200. c.1910’s Lefty Williams Original Type 1 News Service Photo by Charles Conlon (PSA/DNA) MINIMUM BID: $100
came up with a plan to ask gamblers for a payoff of $100,000 — about $1.7 million in 2024 dollars —if they lost to the Cincinnati Reds. On a road trip in mid-September, Gandil and Cicotte discussed the idea with former major-league pitcher “Sleepy” Bill Burns and his associate Billy Maharg at the Ansonia Hotel in New York. A few days later, the two White Sox players met with notorious game-fixer Joseph “Sport” Sullivan in Boston and offered him the same deal. The gamblers were intrigued and began looking to raise the necessary funds. Gandil started recruiting more teammates to the fix, including Lefty Williams and Shoeless Joe Jackson, and infielders Swede Risberg and Fred McMullin. Only one underworld figure had access to the kind of money the players were looking for: Arnold Rothstein, a New York City kingpin known as the “Big Bankroll.” Rothstein shrewdly kept his own involvement behind the scenes, but authorized his trusted business partner, Nat Evans, to work with Sullivan and pay off the White Sox. Another Rothstein lieutenant, Abe Attell, a boisterous ex-boxing champion, also became involved, bringing in more gamblers from Des Moines and St. Louis to help raise money. Two days before the World Series began, the Sox players met with Sullivan and Evans at the Warner Hotel in Chicago. According to accounts from both players and gamblers who were present, Buck Weaver attended this gathering and actively participated in several other subsequent meetings during the Series. At this meeting, Cicotte demanded that he receive his full payment in advance of Game One in Cincinnati. When he returned to his room later that night, he found $10,000 in cash under his pillow. The fix was on.
THE WORLD SERIES Cicotte, who won a league-best 29 games in the regular season, drew the assignment in Game One. A widely believed myth about Cicotte’s involvement is that he joined the fix because he was upset with team owner Charles Comiskey for benching him rather than pay him a bonus for winning 30 games. No bonus was ever promised and Cicotte did have a chance to win his 30th game in September, but he pitched too poorly to earn the milestone victory. When Cicotte took the mound at Cincinnati’s Redland Field on October 1, 1919, he was a conflicted man. He had already received money from gamblers, but his teammates were left to wonder when they might get paid — or what they might have to do to earn it. In Game One, Cicotte fell apart in the fourth inning, allowing five consecutive hits and five runs before he was yanked by manager Gleason. The Reds
201. c.1910’s Eddie Cicotte Original Type 1 News Service Photo by Charles Conlon (PSA/DNA) MINIMUM BID: $200
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