[vincesanity82]

Just about anybody who is a baseball fan knows the story of the 1919 White Sox. The story of how that team threw the 1919 World Series against the Reds was forever immortalized in the book and eventually the movie Eight Men Out, and it caused Shoeless Joe Jackson to spend eternity in a cornfield in Field of Dreams. What we didn't know until now, is that the White Sox may have just been following the lead of their crosstown rivals.

A newly found affidavit from the 1920 Grand Jury hearings has claims that the Cubs may have thrown the 1918 World Series against the Boston Red Sox as well.

Now, it cannot be said for certain that gamblers got to the '18 Cubs. But Eddie Cicotte, pitcher and one of the eight White Sox outcasts from the '19 World Series, did say in a newly found affidavit he gave to the 1920 Cook County grand jury that the Cubs influenced the Black Sox. Cicotte said the notion of throwing a World Series first came up when the White Sox were on a train to New York. The team was discussing the previous year's World Series, which had been fixed, according to players. Some members of the Sox tried to figure how many players it would take to throw a Series. From that conversation, Cicotte said, a scandal was born.

The Cubs were 84-45 that year and serious favorites. Cicotte is not alone in suggesting they had been paid off. The lost diary of Charles Comiskey's righthand man, Harry Grabiner, supposedly indicates that the 1918 World Series was fixed. The reporting of baseball columnist Hugh Fullerton -- the man who eventually blew the whistle on baseball's gambling problem -- also suggested that something was afoul in 1918. Fullerton's accounts of those games repeatedly point out bizarre baserunning mistakes and defensive flubs.

The box scores support his descriptions. The Cubs were picked off three times, including twice in the decisive Game 6. That game was lost, 2-1, on a 2-run error by Cubs right fielder Max Flack. Game 4 had been tied, 2-2, in the eighth inning, when Cubs pitcher Shufflin' Phil Douglas gave up a single, followed by a passed ball, followed by an errant throw on a bunt attempt that allowed the winning run to score.

Did the 1918 Cubs Throw the World Series? - FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

[Lefty Noob]

Looking at this from the White Sox standpoint, it doesn't change a thing about 1919. Sure, they may not have been the first to go out and fix the World Series, but they did do it and they got caught. It's just like in the NFL... during a fight, how often to they catch the guy who threw the first punch? Not that often. But if they see someone else do it, even if they weren't the first, they get disciplined, right?

[legend]

And maybe Bill Buckner and Bob Stanley threw the 1986 series!

[azrael492]

Unfortunately we will probably never find the truth for sure, but it does make sense. Also the people fixing the games needed practice for the 1919 series. I doubt they just started with the world series. They had to have done it before.

[GrimlockAutobot]

I believe it......the Cubs would do something like this and never say anything about it.....meanwhile the Sox took the fall for years......and the Cubs already did it.