Warnings from baseball’s past
Retelling the 1920 Indians story — Umps and gambling
Reading from contemporary accounts of historic events can reveal poignant statements that demonstrate how much has changed in 100 years.
Sportswriter and umpire Billy Evans was widely known as an honest man of integrity and I will make no claims against that. But I was shocked that an umpire could simultaneously be a widely followed columnist in the nation’s sports pages. Even more surprising was seeing his predictions about a season he would go on to influence as an umpire.
Here’s how he did it in a preseason 1920 story he wrote for the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
“
Billy Evans thinks Chicago White Sox will make trouble in American League
Looks for Gleason to show well in race for 1920 flag
“How do they look to you Bill?
Do you thing (k) Chicago will repeat?
What about the chances of Cleveland?
Do you think Ruth will give New York the needed punch?
Is Connie Mack finally to assert himself, climb out of last place and spring another surprise?
Now that opening day of the American League is not far distant, questions like the above are being constantly fired at me. To most of the anxious, I simply reply that if I knew all about it, I wouldn’t have to keep on umpiring. My opinion is no more vital than that of any well versed baseball fan, despite the fact that many people think it is more so.
”
Yes, he was using a figure of speech still common today. We might add, I’d head to Vegas! But in 1920, your local bookie might be closer than your barber. He might BE your barber! But an umpire who was making public comments about the chances for any team in the 2020 season would quickly receive a call from the commissioner’s office. To suggest he might use his unique perspective to bet on baseball — even whimsically — would be an instant scandal today. It’s likely he wouldn’t umpire again.
How do I know this? As an official scorer at minor-league games, I’m required to pledge that I won’t gamble on baseball in any way — even fantasy games.
Of course, there was no commissioner back then, only league presidents. And while gambling was not officially permitted even then, it was common knowledge that fans, players and nearly everyone else could freely put money of their favorite team.
That would all change after the 1919 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds, a series that Evans participated in, twice as the umpire behind the plate.
Evans, the son of a Youngstown steelworker, had begun his writing career with the Youngstown Vindicator and soon picked up his umpiring gig through a contact he made as a reporter. He started umpiring American League games at age 22, and by the time he made his 1920 predictions he was one of the most prominent non-playing figures in baseball, capitalizing on his unique position as a syndicated columnist and American League ump. He later was inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
By the time he wrote his 1920 prediction column, a well-connected man like Evans certainly had heard rumors that the 1919 Series had been fixed. By then he must have searched his memory for moments that might have been indications that the White Sox were not giving their best. Nothing had been proved at that point. Some reasonable people still believe that games might not have been fixed or that some who were punished, including former Indian Joe Jackson, were innocent if not terribly foolish.
So, given what Evans must have heard and what was about to come, his public allusion to gambling is evidence of how casually people in and around the game took the threat of a fixing scandal. Such claims had come and gone many times before. The surprise to come was that the whispers about the 1919 Series would be the greatest scandal baseball had ever seen — enough to turn the White Sox into Black Sox.
This year, baseball is grappling with the reality that sports betting is permitted and growing. The echoes from 1920 serve as a warning.
Dave Scott was a newspaper writer and editor for 40 years. He is a lifelong baseball fan and a member of the Society for American Baseball Research for decades, although SABR records might indicate I skipped my dues on occasion! DavidAScott@gmail.com I owe a great debt to the Cleveland Public Library for its excellent resources.
The following are links to my previous blogs on Retelling the 1920 Indians Story:
Ordinarily, I would have obtained a photo of Evans, but with most sources shut down by the virus, I was unable to acquire one with proper authorization.
