Sports Illustrated - USA (2020 - Spring)

4

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

and Lefty Grove started their careers;

Spea ker, Ty Cobb a nd Wa lter Johnson

ended theirs. And the lowly Yankees,

stirred to life by their purchase of

Babe Ruth just five days into the de-

cade, opened Yankee Stadium and

won six pennants and three World

Series, en route to becoming—sigh—

the sport’s signature franchise.

Any history-minded baseball nut

(which is to say, any baseball nut)

would likely recall the 1920s here in

2020, round numbers being what they

are. But the resonance between those

’20s and our ’20s doubled with MLB’s

substantiation, in mid-January, of the

extensive sign-stealing operation the

Astros used during their ’17 title run.

The reason there is a commissioner of

baseball to investigate and sanction

Houston dates to the revelation, in

1920, that the 1919 World Series had

been fixed for gamblers’ benefit.

As with the Astros, a year’s worth

of whispers preceded a formal probe.

(After his heavily favored team

lost the best-of-nine World Series

5–3 to the Reds, White Sox owner

Charlie Comiskey offered a $20,

bounty, nearly $300,000 in today’s

money, to anyone with evidence of

malfeasance.) Conducting the inquiry

that remains one of the game’s most

memorable and dynamic. Small ball

gave way to slugging. Total attendance,

which had cleared 7 million just twice

before, exceeded 9 million in seven of

10 seasons. Lou Gehrig, Paul Waner

THOMAS MARSHALL, Woodrow

Wilson’s vice president, threw out the

first pitch at the Senators’ home opener

against Boston; the Indians, behind

centerfielder Tris Speaker, got off to a

33–16 start. Yet it inaugurated a decade

BET

TM

AN

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THE 1920
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