1918 World Series May Have Been Thrown by Cubs

During the 1918 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox, new evidence has emerged that Chicago may have thrown the game.

Eddie Cicotte, a member of one of the infamous Black Sox who was banned from baseball, suggested that the Chicago White Sox got their idea to throw the 1919 World Series after the Cubs, according to legal documents from 1920.

Cicotte said in a 1920 court deposition that “the boys on the club,” a number of Cub team members, were offered $10,000 to throw the World Series in 1918, according to The Associated Press, citing the document that was posted on the Chicago History Museum’s website.

As the website notes, “Many baseball historians believe some White Sox players intentionally lost the 1919 Series to the Cincinnati Reds.”

AP notes that Cicotte is extremely vague in his deposition and didn’t give out any names or details.

“It is interesting to me as a Cubs fan and a historian of Chicago that both teams could be involved in back-to-back years,” said Peter Alter, an archivist at the museum, according to AP.

The Red Sox won that series 4-2 against the Cubs. After that, Boston didn’t win another one until 2004.

“Did the Cubs cheat in 1918? Did the White Sox really do the same thing the next year? Does this taint the Red Sox victory in 1918? Until 2004, Boston fans looked back to that victory the same way Cubs fans still look back to 1908,” states the Chicago museum’s website.