Caveat: Many of the facts surrounding this scandal are in dispute.
This chronology is an attempt to provide one reasonably plausible account of events, but is unlikely to be 100% accurate in every detail.
| 09-18-1919 | Arnold “Chick” Gandil, first baseman for the Chicago White Sox, meets with Joseph “Sport” Sullivan, a gambler, and tells him that the World Series can be bought. |
| 09-19-1919 | Charles “Swede” Risberg, shortstop, Fred McMullin, infielder, and Eddie Cicotte, pitcher, join Gandil in a plot to throw the World Series. |
| 09-20-1919 | George “Buck” Weaver, third baseman, Claude “Lefty” Williams, pitcher, Oscar “Happy” Felsch, center fielder, meet with Gandil, Risberg, McMullin and Cicotte to devise a plan. By some accounts, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, left fielder, was also present. |
| 09-21-1919 | Cicotte runs into William “Sleepy Bill” Burns, a retired baseball player turned gambler, who expresses his interest in the fix. Burns asks Billy Maharg, an ex-fighter, to help him get the money together to pay the players. |
| 09-23-1919 | Burns and Maharg approach Arnold Rothstein, an infamous gambler of the time, and Abe Attell, his associate, to supply the money to fix the World Series. Rothstein turns them down. |
| 09-24-1919 | Attell notifies Burns that Rothstein has changed his mind (a lie) and will put up $100,000 but does not want his name mentioned. |
| 09-26-1919 | Sullivan approaches Rothstein separately with the same proposal as Burns and Maharg. Rothstein shows interest because he has more respect for Sullivan. He sends Nat Evans, his associate, to find out if the players can be bought. |
| 09-29-1919 | Rothstein sends $40,000 to be given to the players. Sullivan gives Gandil $10,000 and bets the rest on the series. Another $40,000 is placed in a safe at the Hotel Congress in Chicago to be paid out after the series. |
| 10-01-1919 | Cincinnati wins the first game of the World Series 9 to 1. That evening Charles Comiskey, Chicago White Sox Owner, and Kid Gleason, Chicago White Sox Manager, discuss rumors that the series may be fixed. |
| 10-02-1919 | Cincinnati wins the second game of the World Series 4 to 2. |
| 10-03-1919 | Chicago wins the third game of the World Series 3 to 0. |
| 10-04-1919 | $20,000 is delivered to Gandil. Cincinnati wins the fourth game of the World Series 2 to 0. |
| 10-06-1919 | Cincinnati wins the fifth game of the World Series 5 to 0. |
| 10-07-1919 | Chicago wins the sixth game of the World Series 5 to 4. |
| 10-08-1919 | Chicago wins the seventh game of the series 4 to 1. According to some reports, that evening Williams, the starting pitcher in game 8, and his wife are threatened with physical harm by a man if Williams makes it past the first inning tomorrow. |
| 10-09-1919 | In the first inning of the eighth game, Williams gives up four consecutive hits and three runs. He is removed from the game. Cincinnati wins the game 10 to 5 and takes the championship. The next day, sports reporter Hugh Fullerton writes that Comiskey had decided that seven players would not return next year. |
| 10-15-1919 | Comiskey releases a statement that if anyone knows about the possible fix of the World Series he will pay them $20,000. |
| 12-15-1919 | The New York World publishes an explosive article by Hugh Fullerton suggesting that the World Series was fixed. |
| 12-15-1919 | The New York World publishes an explosive article by Hugh Fullerton suggesting that the World Series was fixed. |
| 09-07-1920 | The Cook County Grand Jury convenes to investigate whether or not a game between the Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies had been fixed on August 31. |
| 09-24-1920 | The attention of the grand jury turns to the 1919 World Series when New York Giants pitcher Rube Benton testifies that he knew the series was fixed and names Gandil, Felsch, Williams and Cicotte. |
| 09-27-1920 | Details of the scandal breaks publicly and appear in newspaper articles across the country. |
| 09-28-1920 | Eddie Cicotte confesses to the fix. Eight White Sox players are indicted. Comiskey sends a telegram notifying the players that they have been suspended indefinitely, causing the Sox pennant bid to collapse. |
| 09-29-1920 | Joe Jackson calls the criminal court building and says he also wants to confess. |
| 10-01-1920 | Claude Williams confesses to his role in the scandal. Arnold Rothstein testifies before the grand jury and places the blame on Abe Attell. |
| 10-27-1920 | Rothstein is exonerated of any blame in the scandal. |
| 11-11-1920 | Kenesaw Mountain Landis is appointed baseball’s first commissioner. |
| 02-14-1921 | The players and five indicted gamblers are arraigned and the defense files a petition for a bill of particulars to set forth the charges in detail. |
| 03-13-1921 | Landis places all eight players on the ineligible list. |
| 07-05-1921 | Jury selection begins. |
| 07-15-1921 | The final juror is selected. |
| 07-18-1921 | The prosecution gives its opening remarks in the trial. |
| 07-23-1921 | The Illinois State Attorney’s Office reveals that the confessions signed by Cicotte, Jackson and Williams are missing, along with the waivers of immunity. |
| 07-29-1921 | Final arguments in the trial begin. The state asks for a sentence of five years in jail and a $2,000 fine for each person involved. |
| 08-02-1921 | The jury deliberates for less than three hours and returns a verdict of not guilty. |
| 08-03-1921 | Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis announces that he will banish the eight players from baseball for life, despite the acquittal. |
| 11-06-1928 | Arnold Rothstein dies at age 46 from a gunshot wound to the abdomen. |
| 10-26-1931 | Charles Comiskey dies at age 72 in his Wisconsin summer home. |
| 1944 | Judge Landis dies at age 78. |
| 12-05-1951 | Joe Jackson dies at age 62 in Greenville, SC. Former occupation – liquor store owner. |
| 11-21-1952 | Fred McMullin dies at age 61 in Los Angeles, CA. |
| 01-31-1956 | George Weaver dies of a heart attack at age 66, in Chicago, IL. Former occupation – drugstore owner. |
| 11-04-1959 | Claude Williams dies at age 66 in Laguna Beach CA. Former occupation – gardener and nursery owner. |
| 08-17-1964 | Oscar Felsch dies at age 73 in Milwaukee, WI. Former occupation – bartender. |
| 05-15-1969 | Eddie Cicotte dies at age 85 in Detroit, MI. Former occupation – game warden. |
| 12-13-1970 | Arnold Gandil dies at age 82 in Calistoga, CA. Former occupation – plumber. |
| 11-13-1975 | Charles Risberg dies at age 81 in Red Bluff, CA. Former occupation – dairy farmer. |
This page was created by Patti Garringer and Traci Peterson, 3Ls