Dodgers History: Rube Marquard Arrested for Scalping Tickets
World Series tickets can get quite expensive on the secondary market, especially if purchased from scalpers. On this day in 1920, Dodgers pitcher Rube Marquard was arrested for trying to take advantage of the secondary market.
As anyone who has purchased World Series tickets can attest to, they can be quite expensive. This is especially the case for the secondary market, with those premier matchups costing even more. Of course, those tickets can be a great way to make a profit, provided one does not get caught doing anything illegal.
Given the salaries that baseball players earned in the early days, it is not a surprise that they would look for other ways to earn some extra cash. That was exactly what Brooklyn Dodgers starting pitcher Rube Marquard had on his mind on this day in 1920, when he attempted to sell a ticket to Game Four of the World Series for $350, a princely sum in those days.
Fortunately for the Cleveland native, he quickly found someone interested in the ticket. Unfortunately, that someone turned out to be an undercover cop, who proceeded to arrest the Dodgers pitcher hours before the start of the first game. That infraction cost Marquard a total of $3.80, as he was fined $1.00, and made to pay court costs. As this was also Marquard’s 34th birthday, it was not how he was looking to celebrate.
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Although Marquard had the ignoble fate of being arrested, he was back at the ballpark in tine for the game. In that first matchup at Dunn Field, the Indians were able to get to Dodgers pitchers Leon Cadore and Al Mamaux for two runs in the first and third innings to take a 5-1 victory, tying the series at two games apiece. Cleveland would eventually win the World Series in seven games, their first championship.
Marquard, meanwhile, did not let that arrest faze him. He pitched relatively well in the losing effort, posting a 0-1 record despite a 3.00 ERA and a 1.111 WHiP. He struck out six batters and issued only one walk in his nine innings during what would be his final World Series appearance. Even though he made five trips to the Fall Classic, Marquard failed to win a title in any of those attempts, although he pitched relatively well.
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Trying to scalp tickets to any event can be a risky proposition. Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Rube Marquard found that out the hard way on this day in 1920.