for the players taking the performance-enhancing drugs is their sky-high salaries and pressure to earn them. Rodriguez stands to lose $31 million.

With the White Sox, it was the other way around. Players back then had meager salaries and received almost slave-like treatment from owners, especially the White Sox owner Charles Comiskey. He once even refused to pay for cleaning his players' uniforms.

Shoeless Joe Jackson received $6,000 in 1919 (nearly $81,000 today). Lefty Williams, one of baseball's best pitchers, $2,625.

Imagine One of Today's MLB Players Working A Second Job To make Ends Meet.  -- Cooter