Banned

The other day I did not have a whole lot to do after I finished packing my bags for my trip to California, so I watched Eight Men Out again. The movie is about the Black Sox scandal. And I knew well before I had ever seen this film about the 8 players banned for life by Judge Landis for conspiring to throw the series. What I learned is that they were not the only ones. And they were not the first players ever banned. I guess I have a lot of sympathy for Jackson since he was borderline illiterate and went along with his buddy, Swede Risberg. But he did take the 5,000$ he was given, so that makes him if nothing else, guilty by association. The same with Buck Weaver, who did not take any money, had a very good series and was banned because he knew of the conspiracy and did not report it. So I did a little research and found out a lot I did not know.

Prior to Landis banning the Sox players, there had been 14 players banned between 1865 and 1920. Thomas Devyr, Ed Duffy, and William Wansley of the NY Mutuals were all banned in 1865 for associating with known gamblers. Devyr was reinstated in 1866 and the other two in 1870. George Bechtel of the Louisville Grays was banned in 1876 for conspiring with his teammates to lose a game for $500. That is about the same as $12,500 today.

Four players from the Grays were banned in 1877 for conspiring to throw 2 games in what became known as the Louisville Grays scandal: Jim Devlin, George Hall, Al Nichols, and Bill Craver. There was no evidence that Craver had anything to do with it, but he refused to cooperate with the investigators. Oscar Walker was banned in 1877 for contract jumping. Signing a contract with another team and left while still under contract with his original club. This is 98 years prior to free agency. He was reinstated in 1879.

Lip Pike’s play was so bad for Worcester in 1881 that it aroused suspicion. He found he was banned and became the first National League player to be banned. He was added to the NL blacklist in 1881. He was reinstated in 1883. Just an aside, Pike played in exactly 5 games for Worcester. He hit .111. But for his career, he slashed .322/.339/.468 and had a 14.3 WAR over 10 years. His highest BA was .355 in 1874.

Umpire and former outfielder, Richard “Dick” Higham was banned in 1882 for conspiring to help throw a Detroit Wolverines game after the Detroit owner hired a private investigator to look into Higham’s background and found out he was an associate of a known gambler. To date, Higham is the only umpire banned for life.

Joseph Marie Creamer III, team physician, and trainer for the NY Giants was banned in 1908 for trying to bribe umpire Bill Klem for $2,500 to conspire against the Cubs in a playoff game. Jack O’Connor and Harry Howell, the manager and coach of the St. Louis Browns were banned in 1910 for attempting to fix the outcome of the 1910 AL batting title for Cleveland’s Nap Lajoie over Ty Cobb. Horace Fogel, owner of the Philadelphia Phillies was banned in 1912 for publicly asserting that umpires favored the NY Giants and were making unfair calls against his team.

Three players were unofficially banned prior to Landis becoming commissioner. Joe Harris was banned in 1920 after he refused to play for the Indians and played for an independent team. He was reinstated by Landis in 1922 because of his service in WWI.

Hal Chase, of the New York Giants, was banned in 1921 for consorting with gamblers and betting on his own team among other things. He had been accused of fixing games as early as 1910. He was passed over for managerial positions due to the allegations. In 1918, his manager, Christy Mathewson, suspended him from the Reds mid-season for fixing games. McGraw convinced Mathewson to trade him to the Giants. After the 1919 season, NL president, John Heydler found evidence that Chase had indeed bribed players on other teams and ordered him immediately released. No other NL teams would sign him. Neither would any of the AL teams, so effectively, he was blackballed. Landis’s ruling in 1921 after the Black Sox scandal made the ban official. Chase was actually a pretty decent ballplayer. He slashed .291/.319/.391 over his 15 years in the majors and finished with 2,158 hits and a 23WAR.

Heinie Zimmerman of the Giants was banned in 1921 for encouraging his teammates to fix games. He had been sent home during the season in 1919 by McGraw and had been informally banned from the majors. During the 1917 World Series, he chased the winning run across home plate and had to defend himself from charges he helped throw the series. Despite that, McGraw would not turn him in not wanting to be responsible for having one of his players banned for life. So he suspended him indefinitely. McGraw later testified that Chase did indeed fix games, and Landis’s declaration banned him from the game.

Those were the players banned before and just after Landis took over. Landis insisted on absolute power before taking the position of commissioner. Because they wanted to rid the game of gamblers, the owners agreed. It cost Charles Comiskey dearly. His Sox were reduced to a second division team after the 8 were banned. But they were not the only players banned over the scandal, one other player, Joe Gedeon, a second baseman for the Browns, placed bets after he learned of the fix from his friend, Risberg. He informed Comiskey after the series hoping to get a reward. He was also banned by Landis, and he died in 1941.

Those nine suspensions were the most at any one time by a commissioner until 2013 when 13 players were suspended between 50 and 211 games for the Biogenesis doping scandal. The following players were also banned by Landis during his tenure. Gene Paulette, 1921, associating with gamblers, Benny Kauff, 1921, for selling stolen cars and besides him being acquitted. Lee Magee, 21, throwing games and collecting bets. Dickie Kerr of the White Sox, and who won 2 games in the 19 series was banned for violating his reserve clause in his contract. He was reinstated in 1925. Phil Douglas, 1922, for telling a friend on the Cardinals that he was going to leave the Giants for the stretch run because of a falling out with McGraw. Jimmy O’Connell and Cozy Dolan, a coach for the Giants, for offering Phillie SS Heinie Sand 500$ to throw a game between the two teams for financial gain for O’Connell and his gambler backers in 1924. William D. Cox, owner of the Phillies was banned in 1943 for betting on his team’s games. He and fellow owner, Horace Fogel are the only owners banned for life.

He was also the last person banned by Landis. After Landis, no one was banned until Bowie Kuhn became commissioner. The first player banned was Ferguson Jenkins, was banned in 1980 after a customs search in Canada found numerous drugs in his baggage. After missing the rest of the Rangers 1980 season, he was reinstated by an independent arbitrator. He retired after the 1983 season and was elected to the hall in 1991. Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle, both retired and not involved in the game in any way, were banned in 1980 and 1983 respectively after they were hired by an Atlantic City, NJ casino to be greeters and sign autographs. Kuhn opined that a casino was no place for a Hall of Famer and baseball hero. The ban took place before the Hall formalized its policy against inducting banned players and it took no action. Uberroth reinstated both in 1985.

Bart Giamatti’s reign was exactly 5 months. But his only ban is a big one, Pete Rose. I, like many of the posters here, saw Pete play many many times. He hustled all the time and would try to beat you any way he could. He is baseball’s all-time hits leader. He was a vital piece of the Reds for 19 years. He played on two of their championship teams and also the Phillies 1980 Champs. He then went on to manage the Reds from 1984-89. And that is where his troubles started. There was plenty of evidence that Pete bet on his Reds to win.

A report from John Dowd confirmed that Pete had ties to gamblers and illegal bookmakers, along with betting on the Reds came to light. Unlike prior offenders who were placed on the list involuntarily, Rose and Giamatti reached a legal settlement that placed Rose on the ineligible list on August 24, 1989. He is the only banned player that had a settlement negotiated with the commissioner. Giamatti died 8 days after the agreement. He had stated that Rose would be eligible for reinstatement. For years Rose denied the allegations until finally in 2004, he admitted everything and said the Dowd report was totally true. Many fans have called for his reinstatement so Pete could be eligible for the Hall. Based on his stats he definitely belongs. But his continued gambling, albeit legally, has caused him to be denied reinstatement 4 times. Manfred rejected his most recent request specifically citing his continued gambling, saying it was evidence that allowing his return would be an ” unacceptable risk” for baseball.

The last player banned was Roberto Alomar. And I had totally forgotten about that. He was banned in 2021 by Manfred for harassing a Blue Jays female employee in 2014. The Jays then announced they were cutting all ties with Alomar. He was elected to the Hall in 2011 and remains a Hall of Famer. Manfred also banned Chris Correa, Cardinals scouting coordinator who hacked the Astros scouting database to give the Cards an advantage in 2017. John Coppolella, Braves GM for circumventing the international signing rules in 2017, Brandon Taubman, Astros was banned for inappropriate comments to a female reporter in the Astros clubhouse in 2019. He was also under scrutiny for the Astros sign stealing in 2017. He was eligible to ask for reinstatement after the 2020 season, but so far has not done so. And Mickey Callaway, former Mets manager, and pitching coach for the Indians and Angels, was banned in 2021 for many cases of sexual harassment spanning much of his career.

So far, none of the Black Sox have ever been reinstated although there is still a lot of sympathy for Jackson. Especially after “Eight Men Out” and Field of Dreams. He is the only player on that team that has garnered any sympathy at all. Outside of Jackson, Cicotte was probably the only other player who had a shot at the hall. McMullin was nothing but a bench guy.