That's an interesting condemnation of the author of Eight Men Out. But it doesn't change the fact that Jackson and others admitted in court to taking money from gamblers to throw the World Series. Whether they actually played their best, double-crossing the gamblers, may be another matter.
The jury acquittals referenced in the article also mean nothing to me. For one, I've never been able to figure out what they were charged with. As far as I know, "throwing a game" was not a crime in 1919, and may not be a crime today. So, it may be that the jury concluded that this species of wrongdoing just didn't violate the laws that they were charged with violating. More likely, the jury just didn't care. I have an original newspaper account of the acquittal. After the jury announced its verdict, the jurors carried Eddie Cicotte out of the courtroom on their shoulders. That should not instill confidence in anyone that the jurors were unbiased.
|