1919 Project – Game 3

The third game of the 1919 World Series took place on October 3rd at Comiskey Park in Chicago. 29,126 fans attended the game, and were able to see the White Sox snag one of their few victories in the series.

• 

Prior to Game 3, some of the Black Sox promised the gamblers they wouldn’t win behind rookie Dickie Kerr – they’d save their wins for vets like Cicotte and Williams. The plan was for the Black Sox conspirators, who disliked Kerr, to lose this game.

Kerr, however, was clearly not in on the fix. But because many players had not yet received any money, the whole scheme was in disarray. One of Rothstein’s men gathered the last of his resources to bet on Cincinnati. It was a decision that would leave him broke.

• 

Chicago scored early when primary conspirator Chick Gandil drove in two runs. The tough lefty Kerr was masterful, holding the Reds to only three hits as he pitched a 3–0 complete game shutout.

• 

The Reds’ Ray Fisher was credited with the loss, despite giving up only 2 earned runs in 7 innings. Cuban-born Adolfo Domingo De Guzmán “Dolf” Luque pitched a masterful inning of relief, but it was too little, too late. As a blue-eyed, fair-skinned, white Cuban, Luque was one of several white Cubans to make it in Major League Baseball at a time when non-whites were excluded. He would later be enshrined in the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame, the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame, and the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame.

The White Sox had finally won a game, but the plan to throw the series was in disarray. The players themselves weren’t sure who was trying to win and who wasn’t, and nobody really knew what would happen next.

• 

• 

•