Jacob Pomrenke Profile picture
Aug 5, 2021 15 tweets 9 min read Read on X
There’s really not much precedent for how the Houston Astros have been forced to face fans’ wrath in a public forum all season after their World Series scandal. Players get booed all the time, teams not so much. 1/x
Most baseball scandals involve a controversial player or three, but then they retire, get suspended, or scatter to other teams. Or the news comes out too late for fans to have a chance to respond publicly. 2/x
@BenLindbergh recently asked if the Black Sox players ever had to face fans’ wrath on the field. Not really, because by the time a grand jury began investigating in September 1920, their season was almost over. But there was one time in Cleveland … 3/x
Almost all of the White Sox’s games that final month were at home … except for a 3-game set at Cleveland on September 23-25, 1920. And @Indians fans let out ALL their pent-up anger that series. 4/x
By then, everyone had heard the rumors about the fixed 1919 World Series. But the 1920 White Sox — with four 20-game winners on their pitching staff — were still fighting for another pennant, 1.5 games back of @Indians with 8 to play. baseball-reference.com/boxes/?year=19… 5/x
A White Sox sweep of this late-season series would land them in first place and in line for another World Series in 1920. Or the @Indians could put their very first American League pennant on ice and start celebrating. 6/x
In the meantime, a Chicago grand jury was hearing new testimony every day. And rumors were flying that the 1920 White Sox had been throwing games all season too. sabr.org/journal/articl… 7/x Happy Felsch
That same week, AL president Ban Johnson testified to the grand jury he had heard “the White Sox would not dare to win the 1920 pennant” because gamblers were still in control of the team. sabr.org/journal/articl… 8/x Ban Johnson
Cleveland fans heard all these stories too, before the White Sox came to town in late September 1920. And when they finally arrived, the scene at @LeagueParkCle was a rowdy one. 9/x League Park in Cleveland
White Sox OF Shano Collins said in an offseason interview with the Boston Post that he heard the cries of “Crooks!” and “Traitors!” still ringing in his ears, even as Chicago won 2 of 3 games from Cleveland. 10/x Boston Post interview with Shano Collins, November 27, 1920
Remember, @Indians fans already hated the White Sox after their manager Tris Speaker mixed it up with Chick Gandil in a notorious “old-time fistfight” the year before. There was no love lost between the two teams in 1920. sabr.org/gamesproj/game… 11/x Chick Gandil and Tris Speaker, 1919
Tris Speaker was also highly critical of the White Sox in his @clevelanddotcom columns during the 1919 World Series. He was one of the most prominent voices in baseball to call out their poor play at the time. sabr.box.com/shared/static/… 12/x Tris Speaker column in Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 2, 19
The White Sox endured Cleveland fans’ outrage for three days and left town a half-game back of first place. But in Chicago, Eddie Cicotte decided to confess on September 28. And the Black Sox Scandal finally blew open, one year after the Series ended. app.box.com/s/5w6evwofl2dt… 13/x Eddie Cicotte
The Black Sox players were immediately suspended by Charles Comiskey and never played again for the White Sox or in @MLB. Fans were denied any chance to boo these “murderers of sport.” sabr.org/gamesproj/game… 14/x Shoeless Joe Jackson and Buck Weaver
The scandal-ridden Astros, meanwhile, will play on against the current, trying to outrun their past. But while fans have this extremely rare opportunity to express their outrage, some aren’t going to let these players forget so quickly. 15/fin #BlackSox100 Jose Altuve

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More from @buckweaver

Aug 4, 2021
As the Astros face the wrath of L.A. fans tonight for the first time, it’s worth remembering how the disgraced Black Sox ended their major-league careers in 1920 — not with boos or jeers but with rumors of more fixed games and an explosive confession: sabr.org/gamesproj/game…
One of the most overlooked aspects of the Black Sox Scandal is how they continued to throw games in 1920. At one time or another, as Bruce Allardice writes, all of the “clean” White Sox accused their teammates of selling out all over again. sabr.org/journal/articl… #BlackSox100
Fans were not given much of a chance to boo the Black Sox on the field. By the time the story came out, the 1920 season was almost over. And when their trial ended, Commissioner Kenesaw Landis banned them for life — 100 years ago today in 1921 sabr.org/eight-myths-out #BlackSox100
Read 4 tweets
Jul 18, 2020
Wonder if we'll see a scene like this at an @MLB ballpark soon. Here's the story behind this haunting photo, taken at the Flu Mask Game during the 1918-19 global pandemic, for @SABRGames: sabr.org/gamesproj/game… #BlackSox100
@MLB @SABRGames A few thoughts on baseball and face masks: On @EffectivelyWild last week, I noted the striking similarities of life under quarantine and how human beings deal with it. Players and fans' fears, frustrations, attitudes were the same in 1918 as we feel today. blogs.fangraphs.com/effectively-wi…
@MLB @SABRGames I wish we knew how players 100 years ago felt about baseball during a pandemic. Nobody asked Chick Gandil and Fred McMullin, who played in the California Winter League flu mask game. But we do know how Ian Desmond and Ryan Zimmerman feel: washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/06…
Read 9 tweets
Sep 16, 2019
100 years ago today, the Cincinnati @Reds clinched their first National League pennant by knocking off the Giants. That same day, the #WhiteSox arrived in New York for a series with the Yankees ... and a fateful meeting with gamblers. baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN1… #BlackSox100
@Reds It was on this #WhiteSox road trip to NYC — 100 years ago this week — when Eddie Cicotte and Chick Gandil met with gamblers Sleepy Bill Burns and Billy Maharg at the Ansonia Hotel to fix the 1919 World Series. sabr.org/research/black… #BlackSox100
@Reds Weeks earlier, Eddie Cicotte had approached his old teammate, Sleepy Bill Burns, with the promise of "something good" if the #WhiteSox won the 1919 AL pennant. The Ansonia meeting is where the World Series fix started to become reality. sabr.org/research/black… #BlackSox100
Read 7 tweets
Aug 3, 2019
#OTD in 1921, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis announced a lifetime ban of the Black Sox, who were acquitted of criminal conspiracy charges by a Chicago jury in baseball’s “trial of the century” the day before. Here’s what we’ve learned since: sabr.org/eight-myths-out #BlackSox100
Thanks to @ChicagoMuseum, we now have access to thousands of pages of trial transcripts and testimony about the Black Sox trial that Eliot Asinof never got to see for “Eight Men Out.” ... For example, the “stolen” confessions. jacobpomrenke.com/black-sox/the-… #BlackSox100
The “stolen” confessions are one of the enduring myths of the Black Sox Scandal. As Bill Lamb has shown, this incident had no effect on the jury’s decision to acquit the players. (And no, Arnold Rothstein didn’t arrange the theft, either!) jacobpomrenke.com/black-sox/the-… #BlackSox100
Read 13 tweets

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