Eight Men Out

Throughout our country’s history there have been many examples of fraud and scandal. One of the most well-known scandals of our century is the 1919 Chicago White Sox Scandal. The movie “Eight Men Out” shows us what really happened throughout the 1919 baseball season with the Chicago White Sox. The Chicago White Sox were a Major League Baseball organization who was run by their penny-pinching owner, Charles Comiskey. He has been under -paying his players, despite the fact that they were the clear favorite to win the 1919 World Series. As a result, the players decide to come up with a plan to get back at their cheap owner. The Chicago White Sox of 1919 were a clear favorite to win the World Series. They had all of the odds on their side to win. Because of this, gamblers against them would make a fortune. Gamblers took this opportunity to give these under-paid players extra money to lose, or “throw”, the World Series on purpose. The players of the team, desperate for money and the satisfaction of getting back at their owner, accept the offer. They gradually collect their money as the games go on despite being slighted by some of the gamblers. They get offered $10,000 per game they lose by Arnold Rothstein, a wealthy gambler. As the series goes on, some of the players such as Buck Weaver and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, who originally agreed to the deal, decide to back out and play up to their potential. By the end of the series the 1919 Chicago White Sox lose the World Series. After two years of suspicion, the truth of the scandal had become public. The White Sox were sued by many of the gamblers who bet on the series. Luckily, the players involved in the scandal were found innocent in court. Although they were innocent, the commissioner of Major
League Baseball did not take it that lightly. He suspended the players from baseball--for life!
The players now had to go their separate ways and learn to live life without the game of baseball. Buck