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Eight Men Out is a film that explores the alleged throwing off the 1919 World Series. The people involved included eight of the players from the Chicago White Sox organization, including the famous shoeless Joe Jackson. The movie covers this event in detail from the original idea being circulated all the way through the trail against the players. It illustrates the real events and discusses those that were really involved and those that were just dragged along. This film is very close to the truth of the actual events that took place in baseball during the 1919 season.
Many baseball fans know that several players were involved in throwing the World Series early in the century, but what many people do not know is the details of this event. Only one player was approached by those who wanted the series thrown for betting purposes. His job was to get as many others on the team involved as was necessary. Each of these men who helped throw the series would receive ten thousand dollars, which at that time was a lot of money.
During this time in baseball, players did not receive the enormous salaries they make today so they felt that this was a bonus the needed. The original player involved was the first baseman names Chic. The first person he got involved in the scheme was the shortstop named sweetie. From these two men the plan spread quickly. Soon much of the starting team was involved including the center fielder, right fielder and the third baseman named Bucky. However, most of these men did not feel confident in the plan until Joe Jackson and one of the starting pitchers, Eddie who was the leader of the team was involved.
The whole plan, which already involved substantial money, relied on the participation of these two men. Joe Jackson was a great baseball player, one of the greatest in history. His life revolved around baseball and without it, he was not the same person. However, he was an ignorant man and really did not know what he was getting involved in until it began. Chic was appointed the role of getting Eddie to join which had recently become easier to do the it had been before. Eddie was denied a bonus of ten thousand dollars from the owner of the Sox, Charles Commisky, at about the same time as this idea was gaining strength.
Eddie would become involved and participate if he was paid up front. The gamblers agreed to his request and the leader of the team had set the whole plan in motion. Additionally, when Eddie became involved another pitcher named Lefty became involved. With two of the starting pitchers now participating the World Series would be easy to throw. Eddie started the first game of the series and the plan to throw this game was not going correctly. Many of the players were not making errors which were needed to loose the game because they did not want to look bad so it was left up to Eddie to do pretty much by himself.
He began to give up hit after hit, which finally resulted in the Cincinnati Reds winning the game. After this game, several of the players began to feel they had been tricked. They had thought that they were only suppose to throw a few games but not the whole series. The men involved in this idea were the center fielder, Bucky and Joe Jackson.
After this game, they began to play as they had before and intended to win the series. The next game was stated by lefty and this game became a little harder to win because of the player who suddenly refused to participate. These men did their best to win the game but with the pitcher trying to loose the task would be impossible and the game was lost. The White Sox now were behind in the series two games and worse some people were beginning to suspect the concept that some of the men were working to throw these games. Several other games went by and some of them were won by the White Sox because one of the pitchers was not involved in the scheme. The series became tied up and the whole plan rested on the final game of the World Series, which was to be started by lefty.
Despite their best efforts those on the Sox who wanted to win the series could not do it by themselves and the game was lost leaving the Cincinnati Red the winners of the 1919 World Series. The idea that these eight players had worked to throw the series had gained strength and because of this the players were brought to trial. Through out the trial evidence was shown that the men had thrown the series. However, because of the two essential points the trial would be hard to win by the prosecutors. One the contracts that they players had signed showing their participation in throwing the series were stolen and could not be found for the purpose of the trial.
Second, the jury was mostly male who were baseball fan and did not particularly want to convict these men. Finally, the jury came to a decision that found all eight players and defendants not guilty of throwing the World Series. Charles Commisky and the owners of the other teams did not find this ruling satisfactory and made an agreement to never again allow these eight men to play professional baseball again. This punishment was worse than losing the trial would have been to some of the players because they loved baseball so much. Joe Jackson began to play in another league under a different league so those he played with did not know who he was.
Bucky and many of the other men never again played the game of baseball. This movie also explored social customs that were very similar to present day. Most of the traditions that were used during 1919 are the same as today. The trial process was the same as it is today and the game of baseball has remained the same for years.
The only difference between then and now were the clothes that they wore. This movie was a true recall of the event that took place during this World Series and cleared up the minds of all those that saw it. It described in detail all the events that took place before, during and after the 1919 World Series. Many of the players who were involved began to dislike the idea of intentional loosing but by then it was to late and the mistake had already been made.
Consequently, they lost their privilege to play baseball in the MLB organization, which was a penalty, many of the men never thought about when agreeing to the plan. Eight Men Out does a good job of showing the roles each of the eight men played in the scheme and shows how there lives changed as a result of the decisions made by the owners. 322
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