The common understanding of the Black Sox scandal was fixed in the public mind by Eliot Asinof’s 1963 book Eight Men Out and the subsequent movie adaptation of the same title by John Sayles. As it turns out, that may be a highly unfortunate thing, as an article in Chicago Lawyer magazine by Daniel J. Voelker and Paul A. Duffy reveals. Having gained access to Asinof’s files, the two discovered that his book is not in fact supported by his research; indeed, they’ve concluded that the book is, to a significant degree, fiction.
Those whose reputations seem to have been blackened the worst by Asinof’s fictionalization are the team’s owner, Charles Comiskey, who has been unfairly smeared as a skinflint whose miserliness drove his players to throw the 1919 World Series, and the biggest star among the banned players, Shoeless Joe Jackson, who always insisted on his innocence. Given his stellar performance in the Series that year—he led all qualifying hitters, on both teams, in batting average and slugging percentage, finished second in on-base percentage, hit the Series’ only home run, and seems to have played the field well (at least, he didn’t commit a single error)—I’ve always been inclined to believe him. Given the work by Voelker and Duffy, I think I’ve been justified in that.
Here’s hoping this article is the beginning of a new trial for Shoeless Joe, not just in the court of public opinion but also before the Lords of Baseball; and here’s hoping that the result is the clearing of his reputation and his long-overdue inclusion in the Hall of Fame.
Field of Dreams acquitted Shoeless Joe Jackson 😉
Indeed–the original book is called Shoeless Joe. It's one of the reasons I like Kinsella, who's something of an odd duck–an atheist who finds his transcendance on the baseball diamond.
What's this about? Going to google it now…
Wow, what interesting reading.
And something else that came to mind as I read the article – this just shows how powerful the written word can be at determining public opinion.
Sometimes we ARE sheep being led to slaughter, aren't we?
Yeah, pretty much. If someone comes out and says "this is so," unless they're telling us something we already have good reason to reject, we tend to go along with it without questioning it. As I wrote a while back, we're wired to believe.