Hist 2516: Eight Men out Review

Josh Levi

Thomas Zeiler

HIST 2516

5, October 2015

Eight Men Out Review

In Eight Men Out, directed by John Sayles, a unique group of baseball players are put in a position were they have no choice but to take the illegal route to better their lives. This team, the Chicago White Sox, better known as the scandalous Black Sox, conspired with gamblers to internationally throw the 1919 World Series. Ironically, the White Sox were considered the most skillful, greatest all around baseball team ever put together. Unfortunately, a miser of an owner, Charles Comiskey, underpaid most of the team leaving them no choice but to earn a little side money to support there families. The team looked distraught even after they had clinched the World Series. They walked into a locker room with champagne that was flat, and news that this locker room party compromised the bonus they were promised. The team was disappointed and angry with Comiskey.

        Bill Burns, and Billy Maharg, two big time gamblers saw this opportunity to reach out to players who needed the extra money. Understanding their discontent, they approached a select group of players to collude together to throw the World Series. One player in particular, Eddie Cicotte, the teams star pitcher, was the teams biggest asset. Having him along only meant that the master plan would surly work. Some of the other players that were involved, Chick, Swede, and Lefty all played major roles in that as well. One of the greatest star players to play the game, Shoeless Joe Jackson was strung along in the plan, although, he lacked the proper social skills to tell the players that he did not want to partake in the intentional errors. Chick, in particular told him he had no choice.

        In the movie certain characters that were protagonists included Charles Comiskey and Chick Gandil. From Comiskey’s end, he was the leading reason of why the players felt pressured to even consider throwing what was supposed to be an easy victory. He held all the players back, and deserved to be sentenced to trial for underpaying. One scene in particular was when star pitcher, Eddie, asked for the bonus he was promised if he won 30 games in the season. The book read 29 wins, although, Comiskey decided to bench him two weeks for no apparent reason to restrain him from winning. Chick on the other hand was also a big protagonist, being unjust to some of the players that realistically had no choice but to agree to help throw the game. He forced and pressed them until they said yes. The way he played made it way to obvious that he wasn’t playing at his best. The manager of the team Kid, as they called him, had suspicions but didn’t want to assume anything because he would have taken most of the blame for it.