Cincinnati Reds Win Infamous ‘Black Sox’ World Series

On Oct. 9, 1919, the Cincinnati Reds won the eighth and final game of the 1919 World Series, a Series forever scarred because gamblers convinced several Chicago White Sox players to deliberately lose games—the scandal earning their team the moniker “Black Sox.” Eight members of that Chicago team were banned from baseball for life after details of the gambling fix came to light.

Although the grand jury investigation of the scandal and the team’s subsequent suspension of the players did not occur until near the end of the 1920 season (they were banned for life by Baseball Commissioner Landis in 1921 after their trial), rumors were abundant during the 1919 Series that “the fix was on.” These rumors reached the press box, and writers made note of the suspicious fielding errors and mental mistakes the White Sox players kept making.

In his description of that final World Series game, Plain Dealer sportswriter Henry P. Edwards commented: “It was not a contest…Everything the Reds did was right. Everything the White Sox did was wrong.”

Here is the opening of the article the Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) published on Oct. 10, 1919:

Reds Are Baseball Champions of World

Massacre White Sox in Final Contest and Win by 10 to 5 Score

Cincinnati Batters Drive Williams from Mound in First Inning when They Score Four Runs; James and Wilkinson Treated Roughly, Too, while Eller Holds American League Champions Safely; Jackson Makes Home Run.

By Henry P. Edwards
Chicago, October 9

The World Series of 1919 is over. The Cincinnati Reds are baseball champions of the world. They completed the Series as they began it, by administering a one-sided defeat to the Chicago White Sox, the score today being 10 to 5. Where Napoleon had but one Waterloo, the White Sox bobbed up with two, being walloped 9 to 1 in the inaugural contest and 10 to 5 today in the game that lowered the curtain on the national pastime for the year.

Hod Eller, the Danville Demon, was on the rubber for the new champs and while pitching was not as sensational as in his game Monday, it was sufficiently effective for him to register an easy victory.

It was not necessary for Moran to select Eller for today’s game. Manager Pat could have used nearly any one and got away with the Sox scalp, as none of the alleged throwers employed by Chicago had anything with which to mystify the National Leaguers.

It was not a contest. It scarcely was a game. It was a massacre. As a game, it ended when it started, for the Reds scored four runs in the first inning. And, with Eller pitching, that meant Cincinnati could unqualifiedly resume planning investments of the big money that went to the winners.

Yes, it was the first game all over again. Everything the Reds did was right. Everything the White Sox did was wrong. If the Reds wanted a hit they got it. If the White Sox wanted one, they got a pop-fly or a strike-out. Such generally is the case when one team has a pitcher and the other has not.

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