Black Sox Scandal #3: Who started it?
The myth is that the naïve, uneducated ballplayers were conned by the savvier New York gambling element into taking part in the fix. As a result, the perception is, the players quickly found themselves in a situation outside their ability to control. Abe Attell (pictured above), a go-between for Arnold Rothstein who communicated with the players, stated as much in an interview with Asinof late in his life.
The evidence leads to a different conclusion. It points to Gandil and Cicotte as initiators of the fix based on their early conversations with Boston gambler ‘Sport’ Sullivan and Sleepy Bill Burns, a former pitcher linked to gamblers.
While Rothstein did become involved, and doubtless did very well in his Series wagers, the plot originated with the players and spread through other gambling elements before ultimately involving Rothstein’s operation.
The SABR study finds that Gandil built his network of players deliberately and slowly over time, the fix details worked out over the course of several meetings. It describes coordination of the fix as “a total team effort” with the White Sox players themselves “doing much of the heavy lifting.”
As evidence to support that contention, it cites numerous biographical articles on the participants, among them Sullivan, Maharg, and Gandil.