Results tagged “blacksox”

Over a year ago, we posted about an article in the "Sporting News" which theorized that the infamous "Black Sox" scandal -- the 1919 White Sox were accused of throwing the World Series -- was inspired by the Cubs having done so themselves the year before. A fascinating new wrinkle to the already extensive Chicago baseball lore. The author of that article, Sean Deveney, continued his research and has now written The Original Curse, which digs deeper into what may be the true reason for the Cubs' century of futility.

In the long, mostly disappointing history of Chicago baseball one of its lowest moments came when members of the 1919 White Sox threw the World Series. Among the "Black Sox" permanently banned from the game was the team's biggest star, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson. Ninety years later, two Chicago lawyers involved with the start-up Chicago Baseball Museum are taking another stab at clearing Shoeless Joe's name. Paul Duffy and Daniel Voelker take exception with assertions made about Jackson in the 1963 book by Eliot Asinof, Eight Men Out. They are plowing through Asinof's research, which is now part of the Chicago History Museum's collection. With research consisting of primarily newspaper recount, the pair was surprised that the notes included no interviews with any of the events' principals.

The accusations that members of the 1919 White Sox squad took money in return for throwing the World Series are well documented. Eight players -- including Shoeless Joe Jackson -- were banned forever from baseball, while eventually acquitted of criminal charges. Many a Sox fan blamed this for their team's own difficulties in winning a World Series -- until 2005.

Our servers drank a big glass of bitch juice this morning, but things appear to be shaping up at this point.

Chicago History Books?

As recently as 24 months ago, there were three baseball franchises whose fans blamed decades of World Series futility on curses. The Red Sox fans blamed the "curse of the Bambino," cast upon their franchise when the team's owner sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees in order to finance a Broadway production. Since the Wilson administration, White Sox fans blamed their lack of a title on the "Black Sox" scandal, in which members of the 1919 team were accused of throwing the World Series. And the Cubs had their "Billy Goat" curse, cast upon the team after Vasili "Billy Goat" Sianis and his actual goat were denied admission to Wrigley Field for Game 4 of the 1945 World Series.

Around the time the White Sox won the World Series for the first time since 1917, rare sports newspaper chronicling the infamous "Black Sox" scandal disappeared from the University of Illinois Library.

Already up 3-0 on the Houston Astros in the World Series, the White Sox swept the Astros by winning Game 4 1-0. The lone run was scored by Willie Harris on a single by World Series MVP Jermaine Dye with two outs in the 8th inning.

While the White Sox dismissed the Red Sox and Angels in pretty short order, this series promises to be a much more tightly contested affair. With both teams sporting incredible pitching rotations, the series should be one low-scoring pitchers' dual after another. The Astros look tough with their rotation that includes Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Roy Oswalt. But the White Sox foursome of Jose Contreras, Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland and Freddy Garcia look like they're ready to go toe-to-toe.

Chicagoist learned what it's like to be a Cubs fan over the past week. No, we haven't begun drinking at noon and we can still name the opponent without having to read it off the centerfield scoreboard. What we learned is what it's like to have your team go a whole week without a single victory, something Cubs fans have endured three times this season. However, such futility is a novelty for the White Sox.

Today is Festivus and we've been reading a lot lately about how all the cool kids are celebrating. It's easy. All you need is an aluminum pole to display unadorned. Local customs sometimes allow decorations, but they must be non-threatening plain decorations, and tinsel is absolutely banned. What? It's distracting! At Chicagoist's Festivus party we would ask everyone invited (all of you!) to contribute to The Human Fund and the money would really go to...

While the Cubs failed to even make the playoffs this year, the Red Sox are again taking a stand against their curse -- supposedly a result of their sale of Babe Ruth to the Yankees so that the Red Sox owner could produce a Broadway show. By beating the "Evil Empire" New York Yankees, the Red Sox have their first chance since 1986's debacle to attempt to win the World Series.