Chicago White Sox Essay

For the first time the Chicago White Sox were playing the Cincinnati Reds in the 1919 Major League Baseball World Series. While the Reds finished eight games above Chicago, the “Sox” were still heavy favorites because of their solid pitching rotation, gold-glove infield, and power hitting outfield led by Joe Jackson. Yet when pre-game betting odds quickly switched from Chicago to Cincinnati, many cynics, including future commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, immediately grew wary. When the Reds blew out the Sox ace Cicotte for nine runs, and after a 4-2 loss by the White sox in Game 2, people immediately knew something was wrong. The White Sox would go on to lose the Series 3 games to 5.
It was not until two years later that the mystery behind
The very next day, on the morning of August 4th, 1921, Kenesaw Mountain Landis issued a public statement to the Major League Baseball community.
“Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player that throws a ball game; no player that undertakes or promises to throw a ball game; no player that sits in a conference with a bunch of crooked players and gamblers where the ways and means of throwing ball games are planned and discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball.”
Landis risked his own reputation in law, and baseball’s reputation as a pastime to protect the integrity of the game. When asked about the reinstatement of these men, Landis stood by his belief and replied by saying, “Of course, I don't know that any of these men will apply for reinstatement, but if they do, the above are at least a few of the rules that will be enforced.”
Each one of the White Sox players returned to their homes, never to be let into baseball again. Today, Landis serves as an example for current commissioners. He reminds us that the one most important thing is not who wins or loses, but who respects the integrity of the