Still celebrating the excitement of the recent conclusion of the 2015 baseball season, blogger Chloe Sweeney continues her look into notorious baseball curses and superstitions. This is the second installment.
–by Chloe Sweeney
In 1919, the Chicago White Sox was playing in the Worlds Series against the Cincinnati Reds when the scandal began. Although the White So
x became a top team in the league after its victory in the 1917 World Series, Charles Comiskey, the owner of the team, was known for underpaying his players. White Sox players resented Comiskey. Because the players were unable to leave their contracts, they turned to gamblers in an effort to make some extra cash. In return for a huge payoff, eight White Sox players decided to fix the World Series. They intentionally lost as large bets kept piling up for Cincinnati. After seven games, the Cincinnati Reds won the Series. The public caught wind of the massive scandal in the 1920 season, and a grand jury assembled to investigate. All eight players were acquitted in a criminal trial in 1921, but they did not escape unscathed. The Commissioner of Baseball, Kenesaw Landis, issued a statement following the acquittal. He said, “Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player who throws a ball game, no player who undertakes or promises to throw a ball game, no player who sits in confidence with a bunch of crooked ballplayers and gamblers, where the ways and means of throwing a game are discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball.” All eight players were indefinitely suspended from playing professional baseball. The huge scandal was dubbed the Curse of the Black Sox.A World Series victory had eluded Chicago for 76 years. In 2005, the curse was finally broken as the Chicago White Sox swept the Houston Astros and won the championship!
–Edited by Amber Zheng
in baseball. Sadly, this will not be the year that the Cubs break the Curse of the Billy Goat.
above, many expectations, from baseball experts to the die-hard Cubs fan. I’m excited for what the future holds for the Cubs, as they return almost all of their starters and hold a lot of potential in their young, talented team. Just another reason why the Chicago Cubs will soon be the World Champions in the coming years.”