The Ninth Man Out

Published in The National Pastime
SABR, Volume 20, c2000

Eight Men Out! The Black Sox! Shoeless Joe! What baseball fan isn't familiar with the saga of the infamous Chicago White Sox team that threw the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds?

Even the most casual fan knows about legendary, slugging left fielder Shoeless Joe Jackson. But it takes a student of the game to name the other conspirators who were banned from organized baseball for life along with Jackson. Of course, there's star third baseman Buck Weaver who didn't take any money and played his best, but had "guilty knowledge" of the fix. Then there's Chick Gandil, the rough and tumble first baseman and acknowledged ringleader of the gang. And Eddie Cicotte, the veteran hurler who received $10,000 for throwing the first game and later retired Moonlight Graham in Field of Dreams.

Those are the easy ones - now it starts to get tricky. Let's see, there's pitcher Lefty Williams, who lost three games in the Series. And Swede Risberg the rifle-armed shortstop, another of the ringleaders. And Happy Felsch, the naïve, good natured, power-hitting center fielder who just seemed to be along for the ride. The eighth man, Fred McMullen, is a tough one. He was a utility infielder who rarely played, but overheard the others discussing the plot and weaseled his way in.

The ninth man out? Everyone knows there were only eight Sox players suspended in the closing days of the 1920 season and subsequently barred from the game for life. In fact, Eight Men Out is the title of the best-known book (subsequently a movie) on the subject.

But there was a ninth major league baseball player banned from the game for his role in the 1919 Series. He didn't play in the Series. He wasn't even a member of the White Sox, but his career in organized baseball was closed with the same finality as the others.

No, the ninth man wasn't the notorious Hal Chase. Chase was certainly involved and, in fact, was indicted in the scandal. But Prince Hal was already through with organized ball for other offenses. It wasn't Benny Kauff, either. His name also came up in the hearings, but he was suspended from baseball for stealing cars, not fixing games. It wasn't Bill Burns. The professional gambler and former Sox pitcher played a role in the fix, but he'd been out of the majors for eight years. Nor was it Ivy Olson, or Johnny Rawlings, or Jean Dubuc, other players whose names came up in the investigation. How about White Sox pitcher Dickie Kerr, the hero of the Series who won two games while many of his teammates were laying down behind him? Kerr did get suspended from organized ball - allegedly for barnstorming against the banished players. But, that was after the 1921 season and he was eventually reinstated. He was a hero of the scandal, not a villain.

The ninth man was twenty-six-year-old infielder Joe Gedeon, a member of the St. Louis Browns.

Who's Joe Gedeon? Why is he rarely mentioned in most accounts of the scandal? Was he just another forgettable character on the fringes of the great conspiracy?

Actually, Gedeon was a valuable ball player, the Browns' regular second baseman and a potential star. His testimony was key to the legal proceedings against the Black Sox and his subsequent expulsion was considered unfair by many.

Gedeon seemed to have a knack for getting in with the wrong crowd. He was friends with some of the conspirators, especially Risberg, who also hailed from Northern California. He had played with Risberg, Williams, and McMullen in the Pacific Coast league, and had been a Washington Senators teammate of Gandil. He was also on excellent terms with certain representatives of the St. Louis gambling community. Gedeon attended the Series both in Chicago and Cincinnati. He traveled with the Sox and hung out with his buddies. Not surprisingly he heard about the fix and placed a few "sporting" bets.

Rumors of a fix had started circulating even before the 1919 Series began and reached a crescendo when the heavily favored Sox lost in a suspicious manner. Shortly thereafter, White Sox owner Charles Comiskey offered a $20,000 reward for information regarding the alleged conspiracy.

Many baseball historians consider Comiskey's offer nothing more than a grandstand play. Gedeon, however, rose to the bait and traveled to Chicago to meet with him. Joe apparently confirmed that games had indeed been fixed and named several prominent St. Louis gamblers who were involved. Comiskey refused to pay Gedeon, dismissing his information as useless. A year later a grand jury would take a different view.

The Cook County Grand Jury was convened on September 7, 1920, to investigate the possible fixing of a Chicago Cubs game played a week earlier. However, the jury's focus quickly shifted to the 1919 World Series and the eight White Sox players. As evidence mounted, the players grew jittery. Cicotte, followed by Jackson and Williams, confessed their involvement. The eight Sox players were indefinitely suspended from organized baseball. At the time of the suspension, the Sox stood a half-game behind the Cleveland Indians with three games left on the schedule - ironically enough, against Gedeon's Browns.

During the last weeks of the season, while the controversial hearings raged, Gedeon was a nervous wreck. According to a November 4, 1920 Sporting News article he "trembled in constant fear and dread, lost twenty pounds, and played ball like a man dumb and dazed." The added pressure of playing the last three games against the Sox, with the conspicuous absence of the suspended players, undoubtedly took a toll.

Shortly after the season ended with the Sox in second place, Gedeon's name surfaced in the continuing investigation and he voluntarily journeyed from his California home to appear before the grand jury in Illinois. According to his testimony, he and Hal Chase (who managed to dodge the proceedings) placed bets on the Reds on a tip from one of the indicted players, presumably Risberg. On the stand, Gedeon also revealed the names of several St. Louis gamblers involved in the fix. He may, in fact, have been responsible for their involvement. Upon receiving the tip, Joe asked some local gambling acquaintances for assistance in getting money down on the Reds, unintentionally passing the inside information on to the gambling community. Gedeon testified that he pocketed between $600 and $700 from his bets. Asked to explain his relatively paltry winnings, he said his conscience started to bother him. His later admission that he didn't have much seed money is probably closer to the mark.

After his appearance, it was announced that Gedeon was exonerated from complicity in the throwing of games in the Series, but had materially strengthened the case against some of the men already indicted.

Outside the courtroom, Gedeon told the press that he feared he was through with baseball. He was right. According to a brief notation in the 1922 Reich Guide, Gedeon was permanently disqualified by Commissioner Landis on November 3, 1921, for having "guilty knowledge" of the conspiracy. It was hardly necessary. The Browns had dropped him from their roster immediately after his grand jury appearance. He wasn't even included on their reserve list for the 1921 season, although the Sox reserve list included all eight of the banned players.

Gedeon's role in the Black Sox scandal may not have altered the course of baseball history, but his banishment from the game may have greatly affected the future of the St. Louis Browns franchise. In the early twenties, the Browns were solid contenders and the favored team in St. Louis. They finished fourth in 1920, with young superstar George Sisler hitting .400 at first base and Kenny Williams, Baby Doll Jacobson, and Jack Tobin all topping .300 in the outfield. Gedeon teamed with shortstop Wally Gerber to form a classy double play combination. The next season, without Gedeon, they finished third. Seven players tried their hand at second with rookie Marty McManus, a converted third baseman, finally settling in as the regular. In summarizing the 1921 season the Reich Guide noted the Browns season-long infield weakness due to Gedeon's absence.

In 1922, the New York Yankees, led by slugging phenom Babe Ruth, captured their second straight pennant. Yet the Browns fought them down the wire, winning 93 games. When the dust settled, a single game separated the two clubs. McManus was solid at bat for the Browns, but led the league in errors at second base. Meanwhile a host of prospects and suspects mishandled the hot corner. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to conclude that with Gedeon at second and McManus at his natural third base post, the Browns might have made up that game on the Yankees and brought the pennant to the city of St. Louis.

Instead, the first St. Louis pennant of the 20th century went to the rival Cardinals when they won the flag in 1926. They also captured the heart of the city and became a National League power. Meanwhile the Browns gradually drifted into the depths of the American League standings and seemed to become permanently relegated to second-class status. Even a 1944 wartime pennant couldn't revive the struggling Browns franchise (The Cards beat them in the World Series) and they finally fled to Baltimore in 1954.

Would Gedeon have made the difference? The record indicates he could have. At the time of his suspension, he was just reaching his prime. Joe was acquired by the Browns prior to the 1918 season and settled in as their regular second baseman. He hit only .213 in his first year with them, but improved more than 40 points to .254 in 1919. He jumped another 38 points in 1920 to finish with a solid .292 average, and scored 95 runs in 153 games.

Gedeon was only nineteen when he first reached the majors with Washington in 1913. When he didn't get much playing time with the Senators he was returned to the Pacific Coast League. Gedeon was comfortable in the Coast League and was often quoted as saying he would just as soon stay on the coast where it was warm. In fact, his strong affinity for temperate climates almost ended his major league career before it started. When Joe was due to arrive for his first major league training camp, Washington manager Clark Griffin, mindful of the youth and inexperience of his new recruit, dispatched coach Germany Schaefer to meet him up at the train station. Griffin's club was training in Charlottesville, Virginia and a midnight blizzard had blown in. Young Gedeon, who was seeing snow for the first time, adamantly refused to disembark. "I ain't getting off in a blizzard for nobody!" he shouted at the shivering Schaefer from the Pullman. He returned a week later when the snow melted. Normally a raw rookie would be unceremoniously booted out of camp for this, but Gedeon was apparently such a prodigy that he was forgiven. After an outstanding season with Salt Lake City in 1915, Joe signed with the outlaw Federal League for $7,000, a tremendous sum in those days for an unproven player. When the Federal League folded, his contract was sold to the Yankees. But his career didn't begin to blossom until he was traded to the Browns.

The redheaded Gedeon was a rangy, 6-foot, 167-pound, right-handed hitter with good speed and an excellent glove. He had a history of terrorizing pitchers early in the year, but tailing off as the season progressed. Joe apparently had a well-developed sense of humor. An often-told story involves an encounter between fireballer Walter Johnson and Gedeon, when he was with the Yankees. After a called strike by umpire Billy Evans, Gedeon asked where the pitch was. Sensing a dispute, the suspicious arbitrator asked why he wanted to know. "I never saw it. I had to close my eyes," Joe admitted sheepishly.

His hometown paper, The Sacramento Bee, provided this somewhat biased synopsis of Gedeon's brief career: "Joe was never a batter of high average but he offset that by being a mighty smart batsman. Most of the time in his major league career he was second in the hitting order and was regarded as one of the best in the tricky business of hit and run. Gedeon was a wonderful defensive player. His fielding at second base brought him the rating as one of the greatest keystone artists in the majors."

A good argument could be made that Gedeon was treaty unfairly. After all, he didn't play in the Series and there's no proof that he had anything to do with plotting the affair. In fact, he insisted that he didn't even know about the fix before the Series started. Gedeon's "guilty knowledge" doesn't appear to be any greater than several other players on the fringe of the scandal, including some of the "clean" Sox. What set Gedeon apart was that he cooperated with the grand jury and apparently told the truth.

The Sporting News bade farewell to Gedeon with these remarks. "There are other Joe Gedeons - ballplayers who are as culpable as the former second baseman of the Browns, but they are not bowed in shame.......When we look at them or recall their names as they have appeared on the suspected list, we can but think: Gedeon, bad as you appear, you are a credit to baseball beside those you have left behind."

Unlike the banished Black Sox, Gedeon quickly dropped out of sight after his suspension. He continued to play in independent West Coast leagues, and resurfaced briefly when other players were threatened with banishment from organized baseball for playing against him. Otherwise, he lived in obscurity in the Sacramento area until moving to San Francisco in the late thirties.

He preceded all of the banished Sox to the grave, suffering a slow death from cirrhosis of the liver at the age of forty-seven in 1941. His occupation was listed as retired saloon keeper. Brief obituaries in the New York Times and the San Francisco Examiner referred to him as an ex-ballplayer, but failed to mention his role in the scandal which cost him his career.