In the golden age of baseball, where the heroes of the diamond became gods, an incident that would scar baseball for life was committed in Eight men of the Chicago White Sox team conceived a plot to throw the World Series for a sum of $80,000. A novel written by Eliot Asinof, entitled Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series, examines the events leading up to the fix, well through the rest of the players lives. The players on the Chicago White Sox team of 1919 had many reasons to believe they were being unfairly treated. One of which was their poor salaries as compared to the rest of the league. Even though this team was compiled of some the greatest players in the league, they were one of the lowest paid franchises. Their owner, Charles Comiskey, was a man who had no ideas of fair play in regards to his employees. He is comparable to a robberbarron of the time, for he treated his players as less then human. He provided them only $3 a day for food allowances when most other teams allotted their players $4, and even reduced the frequency of cleaning the players uniforms to save money to give examples. Chicagos number one pitcher in the rotation was Eddie Cicotte. He was seemingly the most disrespected player on the team. He only received an annual salary of $6,000 for his spectacular play. He was made promise of a $10,000 bonus if he had achieved 30 wins, and was benched to prohibit him from reaching this goal and acquiring his money. He was the first player to go along with Gandil. The treatment of their number won pitcher is a shining example of how Comisky treated his player. And what made the matter even worse was that Comisky treated the press as one would treat a dear friend. He went so far as to have a chef at there disposal while at the ball park. Asinof projects the impression that if the players had viewed themselves as being fairly treated, or at least able to seek employment with another team...
