With Gambling Alive in Baseball, What About Shoeless Joe's Legacy?
PLUS: BRAVES MAKE A BUMMER OF A TRADE
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
New International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame inductee Ryan Braun was a six-time All-Star with MVP and Rookie of the Year trophies and 352 home runs, 21 more than Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg, over 14 seasons, mainly with the Milwaukee Brewers. Braun’s father was born in Israel and lost family in the Holocaust. Braun is also one of many active and retired Jewish players to speak out in support of Israel since war broke out last month . . .
Rookie Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy inherits a roster certain to be in flux this off-season. Though the Brewers won 92 games and an NL Central crown en route to their fifth playoff appearance in the six seasons, Counsell’s departure combined with the impending free agencies of star starting pitcher Corbin Burnes and shortstop Willy Adames have Milwaukee’s front office considering major changes to the roster. Further complicating the club’s off-season plans is the status of co-ace Brandon Woodruff, who had shoulder surgery earlier this off-season and is expected to miss most or perhaps even all of 2024 . . .
Food for thought: the Pittsburgh Crawfords were named after the Crawford Grill, while the Nippon Ham Fighters are owned by Nippon Ham . . .
Now that the Braves have lost coaches Ron Washington and Eric Young, Sr. to the Angels, look for Terry Pendleton and Eddie Perez to don uniforms as coaches again . . .
Although new Cubs manager Craig Counsell took the Brewers to the playoffs in five of the last six years, he never won a pennant. In fact, he reached the Championship Series only once, in 2018.
Leading Off
With Sports Betting Now Inescapable, Time to Revisit Shoeless Joe Jackson's Legacy?
By Paul Banks
Sports gambling is about as mainstream as can be these days. This trend precedes the landmark 2018 Supreme Court Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association ruling, which determined that the federal ban on sports wagering, as established by the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA), was unconstitutional.
The daily fantasy sports explosion of the mid 2010s cemented a place for sports betting within the pulse of American culture. Now it's every fourth or fifth commercial that you see on television.
These days, the only ads you see on television which aren't sports betting fall into the following categories: insurance, cars, prescription drugs, cell phone carriers, something that has Jennifer Coolidge (Stifler's mom from the American Pie franchise) in it and Wendy's.
So if sports gaming is so popular, then why must the ghosts of Shoeless Joe Jackson and the seven other forever banished members of the 1919 Chicago White Sox remain in baseball purgatory?
Shoeless Joe is, without a doubt, the greatest player in Major League Baseball history not to be enshrined in Cooperstown. He has the 3rd highest career batting average in history, and Babe Ruth himself admitted (on more than occasion) that he modeled his swing after Jackson. While he leaves behind a conflicting and complicated legacy, it seems slightly hypocritical of baseball that his legacy was given the death penalty, amid this zeitgeist where sports gambling no longer carries a stigma.
With sports betting completely ingrained into the game now (you can even bet on the game at the ballpark!), why should his murky connections to the gambling world mean he's forever persona non grata?
For what it's worth, Jackson claimed up until his death that he played that infamous 1919 World Series on the level, and that his name has been unfairly besmirched.
In Fall from Grace, a Shoeless Joe Jackson biography by Tim Hornbaker which came out the same year as the decriminalization of sports betting SCOTUS ruling, the reader is presented with all of the evidence available reagrding Jackson's guilt or innocence.
Hornbaker lets the reader make their mind up while showcasing how Joe Jackson may have been playing to win, and his statistics in the series clearly reflect that.
However, Jackson also had first hand knowledge of the plot to throw the World Series, was given money to partake, by some accounts, and never even lifted a finger to try and do what would have been honest.
What Jackson had to say publicly about his involvement in the conspiracy morphed over time, to the point that he was actually charged with perjury, as his testimonies in court contradicted one another.
However, the perjury charge was later dropped and none of the "Eight Men Out" (the eight "Black Sox" forever banished from baseball) were ever convicted of any crime.
Perhaps their baseball punishment was Draconian? Maybe it’s time to revisit this issue, and the banished players legacies?
At the time of the SCOTUS ruling, American Gaming Association (AGA) President Geoff Freeman declared the decision “a victory for the millions of Americans who seek to bet on sports in a safe and regulated manner.”
He added: “According to a Washington Post survey, a solid 55 percent of Americans believe it’s time to end the federal ban on sports betting."
That was five years ago, before sports betting exploded, and given the activity's widespread popularity, you can bet (pun intended) that number is way higher than 55% today.
You've read about Jackson in books and seen him portrayed in movies such as Eight Men Out (a thorough biography of the Black Sox scandal, written by Eliot Asinof and adapted for the screen by John Sayles, where Jackson was played by D.B. Sweeney) and Field of Dreams (where he was played by the late, great Ray Liotta, a movie based on the novel Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella).
However, the real life Joe Jackson was plenty interesting enough as it was, he didn't need to be fictionalized.
Some Shoeless Joe Jackson Fun Facts and Anecdotes:
-Spent his whole life married to the same woman, and when they tied the knot she was just 15 years old.
-She almost left him when he mysteriously went AWOL for awhile in Atlanta with a vaudeville actress. Very little is known about what actually happened when he disappeared, but I think you can read in between the lines.
-During the off-seasons he moonlighted as a vaudeville actor, and one spring training he held out of camp, and almost quit baseball during his prime, to focus on acting.
-Avoided the WWI draft by joining a warship painting company. He then became the ultimate all-time ringer when he dominated a league for ship builders.
-He was ripped by leading figures in the MLB press, and also his own club's owner, Charles Comiskey, for many years afterward for doing this. He was branded "a coward" and "unpatriotic," and many believe this partially inspired him to throw the series.
-Stared at a candle with one eye covered, for the purpose of improving his batting eye and hand-to-eye-coordination. No idea how that works, or if it even does, but that's what he did.
-Charged with perjury and sentenced to jail time (but avoided time served) when he sued Comiskey for backpay.
-It was common for newspaper articles to consistently trash him as dumb and/or illiterate, even in the midst of basic game recap coverage.
After 102 years in purgatory, does Shoeless Joe finally get into baseball heaven?
After all, he is a man who was immortalized by sports writer John Lardner, son of the legendary Ring Lardner, as "the answer to a gambler's prayer."
I'll let you consider that question while you watch a baseball game on television and get incessantly bombarded with commercials for Fan Duel, Draft Kings, Points Bet, Bet 365, Betway, Caesars, William Hill, Unibet, Bet MGM etc.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
Cleaning Up
Five-for-One Trade Will Be Bummer For Braves
By Dan Schlossberg
The Atlanta Braves rarely make bad trades. But there are exceptions.
Trading five young players to the Chicago White Sox for a left-handed reliever coming off a bad year sticks out like a sore thumb.
Basically, Atlanta traded too much for too little, reducing its ability to make other moves.
To be sure, starting pitcher Michael Soroka and good-field, no-hit infielder Nicky Lopez would not have been tendered contracts anyway.
But why sweeten the pot with southpaw starter Jared Shuster, who showed flashes of potential in Atlanta last summer, and smooth-fielding shortstop Braden Shewmake, who is virtually certain to replace Tim Anderson as Chicago’s shortstop?
Minor-league righty Riley Gowens may or may not amount to anything for the Chisox but, as Joaquin Andujar said in his one-word description of baseball, “youneverknow.”
All but Gowens held spots on their teams’ 40-man rosters. Atlanta now has the roster room and payroll flexibility to start signing free agents.
Getting back to the trade, Soroka is still just 25 and apparently healed from two tears of his right Achilles. He was runner-up to Pete Alonso in the 2019 National League Rookie of the Year race and can be a very good pitcher if healthy.
So can Shuster, anxious to prove good lefty starters don’t grow on trees.
Shewmake and Lopez — a phenomenal fielder — figure to form the new White Sox double-play tandem, giving the Sox four front-line players for a ground-ball reliever whose earned run average last summer was a whopping 6.79.
Even Yonny Chirinos, the poster boy for pathetic pitchers who wore Braves jerseys last summer, wasn’t that bad.
Bummer, 30, has been solid in previous seasons but he’s also had biceps, lat, and knee injuries. He turned pro after the Sox selected him in the 19th round of the amateur draft. Lots of others went ahead of him.
Unless Bummer recaptures his 2019 form, when he posted a 2.13 ERA with a 72.1 per cent rate of grounders induced, he will live down to his surname in Atlanta history.
He’ll join holdover A.J. Minter and the returning Tyler Matzek, healed from Tommy John elbow surgery, to form a left-handed troika of set-up men ahead of Atlanta closer Raisel Iglesias. Any of the southpaws could also fill in as ninth-inning help if Iglesias encounters health issues, as he did early last season.
At least Bummer’s contract isn’t too terrible; he’ll earn $5.5 million next year in the final year of an extension the Chisox gave him. That’s less than the likely arbitration-inflated contracts of Soroka and Lopez — had the Braves decided to keep them.
The contract also includes club options for 2025 and 2026, so Atlanta could have him for at least three seasons.
Bummer’s biggest problem has been control — or lack of it. He walks way too many hitters, never a good idea for a relief pitcher in a tight game.
Braves manager Brian Snitker should be happy with a bullpen also occupied by the recently-resigned Pierce Johnson and Joe Jiménez, both hard-throwing right-handers.
Now he and trade-maker Alex Anthopoulos can concentrate on bolstering the starting rotation and finding a left-fielder.
The Braves have strong starters in strikeout king Spencer Strider, the lone 20-game winner in the majors last season; lefty Max Fried, determined to make his walk year his best year; 40-year-old veteran Charlie Morton, who also serves as a de facto pitching coach for the team’s younger pitchers; and Bryce Elder, who joined Strider at the Seattle All-Star Game before wilting down the stretch.
The fifth starter could be power pitcher AJ Smith-Shawver, who showed promise in September, or Dylan Dodd, a lefty who had several stints in Atlanta last season.
Atlanta could also be in the market for Aaron Nola, who worked with Braves pitching coach Rick Kranitz when both were in Philadelphia, or Sonny Gray, a finalist for the American League’s 2023 Cy Young Award.
Now that Warren Buffett has invested $9 million in the team, they might even pursue both.
As for left field, options range from incumbent Vaughn Grissom, strictly an infielder when he hit .330 for AAA Gwinnett, to ex-Braves Adam Duvall, Joc Pederson, Jorge Soler, and Eddie Rosario — all current free agents.
For Braves fans, already enjoying an off-season that included a unanimous MVP award for Ronald Acuna, Jr., it should be a most interesting winter.
HTP weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ also covers baseball for forbes.com, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Sports Collectors Digest, Memories & Dreams, and many other outlets. His email is ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia
“Are we at our absolute best and most entertaining version of baseball yet? Probably not. But I think the rule changes were really successful, and taking a very meaningful step in the right direction. And I think everyone in the game is happy with how things went — most importantly, the fans.”
— Former Cubs and Red Sox executive Theo Epstein
Jayson Stark reports that there were zero pitch clock violations during the 2023 World Series between Arizona and Texas . . .
He also says there were just four violations of the shift ban during the season . . .
Games were certainly shorter, with 678 nine-inning games of two-and-a-half hours or less as opposed to 84 the year before . . .
Also in 2023, there were just nine nine-inning games that lasted three-and-a-half hours versus 232 in 2022 . . .
Ronald Acuña Jr.’s 73 stolen bases were the most in the majors since Jose Reyes swiped 78 in 2007.
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles Monday and Tuesday editions, Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] does Wednesday and Thursday, and Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com] edits the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HTP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.