The Major League Baseball World Series has been a highly celebrated event for decades. Hundreds of thousands of people crowd around their TVs to watch America's pastime. Or, if they are extremely lucky, they get to watch the game first hand.

However, the fans of the Chicago White Sox during the 1919 fix were not so fortunate. The struggles and steps taken by the players and gamblers during this fix are vividly packed into this intriguing book by Eliot Asinof. The story revolves around a New York gambler, Arnold Rothenstein, who desired to make some extra cash by betting on the World Series. He then singled out eight underpaid Chicago White Sox players who, unfortunately, kindly agreed to throwing the World Series for double what they made all year. They were up against the Cincinnati Reds, who were the huge underdog. Many people were suspicious of the White Sox due to the large bets being placed on Cincinnati.

I think that Eliot Asinof did an outstanding job of describing how the series unfolded, game-by-game and pitch-by-pitch. I firmly believe that the players in this situation were extremely desperate for money because of their meager salaries. Bench players for lesser teams were earning as much or more than the great Joe Jackson and Eddie Cicotte. I do think that what they did was disloyal to their coaches, fans, and other players. Players involved in the fix would make very subtle mistakes, such as not charging a ground ball fast enough or taking a bad angle on a fly ball. During game one, Eddie Cicotte pitched and did not listen to his catcher, who was not part of the fix, and he only threw fastballs and was not throwing strikes. Now, I highly doubt that any players would even consider throwing the World Series. I think that what the players and gamblers did was wrong, but I still thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Though I am a baseball fan, my knowledge of the "Black Sox" scandal of 1919 was only sketchy and vague.

I thought that eight crooked players took money to throw the World Series, were caught, and banned from baseball, and that was the end of the story. But in fact, that was just the beginning.

For example, not all eight players were equally involved. Only one was an unashamed sell-out, most were ambivalent about being involved, and one (Buck Weaver) was innocent. Their motivation was mainly due to being grossly underpaid by the owner in the days before free agents could work for whoever would pay them the most. And the players were also swindled by the gamblers, walking away with only a portion of their promised payment.

This book's greatest achievement, aside from the thorough research Asinof conducted, is the exploration of the moral gray area of the whole scandal. Only a couple of people are presented as completely greedy and unscrupulous; most of the men involved had complex motivations and fears. Instead of presenting the Black Sox scandal as a simple sellout for money, Asinof shows how powerful, conniving gamblers, along with a public that wanted justice and baseball leadership that wanted to preserve the purity of the game at the expense of its best players, made these eight men into a lesson on integrity, honesty, and fairness. This is an engaging, detailed, and intelligently written book, both highly informative and immensely enjoyable.

Please provide the article that needs to be rewritten and expanded so that I can help you.

Closer to 4.5 but still incredible.

I have always loved "Shoeless Joe"/Field Of Dreams. When I was much too young to fully appreciate it, I could barely get through the movie version of Eight Men Out. However, I was very surprised to realize how little I knew about the machinations of the Black Sox scandal.

This book is truly essential baseball reading. It delves deep into the details of the scandal, providing a comprehensive and fascinating account.

Whether you are a die-hard baseball fan or simply interested in history and the darker side of sports, this book is a must-read.

It offers valuable insights into the events that led up to the scandal and the consequences that followed.

Overall, it is a well-written and engaging book that will keep you hooked from start to finish.

This was just okay for me. It was really well-written and researched, but simply not my kind of book. I needed a book about a sport or with a sport in the title for a reading challenge. My husband, a lifelong baseball fan, recommended this book. He said the movie is also well done and accurately portrays baseball of the period. I plan to watch it soon with him. I think I’ll grasp more of the plot through the film.

I don’t know much about baseball, and even less about betting. So this story about gamblers enlisting members of the 1919 Chicago White Sox baseball team to throw the World Series, in what became known as the Black Sox Scandal, lost me in the play-by-play descriptions of the games themselves.

Asinof is a very good writer. He explains in his preface the difficulties he faced researching and pulling together information about the scandal, as much of the official documentation had disappeared and several participants had died. The exposure of the scandal and eventual trial was at first interesting and fast-paced. But I got bogged down in the double-crossing of the gamblers and machinations of the owners and politicians. It was actually rather disheartening, yet another example of greed and corruption taking advantage of the less-savvy, less educated rubes (in this case, the ball players).

These passages, first from the assistant state’s attorney working on the case, then from a journalist trying to make sense out of an interview with a player caught up in the scandal, show both the skill of Asinof’s writing and the tragedy and hypocrisy of the scandal.

I enjoyed the author’s character sketches and his summary of the mood of the nation and Chicago at the time. As a Chicago native and a history buff, I found it interesting. WWI had just ended, America was feeling flush with victory and patriotic. Chicago had just endured a brutal summer of racial unrest and a riot that left many dead.

I had some interesting conversations with my husband about what I learned about the beloved game. But I was disheartened when he told me it wasn’t until 1969 when the dreadful Reserve Clause was finally abolished. Curt Flood fought for the right of free agency for himself and fellow players, but his career was destroyed in the process. And this took 50 years from the Black Sox Scandal. So, it was an interesting, extremely well-written and researched book, but disheartening.

A well-documented account of the 1919 World Series Black Sox scandal is presented. Asinof delves deep into the actions of the diverse individuals and groups involved. There are the players, who found themselves in a difficult situation. The gamblers, always looking for an opportunity to make a profit, saw a chance here. And then there's Cominsky, the owner of the White Sox.

While not absolving their behavior, Asinof sheds light on how the Reserve Clause in Major League player contracts effectively made the players indentured servants. Cominsky exploited this clause, greedily paying some of the best players in baseball significantly less than what average players were receiving from other teams. All the while, he was raking in record profits for himself.

This unjust treatment created an opening for the gamblers to bribe the players. The players, feeling that they were being taken advantage of, were more susceptible to such offers. It's a captivating read for those, like me, who are intrigued by the history of the early days of baseball. The story unfolds, revealing the complex web of events that led to one of the most infamous scandals in baseball history.

Originally published in 1963, the book was rereleased in 1987. This rerelease coincided with the "Major Motion Picture" that was trumpeted on the cover.

The story focuses on the 1919 "Black Sox" scandal. In this scandal, eight members of the Chicago Sox team conspired to throw the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds were a heavy on-paper underdog. The eight Sox players were charged, tried, and acquitted. However, they were immediately banned from organized baseball for life by the new baseball commissioner, Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis. He was hired specifically for this purpose.

This story is truly an American tragedy. The reader is drawn to the likable yet gullible baseball players. They were being played for fools by the gambling interests and baseball owners. Both the gambling interests and the owners had the means and organization to act to protect their own interests. In this sordid morality tale, the baseball players were sacrificed.

The movie is a faithful recreation of the book. It takes very few liberties with the historical account. This ensures that the essence of the story is preserved and presented accurately on the big screen.

When I was a lad, baseball was my absolute passion. Collecting baseball cards was a big part of my obsession with the sport. One time, when I was in the hospital to have my tonsils removed, my Dad brought me a stack of cards to cheer me up. It was truly the best gift ever. However, due to the anesthesia, I sort of blanked out, and my mother unfortunately left the cards at the hospital. I'm still not over this incident to this day. Even after spending thousands on therapy bills, just the thought of it is like igniting a drum of gasoline that is my dormant inner rage.

As I grew older, my perception of athletes changed. I realized that they weren't the perfect heroes I had idolized. They had their flaws, just like anyone else. They drank, took drugs, cheated on their wives, and gambled. The early 1900s were a great time for baseball, but the players were not always treated fairly. The Chicago White Sox, for example, were a great team, but their owner, Charles Comiskey, was a miser when it came to paying his players. This led to some of the players being disgruntled and eventually throwing the 1919 World Series for money. The story of the Black Sox scandal is well-written and easy to follow, and it shows how greed and corruption can taint even the most beloved of sports. Overall, this book is a great read for fans of sports books, lovers of baseball, and anyone who believes that crime doesn't pay.

I truly loved this book. It evoked a plethora of emotions within me as I delved into its pages. I have numerous thoughts about it, and here are just a few.

The portrayal of the eight ball players being used as scapegoats to shield the wealthy elite of baseball execs, prominent politicians, and high-stakes gamblers from facing punishment and criticism is a disheartening yet accurate reflection of the reality we still encounter today. It shows how the economic elite often treats lower-middle class Americans as mere pawns in their games.

Although (most of) the ballplayers were indeed guilty of throwing the series, Asinof does an outstanding job of presenting their perspective and the underlying motives that led them to participate in such a scheme. Their motives were not as malicious as Comiskey, the state, or the gamblers would have us believe. They mainly stemmed from a desire to provide for their families and the frustration caused by the lack of value Comiskey placed on them in their contracts, despite being the best players in the league yet the least paid.

By the end of the book, I felt a great deal of sympathy for all the ballplayers, as they were constantly double-crossed and taken advantage of by gamblers, baseball execs, and politicians. However, I felt the most pain for Buck Weaver and Shoeless Joe. These men were deceived into agreeing to the fix, and one could even argue that they didn't play as if they were part of it. The real culprits behind this fix were gamblers Abe Attell, Sport Sullivan, and Arnold Rothstein. And the only reason these players were barred from baseball was due to the lack of investigation on Comiskey and baseball's part, so they could preserve their own image.

One final point I'd like to make is that the idea of making baseball "pure" still persists today. In 1918, the MLB was more concerned with gambling issues than with issues of race (Jackie Robinson didn't break the color barrier until 1947!). The same can be said in the late '80s and early '90s when Pete Rose was banned from baseball and the Hall of Fame for gambling, as it was considered "impure" to the sport. Yet, baseball's historic greats like Ty Cobb, who was a blatant racist, and Babe Ruth, who was a drunkard, are both in the Hall of Fame and lauded for their contributions to the game. This can also be seen in the issue of steroids in today's game. Domestic violence and racism receive far less severe punishment than most steroid users! Baseball will never be a pure sport because humans, on their own, will never be pure. The only way to find true purity is through Jesus Christ. So, if baseball could center itself on Him, that would undoubtedly solve all of their problems.

Baseball is often regarded as America's game, symbolizing the nation in many ways. However, its history is not without blemishes. As Eliot Asinof shows in "Eight Men Out," baseball in the early 20th century was plagued by corruption. The 1919 World Series fix involving the Chicago White Sox is a prime example. The players, underpaid and restricted by the reserve clause, were vulnerable to bribes from gamblers. The plot, masterminded by Chick Gandil with the help of shady gamblers, was complex and controversial. While "Eight Men Out" provides a detailed account of the scandal, it has been criticized for its accuracy, especially regarding Shoeless Joe's guilt. The book's strengths lie in its first and final chapters, which vividly描绘 the atmosphere of the time and the aftermath of the trial. However, the middle section covering the World Series games themselves feels a bit lackluster. Overall, "Eight Men Out" is a valuable resource for understanding the mechanics of the plot, but it misses the bigger picture of Major League Baseball's economic model and the power struggle between owners and players. A more comprehensive and nuanced book could have explored these deeper issues and provided a more complete understanding of this important chapter in baseball history.

“Though rising in popularity, baseball became corrupted with almost incredible rapidity. There was hardly a game in which some wild, disruptive incident did not occur to alter the outcome. An outfielder, settling under a crucial fly ball, would find himself stoned by a nearby spectator, who might win a few hundred dollars if the ball was dropped. On one occasion, a gambler actually ran out on the field and tackled a ballplayer. On another, a marksman prevented a fielder from chasing a long hit by peppering the ground around his feet with bullets. The victims had no chance to appeal: there was nothing in the rules to cover such behavior. There were, of course, more subtle techniques for controlling ball games. Bribery became a common weapon…”
- Eliot Asinof, Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series

“My father said he saw him years later playing in a tenth-rate commercial league in a textile town in Carolina, wearing shoes and an assumed name. He’d put on fifty pounds and the spring was gone from his step, but he could still hit. Oh, how that man could hit. No one has ever been able to hit like Shoeless Joe…”
- W. P. Kinsella, Shoeless Joe

Baseball is America's game, a symbol of the nation. Despite its popularity, it has faced numerous challenges, including corruption. The early 20th century was a particularly dark period for the sport, as evidenced by the 1919 World Series fix.

In this era, baseball players were subject to a financial system that kept their salaries low and restricted their freedom. The reserve clause, a key part of this system, prevented players like Shoeless Joe Jackson from receiving fair compensation for their talents.

It was against this backdrop that the Chicago White Sox entered the 1919 World Series. Frustrated by their financial situation, some of the players, led by Chick Gandil, hatched a plan to throw the series in exchange for bribes from gamblers.

The details of the plot, as recounted in "Eight Men Out," are complex and controversial. While Asinof's account is widely regarded as the standard, it has been criticized for its accuracy, especially regarding the guilt or innocence of Shoeless Joe.

Despite these criticisms, "Eight Men Out" remains a valuable resource for understanding the 1919 World Series fix and its impact on baseball history. The book's strengths include its vivid描绘 of the era and its detailed account of the events leading up to and following the scandal.

However, the book also has its limitations. The middle section, which covers the World Series games themselves, feels a bit平淡 and lacks the excitement and drama of the rest of the book. Additionally, Asinof's focus on the conspiracy may have led him to overlook some of the broader issues at play, such as the power struggle between owners and players.

Overall, "Eight Men Out" is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in baseball history or the intersection of sports and society. While it may not provide a complete and definitive account of the 1919 World Series fix, it does offer a fascinating glimpse into a dark chapter in the sport's history.

In conclusion, baseball's history is a complex and often troubled one. The 1919 World Series fix is just one example of the corruption and scandal that has plagued the sport over the years. While books like "Eight Men Out" can help us understand these events, they also raise important questions about the role of sports in society and the need for transparency and accountability in professional athletics.

Is there anyone honest out there?


I read this book as part of a reading challenge. The specific category for which I chose to read it was 'a book published the year you were born'. As a long-time enthusiast of history and a more recent convert to being a baseball fan, I was truly intrigued by this particular title. Frankly speaking, there were an astonishing number of people involved in this scandal. At times, it became extremely difficult to keep all the names and their respective roles straight. This was especially true since some individuals used aliases, while others, in one way or another, changed sides or employed rather creative self-defense tactics. The vivid and well-developed characters, along with the actual headlines and the interspersed quotes from various authors, continuously fed my insatiable hunger to keep reading. Although the book was indeed good, a significant part of me cannot help but feel disappointed. The great American pastime of baseball is nowhere near as pure as many Americans or fans would like to believe. It wasn't in the past, and it isn't now. Moreover, the American justice system also falls short of the ideal. However, this won't deter me from my love for history, baseball, or books. Instead, it simply solidifies my understanding of where (or in whom) I should place my faith.

After spending three months engrossed in Star Wars novels, I decided it was time to venture back into the realm of nonfiction. I selected this particular book simply because it was the shortest one available on my Audible account.

I had already seen the movie adaptation and was familiar with most of the story. However, I was taken aback by the actual experience of delving into the account of the 1919 World Series.

Just like watching a ball game, the tempo of the book varies widely from paragraph to paragraph. At times, the legal jargon of the Black Sox trial can be mind-numbingly boring, while at others, a contemporary account of a washed-up ball player drowning his shame and regret in alcohol can be deeply moving. The series itself makes up only the first third of the book, with the aftermath comprising the majority of the narrative. I did enjoy the detailed play-by-play of the baseball action, but it's no substitute for being there in person - which is hardly a surprise.

Overall, I did enjoy the book, but I have noticed that my taste for nonfiction has perhaps waned a little over the past year. I'm thinking that I might end the year by reading a fiction book. Only time will tell.