CHRONOLOGY OF THE CHICAGO BLACK SOX SCANDAL
Caveat: Many of the facts surrounding this scandal are in dispute.  
This chronology is an attempt to provide one reasonably plausible account of events, but is unlikely to be 100% accurate in every detail.
09-18-1919  Arnold “Chick” Gandil, first baseman for the Chicago White Sox, meets with Joseph “Sport” Sullivan, a gambler, and tells him that the World Series can be bought.
09-19-1919 Charles “Swede” Risberg, shortstop, Fred McMullin, infielder, and Eddie Cicotte, pitcher, join Gandil in a plot to throw the World Series.
09-20-1919 George “Buck” Weaver, third baseman, Claude “Lefty” Williams, pitcher, Oscar “Happy” Felsch, center fielder, meet with Gandil, Risberg, McMullin and Cicotte to devise a plan. By some accounts, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, left fielder, was also present.
09-21-1919 Cicotte runs into William “Sleepy Bill” Burns, a retired baseball player turned gambler, who expresses his interest in the fix. Burns asks Billy Maharg, an ex-fighter, to help him get the money together to pay the players.
09-23-1919 Burns and Maharg approach Arnold Rothstein, an infamous gambler of the time, and Abe Attell, his associate, to supply the money to  fix the World Series.  Rothstein turns them down.
09-24-1919 Attell notifies Burns that Rothstein has changed his mind (a lie) and will put up $100,000 but does not want his name mentioned.
09-26-1919 Sullivan approaches Rothstein separately with the same proposal as Burns and Maharg.  Rothstein shows interest because he has more respect for Sullivan.  He sends Nat Evans, his associate, to find out if the players can be bought.
09-29-1919 Rothstein sends $40,000 to be given to the players. Sullivan gives Gandil $10,000 and bets the rest on the series. Another $40,000 is placed in a safe at the Hotel Congress in Chicago to be paid out after the series.
10-01-1919 Cincinnati wins the first game of the World Series  9 to 1.  That evening Charles Comiskey, Chicago White Sox Owner, and Kid Gleason, Chicago White Sox Manager, discuss rumors that the series may be fixed.
10-02-1919 Cincinnati wins the second game of the World Series 4 to 2.
10-03-1919 Chicago wins the third game of the World Series 3 to 0.
10-04-1919 $20,000 is delivered to Gandil.  Cincinnati wins the fourth game of the World Series 2 to 0.
10-06-1919 Cincinnati wins the fifth game of the World Series 5 to 0.
10-07-1919 Chicago wins the sixth game of the World Series 5 to 4.
10-08-1919 Chicago wins the seventh game of the series 4 to 1.  According to some reports, that evening Williams, the starting pitcher in game 8, and his wife are threatened with physical harm by a man if Williams makes it past the first inning tomorrow. 
10-09-1919 In the first inning of the eighth game, Williams gives up four consecutive hits and three runs.  He is removed from the game.  Cincinnati wins the game 10 to 5 and takes the championship.  The next day, sports reporter Hugh Fullerton writes that Comiskey had decided that seven players would not return next year.
10-15-1919 Comiskey releases a statement that if anyone knows about the possible fix of the World Series he will pay them $20,000.
12-15-1919 The New York World publishes an explosive article by Hugh Fullerton suggesting that the World Series was fixed.
09-07-1920 The Cook County Grand Jury convenes to investigate whether or not a game between the Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies had been fixed on August 31.
09-24-1920 The attention of the grand jury turns to the 1919 World Series when New York Giants pitcher Rube Benton testifies that he knew the series was fixed and names Gandil, Felsch, Williams and Cicotte.
09-27-1920 Details of the scandal breaks publicly and appear in newspaper articles across the country.
09-28-1920 Eddie Cicotte confesses to the fix.  Eight White Sox players are indicted. Comiskey sends a telegram notifying the players that they have been suspended indefinitely, causing the Sox pennant bid to collapse.
09-29-1920 Joe Jackson calls the criminal court building and says he also wants to  confess.
10-01-1920 Claude Williams confesses to his role in the scandal.  Arnold Rothstein testifies before the grand jury and places the blame on Abe Attell.
10-27-1920 Rothstein is exonerated of any blame in the scandal.
11-11-1920 Kenesaw Mountain Landis is appointed baseball’s first commissioner.
02-14-1921 The players and five indicted gamblers are arraigned and the defense files a petition for a bill of particulars to set forth the charges in detail.
03-13-1921 Landis places all eight players on the ineligible list.
07-05-1921 Jury selection begins.
07-15-1921 The final juror is selected.
07-18-1921 The prosecution gives its opening remarks in the trial.
07-23-1921 The Illinois State Attorney’s Office reveals that the confessions signed by Cicotte, Jackson and Williams are missing, along with the waivers of immunity.
07-29-1921 Final arguments in the trial begin.  The state asks for a sentence of five years in jail and a $2,000 fine for each person involved.
08-02-1921 The jury deliberates for less than three hours and returns a verdict of not  guilty.
08-03-1921 Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis announces that he will banish the eight players from baseball for life, despite the acquittal.
11-06-1928 Arnold Rothstein dies at age 46 from a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
10-26-1931 Charles Comiskey dies at age 72 in his Wisconsin summer home.
1944 Judge Landis dies at age 78.
12-05-1951 Joe Jackson dies at age 62 in Greenville, SC. Former occupation – liquor store owner.
11-21-1952 Fred McMullin dies at age 61 in Los Angeles, CA. 
01-31-1956 George Weaver dies of a heart attack at age 66, in Chicago, IL. Former occupation – drugstore owner.
11-04-1959 Claude Williams dies at age 66 in Laguna Beach CA. Former occupation – gardener and nursery owner.
08-17-1964 Oscar Felsch dies at age 73 in Milwaukee, WI. Former occupation – bartender.
05-15-1969 Eddie Cicotte dies at age 85 in Detroit, MI. Former occupation – game warden.
12-13-1970 Arnold Gandil dies at age 82 in Calistoga, CA. Former occupation – plumber.
11-13-1975 Charles Risberg dies at age 81 in Red Bluff, CA. Former occupation – dairy farmer
This page was created by Patti Garringer and Traci Peterson, 3Ls

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