Posted By:
John SDan,
As I stated in my original post many others were likely involved, not only with the 1919 Series fix but since the advent of the professional game. The owners definitely had the upper hand in the days of the reserve clause and these players were not making orders of magnitude more than the average worker (as they do today). However, they cheated out of greed, not necessity. The players that cheat today (steroids) are doing it for the same basic reason. More homeruns equals a bigger paycheck.
My problem is how these men (whether it is the Black Sox players or Tris Speaker or Cobb) are given Robinhood status. The Black Sox players cheated, they were caught, and punished. They do not deserve to be martyred or portrayed as victims of an oppressive system.