Black Sox Trial Essay

Baseball during this time period was a newer addition to the American culture. It became called “America’s Pastime,” the game itself was played by everyone, young and old. It was a shock to the American society to find that eight of the 1919 Black Sox players were suspects of accepting money from gamblers to throw the World Series away. It is considered today as one of the biggest scandals in Major League Baseball history, along with the Pete Rose cheating scandal. As for the trial, some parts were fair, but they were treated to harshly at the time being. The 1919 World Series was played between the Chicago White Sox (Black Sox), and the Cincinnati Reds. The White Sox were predicted to win the World Series in an easy fashion according …show more content…
“Jackson wanted to contact an attorney but was dissuaded from doing so by Austrian, who promised Jackson that he would not be punished if he confessed. Shortly afterward, Jackson telephoned Judge McDonald and asked for the same consideration afforded Cicotte (a White Sox pitcher who was also a suspect). But when Jackson later spoke to McDonald personally in chambers, the judge did not like Jackson’s story (confession) and told him to expect no sympathy from the court” (Lamb 120). The case at this point seemed a little unfair in Jackson’s point of view, because there was no communication as to what the right thing for him to do was, he was told to give his story to reduce the penalty and was told that there will be no sympathy for himself. Judge Kenesaw Landis was a Chicago federal judge who was appointed to take control of the case and would later be the Major League Baseball commissioner. He banned all eight players from any professional baseball for life. As Jackson was found guilty and was walking out of the courtroom, a little boy said in the crowd “say it ain’t so Joe!” which is one of the most memorable quotes in the baseball …show more content…
He was banned from baseball which means a ban to get into the baseball Hall of Fame. He continued to try to get reinstated to be eligible but was continuously denied. What Jackson did was wrong and he got what he deserved, but giving another player a less harsh penalty because they felt sorry for him is wrong. Pete Rose to this very day is still trying to fight to be in the Hall of Fame, but he is not showing any luck in being reinstated anytime soon. Jackson will be remembered as the guy who cheated instead of the guy who was an amazing baseball