In the sixth game of the 1917 World Series, New York Giants' third baseman Heine Zimmerman was forced to chase Eddie Collins of the Chicago White Sox toward an uncovered home plate.
Photographs revealed that Zimmerman was a mere step or two behind Collins, who slid across the plate as Zimmerman jumped over him to avoid a collision. The White Sox won the game and the World Series.
There was a public outcry about the play, the Series and Zimmerman. There were accusations that Zimmerman had allowed Collins to score.
In 1919, Zimmerman and Hal Chase were banned from baseball based upon their long records of corruption.
Pete Rose is suspended from baseball forever.
That the 1919 World Series was fixed is common knowledge. The Cincinnati Reds became world champions, but we will never know if that would have occurred if the Chicago White Sox had played fair and square.
Pete Rose is suspended from baseball forever.
In 1926, pitcher Dutch Leonard presented American League president Ban Johnson with letters that implicated future Hall of Famers Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker as well as pitching great Smokey Joe Wood in a gambling scandal.
Johnson turned the evidence over to commissioner Kenesaw Landis, who met with the players. They were exonerated. It would not be good for another baseball scandal so soon after the Black Sox.
Pete Rose is suspended from baseball forever.
Former Cincinnati Reds' owner Marge Schott was suspended from baseball in 1996. She had made derogatory comments about Blacks, Jews, Asians and homosexuals. Schott also expressed some sympathy for Adolf Hitler. She was reinstated in 1998.
Pete Rose is suspended from baseball forever.
George Steinbrenner hired gambler Howie Spira to "investigate" Dave Winfield and the David M. Winfield Foundation for children. Steinbrenner paid Spira $40,000 for nothing.
Commissioner Fay Vincent investigated the situation. In July 1990, Vincent banned the owner from day-to-day operations of the New York Yankees for life.
Of course, life for Steinbrenner and Schott didn't mean the same thing as it has for Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson.
Pete Rose is suspended from baseball forever.
Following the 1985 season, only four of 35 free agents changed teams. The players claimed "collusion." They received $64.5 million in damages.
Pete Rose is suspended from baseball forever.
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