The Conspiracy.

On 28 September 1920 a Chicago grand jury indicted eight Chicago White Sox baseball players for conspiring to throw the 1919 World Series, which they had played against the Cincinnati Reds. The players accused were pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Claude 'Lefty" Williams, first baseman Arnold "Chick" Gandil, shortstop Charles "Swede" Risberg, third baseman George "Buck" Weaver, left fielder "Shoeless Joe" Jackson, center fielder Oscar "Happy" Felsch. and substitute infielder Fred McMullen. The gamblers accused of fixing the Series were Arnold Rothstein, who had New York gangland connections; Abe Attell, a former featherweight boxing champion; John "Sport" Sullivan from Chicago; and Billy Maharg from Philadelphia. Rothstein's files revealed that he had paid the players bribes totaling $80,000.

The Teams.

The 1919 Chicago White Sox were a strong team. During the regular season they had won eighty-eight games and lost fifty-two. Their opponents, the Cincinnati Reds, had gone ninety-six and...