A few years ago, I was having a conversation with a friend. I should say up front that he’s a very smart friend, a brilliant guy, college and everything, very with it, positively connected to pop culture in a way that, sadly, I am not anymore. In any case, at some point in the conversation Amelia Earhart came up … I couldn’t begin to tell you why. And he said: “Who is that?’
I thought he was joking at first — in fact, I was SURE he was joking, EVERYBODY knows Amelia Earhart — but apparently he was not. He had no idea who Amelia Earhart was. For some reason, this stuck with me. I started to think about Amelia Earhart, and how most of us just know about her, automatically, as if it was innate. If you think about it, there’s no real reason for us to know about her, she’s not a pivotal player in American history, she’s not someone who has any effect on our daily lives, she’s someone who disappeared more than 70 years ago. And yet, I cannot remember a time when I was unaware of her. The same goes with Elvis, Helen Keller, Charles LIndbergh, John Hancock, Betsy Ross, Bruno Sammartino, Harry Houdini, Paul Anka the movie ”From Here to Eternity“ and Lola Falana. I don’t know where I learned about these people and things; I just knew them and I expected everyone else did too.
Of course, we all have our own bizarre knowledge gaps, don’t we? For years, I was pretty sure that I read the book ”Eight Men Out“ by Eliot Asinof, who just died in the last week. I remember buying it around the time the movie came out, and I remember reading it, and between the book and movie I felt like I had a pretty good working understanding of what happened to the 1919 White Sox. They started to throw the World Series because Charlie Comiskey was a freaking cheapskate, then John Sayles as Ring Lardner sang ”I’m forever blowing ballgames,“ then the players had regrets (especially Eddie Cicotte, who must have known that someday he would be Edward R. Murrow), then they decided to NOT throw the Series, then a tough little guy threatened Lefty Williams’ wife, then the Black Sox lost, then there was a court case, then Lloyd Dobler screamed that he was innocent, then all the players were found innocent, then Kennessaw Mountain Landis threw the players out of baseball anyway, then Shoeless Joe played baseball in various industrial leagues and Happy Felsch got a starring role in Two and a Half Men.
What I’m saying here is this: I had absolutely no idea that the Black Sox all played in 1920.
No idea. Did you know that? You did, didn’t you? I mean, this is a pretty big knowledge gap for someone who cares about baseball history, who generally tries to keep up with things as much as possible, who cared enough about the 1919 Sox to read a book and articles about it and watch the movie Eight Men out at least a half dozen times. Of course the answer is simply: I obviously did not read the book. Because I’m reading Eight Men Out now for various professional purposes (did I mention that I’m writing a book …), and it’s very clearly in there. In fact, the Black Sox story is entirely different from what I had always thought. And I get the sense this is something that EVERYBODY EXCEPT ME already knew.
It turns out — and again, I apologize, I get the sense that I’m just repeating what everyone else knew — that nothing with the law really happened after the 1919 World Series. There were a few complaints. Hugh Fullerton (the sportswriter Studs Terkel played in the movie) wrote a series of scathing articles about gambling in baseball. Shoeless Joe, apparently, felt so badly about it that he sent Comiskey a letter saying that he had information about the World Series being fixed. But all in all, it was pretty much swept under the rug. Comiskey was really ticked off, but he had no real interest in seeing his best players jump to other teams. So the whole thing looked like it would pretty much die — gambling controversies were pretty much a dime a dozen in the 1910s. The 1920 season began more or less like any other season.
So what happened? Here’s what happened — I cannot believe I did not know this — apparently the Black Sox KEPT THROWING GAMES in 1920. Well, it only goes to reason. The gamblers had their hooks in them now. Asinof suggests that by this point the players threw games as much for panic as for cash — here is his memorable paragraph:
”… it was less out of greed than out of fear. Gamblers had an ominous way of keeping their victims in line by emphasizing the need for both allegiance and silence. In a way, this simplified the problem for the ballplayers; it was a lot easier to accept dirty money if you were going to be butchered for turning to down.“
I’m utterly fascinated by this. The White Sox started the season by winning 10 of their first 12, and that’s when the gamblers apparently got back involved. Only seven of the eight men out were on that team — Chick Gandil apparently did not get enough money and managed some team in Idaho. The key figure in 1920 apparently was a bit player named Fred McMulin . He was the least known and the worst ballplayer of the eight men out (Perry Lang played him in the movie … I’m not even sure who THAT is). He was the gambler’s connection in 1920. The gamblers got word through McMulin that the White Sox were to throw a game against Cleveland. The White lost the game 3-2 in the ninth, apparently the key being a comically bad throw by shortstop Swede Risberg.
And so it went throughout the year. The Black Sox put up huge numbers. Shoeless Joe had perhaps his best year, he hit .382 with 42 doubles, 20 triples, 12 homers, 121 RBIs. Buck Weaver hit a career high .331. Happy Felsch slugged .540 — fifth behind Ruth, George Sisler, Shoeless Joe and Tris Speaker. Lefty Williams’ ERA was high, but he won 22 games. Eddie Cicotte won 21. Even Swede Risberg hit a career high .266, and while his 45 errors sound like a lot, it was not entirely out of context — St. Louis’ Wally Gerber made 52 that year, Detroit’s Donie Bush made 45. The only Black Sox player who had a dreadful year was McMullin, who may have taken his role very seriously since he was the one who had to deal directly with the gamblers. He hit .197, and slugged .268, quite a bit down from his not especially impressive career numbers.
Anyway, it was apparently the 1920 throwing of games — especially a series against Boston in late August — that got everything moving. Eddie Collins, the goody too shoes played brilliantly in the movie by Bill Irwin*, went to see Comiskey after that Red Sox series and said that it had been thrown. Comiskey was ticked, but he was still not going to do anything. At that point it got taken out of his hands.
*Every father of 3-year-old daughters knows that Irwin plays Mr. Noodle on Sesame Street. He also played in the movie Popeye. I knew this without looking it up. See … I didn’t know the Black Sox played in 1920, but I know Bill Irwin’s career. I’m telling you, the human mind …
On August 31, a telegram was sent from Detroit to Chicago Cubs executive William L. Veeck — yeah, the father of the other Bill Veeck. The telegram said that thousands was being bet on the Phillies to win, and there were suspicions the game was about to be thrown. Veeck was nutso, rushed downstairs, had his Cubs starter Claude Hendrix pulled, and he put the great Pete Alexander in the game instead. He even offered Ol’ Pete a $500 bonus if he won. He did not. The Phillies won 3-0.
And Veeck went nuts. He hired a detective to trace telegrams and phone calls. Then, a letter was sent to the Chicago Herald and Examiner about how the Cubs-Phillies game was rotten, and they ran the headline:
Bare Baseball Scandal.
$50,000 Bet on Cubs and Phillies
Sure-Thing Game!
And then everything blew up. Fans lost all patience. They’d heard all about the 1919 Series being thrown. They suspected the White Sox were throwing games. Now Cubs games were being thrown. And that’s when the thing got out of control, went to court, and then a false report went out over the wire about the how the Yankees had been in a train wreck and Babe Ruth was injured, and it occurred to everyone that baseball had descended completely and utterly into gambling hell.
On Sept. 27, the Philadelphia North American ran a story with the headline: ”The most gigantic sports swindle in the History of America.“ Not a lot of understatement in that one. From there, the story more or less picks up with the end of the movie Eight Men Out … there was a court case, Landis was brought in, everyone was found innocent, Landis suspended eight players for life, Happy Felsch moved to Two and a Half Men.
Learning all this doesn’t necessarily change how I feel about the Black Sox. I still feel badly for Buck Weaver; he apparently did not take any money even though he could have used it, and he played his heart out. He did consider it briefly, but h loved the game and really did try for the rest of his life to get reinstated … it never happened. Judge Landis said that ”Birds of a feather, flock together,“ which wasn’t original but kept Weaver out of the game for the rest of his life. That seems wrong.
Then there’s Shoeless Joe. An interesting side note is this: Everyone remembers that in the movie the confessions of the ballplayers suddenly and magically ”disappeared.“ Well, the confessions just as suddenly and just as magically reappeared years later, when Shoeless Joe took Comiskey to court for salary that wasn’t paid. Apparently, Jackson had gotten drunk and he called the Judge to say he wanted to confess. He then confessed and confessed, for two hours. He admitted that he took $5,000, he got cheated out of the rest, he had not played his best baseball even though his numbers were good. I guess the confession has been questioned because of Shoeless Joe’s state of mind at the time, and later in life he denied it all, and there are obviously a lot of people who know a whole lot more about Shoeless Joe than I do. I also know his performance in the 1919 World Series has been studied and analyzed more than then Zapruder Film. But after reading the book (finally) I suspect the confession probably gets us closest to truth. I believe Joe Jackson, in his own way, helped throw the 1919 World Series. Extenuating circumstances? Yes. Was he probably coerced? Yes.
Still, I think he threw games. That (and not betting on games like Pete Rose) is the unforgivable sin.
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52 Comments, Comment or Ping
erik
*response to Pozterisk–Bill Irwin is amazing. If you’re mentioning his career in the 80s, I’m surprised you don’t mention him as the third man in the “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” video, with Bobby Macferrin and Robin Williams. I had the pleasure to work on a play he had written in Central Park three years ago, while he was appearing on Broadway in his Tony-winning role in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf.” An amazing playwright, actor, clown, and guy. Anyway, he was great in that movie.
Jun 14th, 2008
dennis
I don’t understand how you can indict Shoeless Joe for an “unforgivable sin” of baseball while allowing Landis a free pass. Landis banned players for life to keep the others in line, helped keep the major leagues segregated, and ruled with an iron fist. Are these actions considered acceptable?
Jun 14th, 2008
Justyo
I agree. Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame.
Jun 14th, 2008
JoeT
Read this book. Interesting how Hal Chase is tied to the Black Sox scandal. http://tinyurl.com/5wll8t
Jun 14th, 2008
Smed
Jackson should be banned. So should Rose. Any baseball fan who reads of Hal Chase, who knows of Jim Devlin and the Louisville scandal of 1877, of the rampant gambling on games by players in the 1860s (while the players were ‘amateurs’) and the National Association of the 1870s is chilled to the bone by both the Black Sox and by Rose’s actions.
Rose could have bet on the Reds to win 161 times a season, but that 162nd is a ‘tell’ and like throwing a game.
Jun 14th, 2008
Eric J
I knew the Black Sox had continued playing into 1920. However, I didn’t know that they’d continued throwing games; that seems almost unbelievable, considering they nearly won the pennant that year. It does make sense that the gamblers wouldn’t let them off the hook, though.
Jun 14th, 2008
B. S. Blues
For an enjoyable fictionalized take on the Black Sox, check out Hoopla, by Harry Stein — an Esquire writer who was one of the original Rotisserie League baseball owners.
Jun 14th, 2008
Aloof
Betting on baseball when you’re a player is forgivable (unlike being slightly aloof to chubby reporters when stupidly swinging at 3-0 pitches). That doesn’t mean that the bettor should be reinstated. Especially when he’s done nothing to show remorse that isn’t easily translated “I’m sorry I got caught.”
Maybe Bill James still doesn’t think Pete gambled, which is the equivalent to Einstein thinking the earth is flat. Or, better, some really important dude being bitter because he was shown to be wrong, wrong, wrong.
Jun 14th, 2008
dennis
@ aloof: I think that point brings up another question; what is the purpose of the Hall of Fame, to show baseball history (both its highs and lows) through the finest players or to present a sanitized version of baseball history through the finest players whose actions are acceptable to MLB and the baseball writers of America. I don’t believe that betting on the game deserves a lifetime punishment; I support punishments like the one meted to Paul Hornung by the NFL (a one-year suspension).
Jun 14th, 2008
Will
The lifetime bans were certainly harsher than they needed to be but in the context of their time the were few options for Landis. The continued existence of the Major Leagues depended on it. As Joe points out, gambling was commonplace in the late 19th and early 20th Century but it was generally swept under the rug. Faced with the prospect of the public abandoning the game Landis took drastic action. Of course Landis was complicit in the secregation of the game but that’s not the issue we’re discussing here.
Jun 14th, 2008
ChrisV82
I think both Shoeless Joe and Pete should be in the Hall of Fame, with a metaphorical asterisk. I don’t have a problem with a plaque saying “Pete Rose, Reds, Phillies, Expos. All-time hits leader. Finished career with 4,256 Hits, .303 BA, .375 OBP, blah blah blah. Admitted to Gambling on Baseball. Banned from the Game.”
To me, the HoF should be about performance on the field, not moral character. I know people disagree, and that’s fine. I don’t really respect the HoF anyway, because I think the voters are very clueless. Nevertheless, Bonds (cheater), Joe Jackson (cheater), Hal Chase (cheater), etc., should be allowed in because they dominated baseball. They weren’t just kind of good; they were the best in their day, cheating or no.
Besides, it’s not like they stabbed a black guy (cough Cobb cough).
In some respects, it’s like Time magazine naming villains as its Person of the Year. The designation is not an honor, but rather a recognition of the impact that person had on world events. Sort of similarly, recognizing Shoeless Joe is not claiming that he was a great person or even good for baseball, but rather recognizing that he was amazing. He finished with a .423 OBP, 170 OPS+, .327 EqA…amazing.
Jun 14th, 2008
Damon Rutherford
>> Bruno Sammartino, Paul Anka, and Lola Falana.
No clue.
Jun 14th, 2008
cf
I’m with you, damon rutherford. no idea who those three people are.
Jun 14th, 2008
ian
no idea who paul anka is? yikes. among many hits of his song, he wrote “my way” for frank sinatra. big shout out for bruno sammartino. that’s a name i haven’t heard in a long, long time.
and i like the idea of putting shoeless joe and pete rose in the HoF with a note on their plaques about the unsavoury sides of their histories. let history judge them, not the hall of fame.
Jun 14th, 2008
Pop Fisher
Must be youngsters. Sad to say I remember ‘em all.
Jun 15th, 2008
Zach
If you’re reading _Eight Men Out_ for professional reasons (presumably something to do with Pete Rose), you should really read _Rothstein,_ by David Petrusz. He corrects Asinof at several points, and gives a much fuller perspective of the gamblers’ side of the deal. It doesn’t come up in baseball circles very often, because most of Rothstein’s career was spent being a pioneer in organized crime, but it’s the best treatment of the Black Sox that I’ve read. Plus, the man was a fascinating guy.
Jun 15th, 2008
Bob R.
The issue of Pete Rose and the Hall of Fame is really two issues.
1. Should he have been banned from baseball for life? Apparently, that was the rule so it seems as silly to say no as to say a batter who swings and misses 3 times should not be called out.
It is reasonable to say it is a bad rule and should be changed. It is even reasonable to say that having been changed it should then ex post facto be decided that Rose is eligible for reinstatement. But then the argument is over the rule, not over Rose, and I think a strong argument can be made that it is a good rule.
2. Should Rose be in the Hall of Fame? That is not a baseball decision but a HOF decision. It is their rule that no banned player should be allowed in. Again, one can argue that the Hall should change that rule, but it is not as if Rose is not represented in the museum part of the building. Again, the issue there is not Rose but whether the Hall of Fame should honor banned ballplayers in its pantheon section.
Jun 15th, 2008
Steve
I seem to remember from my trip to the Hall of Fame a life-sized picture of Pete Rose and several mentions of his accomplishments throughout the museum. (I think there was also some mention of Joe Jackson, but it wasn’t as prominent). The “history” portion of their careers are well-represented. The large room with all the plaques does not include them, but the way the room is set up (chronilogically by induction year, rather than playing era), it’s really only possible to honor someone with a plaque; there’s really no way to dishonor someone with an absence. (Meaning, it’s not like Bench and Morgan and Perez are all bunched together next to one another, making you think “where’s Rose?”)
Jun 15th, 2008
JRM
If you don’t know of Bruno Sammartino, then you probably never heard of Haystack Calhoun either.
Jun 15th, 2008
Adrian Gabriel
1920 is a fascinating season; the first “modern” season. The Black Sox were in a three-way pennant race with the Yankees and the Indians.
1920 was the first year Babe Ruth played in pinstripes and the first season he played strictly in the field. He obliterated the home run record with 54–the one he had set the year before with 29.
1920 was also the year that the Indians’ Ray Chapman was killed on a pitched ball from the Yankees’ Carl Mays–The Pitch That Killed by Mike Sowell is another great read about that era.
Chapman’s death was the effective end of the dead ball era. No pun intended.
Amazingly, the Indians persevered and won the pennant thanks, in part, to Ruth’s former Boston teammate and Hall of Famer Tris Speaker and Joe Sewell, the future Hall of Famer the Indians called up as Chapman’s replacement.
Game 5 of the 1920 World Series would have been something to behold for Indians’ fans as well. Elmer Smith hit the first grand slam in a Series, Jim Bagby hit the first home run by a pitcher, and Bill Wambsganss made the first and, to this point, only unassisted triple play.
The Indians, of course, won it all.
Jun 15th, 2008
Tim Dierkes
I think it’s very important to note that the White Sox were not found innocent of fixing games. They were found innocent of “defrauding the public,” ONLY because they meant to keep the fix a secret and therefore never meant to defraud anyone.
Jun 15th, 2008
Warren Corbett
Joe, you should read Burying the Black Sox, by Gene Carney. He did a great job of research, did not make anything up (as Asinof admittedly did) and uncovered some new evidence, including the “confessions.”
Jun 15th, 2008
Jesse Spector
I knew about the Black Sox playing in 1920 before I read the book, but was fascinated when I read Asinof’s account of the game-fixing that season.
The other incredible thing to me in the book was that the Yankees and Red Sox offered to lend their players to Comiskey after Landis banned the White Sox players. Can you imagine Ruth finishing the ‘20 season in Chicago, leading the White Sox back to the World Series and then returning to New York the next year?
Jun 15th, 2008
Dave Heller
Reading some AP stories from 1920, Joe Jackson is quoted as saying he helped throw games. I understand the desire to wish his innocence, but he wasn’t.
Oh, and there’s a restaurant in Montana - I think it was Billings - called Sammartino’s. Had to eat there on a vacation back in ‘95.
If I recall, there’s even a picture of him there.
Jun 15th, 2008
Dan
I’ll give you Black Sox and Knowledge Gaps of a different sort:
People who don’t know that when you wear sneakers, you wear white athletic socks, not black dress socks.
Even worse are the guys who wear white athletic socks with loafers. But that would fall under White Sox and Knowledge Gaps.
Jun 15th, 2008
Johnny
“People who don’t know that when you wear sneakers, you wear white athletic socks, not black dress socks.”
I’ve found that those people are often European generally, Germans, more specifically.
/Live in Florida
//See ‘em all the time.
Jun 15th, 2008
ajnrules
Off topic, but I like the new banner. Maybe you can also add a pic of the 1975 Reds somewhere to remind people of your new book. :p
Jun 15th, 2008
Will
It should be noted that Paul Anka also wrote the theme music to Carson’s Tonight Show. Now picture Johnny taking that swing as the music starts.
Jun 16th, 2008
Damon Rutherford
>> If you don’t know of Bruno Sammartino, then you probably never heard of Haystack Calhoun either.
You are correct. I was born in 1976 — should I know who they are? Let me look ‘em up … ah, see, I was never into professional wrestling until briefly in the 80’s (Hogan, Andre the Giant, Junkyard Dog, etc.), and probably more due to Hulk Hogan’s cartoon TV series than what happened in the ring.
Jun 16th, 2008
Paul White
Where the hell did your your friend go to college? I need to know because college is just a decade away for my 8-year old daughter, and since she mentioned Amelia Earhart in a conversation just this weekend, she’s apparently overqualified for whatever school your buddy attended. I’d like remove that school from her list now, if possible.
Jun 16th, 2008
Mike Williams
So, let me get this straight:
Fred McMullin, playing intentionally poorly due to threat of life and limb from mobsters, still managed to outhit and outslug Tony Pena circa 2008?
Jun 16th, 2008
Josh in DC
Is there a baseball bookshelf website out there? Best baseball books ever?
Jun 16th, 2008
BarKingMaDd
Perry Lang was Hewitt Calder in one of the most memorable ABC After-school Specials (He played a “slow” kid, who was teased relentlessly…I’m pretty sure that one of his costars in that show was Moosie Dwyer, who is not the same as Mason Reese, but I think I’d screw up a police lineup with those two.) More significantly for me, though, was that Lang was one of the troup in “The Big Red One”. He was always squinting out of one eye, I recall.
Jun 16th, 2008
Oddibe Kerfeld
This was a great post. Also, I think the new banner on the top of the page looks good, too. Don’t change it. You’ve got a winner now.
Jun 16th, 2008
JO'C
Lola Falana. Great name, great legs:
http://stealstyle.blogspot.com/2007/07/style-flashback-lola-falana.html
Jun 16th, 2008
Mike Lynch
Soon after the Indians won the A.L. pennant, Eddie Collins went public with his suspicions that two White Sox players “failed to put forth their best efforts” during the 1920 season and were still throwing games. Backup catcher Byrd Lynn and utility infielder Harvey McClellan claimed that they had watched members of the team “regulate their playing…by the scoreboard, winning or losing as the occasion demanded in order to keep the betting odds favorable.” The two bench warmers insisted that the crooked players would make crucial errors that would lose games for the White Sox whenever the Indians and Yankees were losing. “If Cleveland won, we won. If Cleveland lost, we lost.”
Jun 16th, 2008
paul
“The Indians, of course, won it all.”
All we needed to know to understand that the fix was in.
Jun 16th, 2008
Perry
There’s a woman currently doing helicopter traffic reports for a Denver radio station named Amelia Earhart. I’m not making this up. Apparently she’s a relative.
I know who Sammartino, Anka, and Falana are, but then I’m 53, and they were all pretty famous in my lifetime. But there are tons of famous people now I’ve never heard of, mostly because other than sports and commercial-free movie channels, I pretty much haven’t watched TV for 30 years.
Jun 16th, 2008
Mike
Speaking of Pete Rose …
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=roseandarod&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1
Jun 16th, 2008
Rob
The new header is a winner Joe—you can stop tinkering around with it now.
Jun 16th, 2008
will
-Perry - It that we’re my name I’d avoid a career in aviation.
Jun 16th, 2008
Matt S
I was born in ‘69 and consider myself pretty good at trivia. Never heard the name “Bruno Sammartino”.
Jun 16th, 2008
Steve
Carrying over from the “really hot stretches in baseball” post, here’s my favorite from the “where the hell did THAT come from” file:
Richard Hidalgo in 24 (it says 25 but one game he only played one inning and was taken out, probably a minor injury?) games from Sep 5 to Oct 1 in 2000 put up this line: .516/.574/1.055, 5/5 in stolen bases, 11 homers, 12 2B, 2 3B, 35 runs, 30 RBI, only stuck out 8 times compared to his 11 BB.
If you take away that game with 0 PAs, he had exactly one game without a hit, a day where he went 0-1 with 2 BBs and 2 HBP.
It’s not the “hottest” stretch ever, but seriously, Richard Hidalgo? Keep in mind he was playing a lot of CF during this time, too.
Jun 16th, 2008
Steve
And as an addendum, Hidalgo’s first three games in 2001:
6 for 12 with 3 homers, 1 2B and 1 3B, 10 RBI, .500/.571/1.500 line.
Over a 27 game stretch, Hidalgo had 30 XBH and a slugging percentage of just over 1.100. Not too bad.
Jun 16th, 2008
The Guz
Really enjoyed your column on the 1920 B.S. You are not the only one who didn’t know that a good portion of the 1920 season went on before punishments were handed down. The 1920 White Sox were cruising towards another pennant (they had also won the 1917 Series) in what could have been a dynasty. That team is also the answer to a trivia question. That question is: “What team was the first to feature four 20-game winners?”
Lots of trivia buffs from our generation will answer with the 1970 Orioles: Palmer, Cuellar, McNally and Dobson. However, the Sox had done it 50 years earlier. Don’t know if they were the first, or the only team other than the O’s, but I think so.
Jun 16th, 2008
Gene Carney
I got curious about the Black Sox about 6 years ago and starting digging into the story and am still hooked. As I have talked about my research all over the country, I find many fans are shocked that the 1919 Series was fixed (they are not familiar with 8MO, or think it is fiction) … and those familiar with the movie have no idea that the fix was covered up for a year. That year, between the Series and the end of the cover-up in late Sept 1920, is the focus of “Burying the Black Sox” (Potomac Books, 2006). I’m working on a sequel — this is a cold case, not a closed one, and we will learn a lot more when the “new” documents at the Chicago History Museum (they paid $100,000 for them last December at an auction) are accessible.
Gene Carney
Jun 17th, 2008
Homerun
Maybe somebody else noted this, but let’s not forget that the HOF changed their eligibility rules AFTER the Dowd report came out. It would be hard to argue it was not changed specifically to keep the Hit King out of the HOF.
Jun 17th, 2008
steveo
amelia earhart is also, somewhat ironically, the name of the denver NBC affiliate’s traffic copter lady.
and she’s gorgeous.
Jun 17th, 2008
MU Dylan
“Cowboy” Bill Irwin versus Bruno Sammartino would have been a decent match circa 1979, although Bruno would have almost certainly been victorious — so long as Larry Zybysko wasn’t around anywhere.
Jun 17th, 2008
Creston
I learned about Amelia Earhart from the movie Sahara…
Jun 18th, 2008
Creston
“what is the purpose of the Hall of Fame, to show baseball history (both its highs and lows) through the finest players or to present a sanitized version of baseball history through the finest players whose actions are acceptable to MLB and the baseball writers of America.”
The Hall of Fame does NOT exist to show baseball history. The Hall of Fame MUSEUM does that. The Hall of Fame is a place to enshrine the game’s greatest players. Nothing more, nothing less. And yes, there’s tons of guys in there who have nothing to do with the “game’s greatest players.”
History has zero usefulness in the Hall of Fame.
Jun 18th, 2008
Jhohnny
Good pic of Happy Felsch, errr… Charlie Harper
http://www.shorpy.com/files/images/31141u.jpg
Jul 12th, 2008
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