Eight Men Out – Eliot Asinof

One of the oldest and most important stories in baseball history is that of the Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series, found in written form by Eliot Asinof in his 1963 telling and in movie form Eight Men Out from 1988.

To begin, know that this is a novel and not necessarily an accurate retelling of the events that occurred. Asinof wasn’t born until 1919, so it would be impossible to have first hand knowledge of the events that occurred and his research didn’t begin until the 1960’s, after many of the principle characters had died. That being said, I will now continue on to why all modern baseball fans need to read this story.

The style that Asinof wrote the book, as if it were a fictional mystery makes it a much more entertaining read than if it were simply legal documents listed one after another. This way, he is able to get inside the characters heads, even if what is written was not what they said or thought. This is important to see why the players would do such a thing as throwing a World Series. Of particular interest are the insights into the White Sox ace, Eddie Cicotte as he was essentially the most important player involved in the deal.

Cicotte started three of the eight games and, by the report in the book, must have been the greatest pitcher ever as when he wanted to give up a hit, he did and when he didn’t want to, he didn’t. There is nearly a play-by-play, even a pitch-by-pitch at times of Cicotte’s starts, pointing out each moment that was a little under the level. Personally, I found this much more interesting than the second half of the book, which focuses on the Grand Jury and ensuing trial.

This is the third book I’ve covered in the Burning River Book Club which focuses on the years between 1919 and 1921, but there is a reason as this was possibly the single most important span of time in baseball history. Baseball players were throwing games for the entire history of the game back to the 1800’s, but baseball’s limited governing bodies ignored it because they feared it would effect the popularity of the game (very similar to what happened with steroids in the 1990’s). This coming into the light in 1920 likely saved the sport from further controversy.

In addition, 1920 saw the first and only player to die of injuries sustained on a baseball field (Ray Chapman) and the rise of the power hitter as Babe Ruth was able to swing for the fences. Baseball hit new heights of popularity during this time as the dead ball era ended and the mid-west dominated. The White Sox won the World Series in 1917, the Reds won their first in 1919 and the Indians their first in 1920. There is some in the book about that as well as more gambling allegations marred the title effort against the Brooklyn Bridegrooms. This is also covered in the other book from the 1910’s and 1920’s, Cobb, as ultimately Tris Speaker and Ty Cobb were forced to transfer teams due to the allegations.

That last part is lightly touched upon in Eight Men Out, but there are a few more important things that still effect the game that are covered. First, the office of the commissioner was created explicitly because of the scandal. The first commissioner was Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis (who was also the man who delayed desegregation by at least 15 years, as discussed in Shades of Glory) and he features prominently, along with the president of the American League, Ban Johnson, late in the story.

A second important change in the period was the beginning of the players union and an increase in salary. It was primarily because the players were paid so little that they were able to be corrupted (or asked to be corrupted, read the book and find out). Multiple players, including starting pitcher Lefty Williams, who was a young phenom, missed out on a possible ten years of salary to make a measly $10,000. The number one reason why there is little fear of a similar reprisal now is that for a player in position to throw any game is generally being paid millions per year and stands to make even more in the future. Any gamblers looking to fix even a singly game would likely have to round up considerably more than $100,000.

The final reason to go back and read a book from the 1960’s about events in the 1910’s is to make up your own mind. Decide for yourself who of the eight is guilty or not and whether their lifetime bans should continue long after their deaths. If nothing else, this is keeping one of the Indians greatest outfielders ever out of the Hall of Fame and it could be keeping Cicotte out as well. By presenting this event as a story, you can decide for yourself who did right and who did wrong in the biggest scandal in baseball history.