This is the fifth and final entry in my recollection of my favorite scenes in my favorite sports movies, following Bull Durham, Hoosiers, Rocky and White Men Can’t Jump. Today we consider a great movie gone bad, much like the characters within it.
Eight Men Out (1988)
The Choice: What if the premise of a movie, long thought to be true, turns out to be false?
Because that appears to be the case with this tale about the infamous 1919 Black Sox Scandal. Based on Eliot Asinof’s 1963 book of the same title, it depicts the manner in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox conspired to throw that year’s World Series against the Cincinnati Reds.
The movie, directed by John Sayles, seems to provide crucial context for why the White Sox were inclined to dump the Series: They were woefully underpaid by their tightwad owner, Charles Comiskey (played by Clifton James).
That was brought home by two scenes early in the movie, and two scenes I was fully prepared to list as my favorites — one where the White Sox leave the field after securing the American League pennant, and discover that Comiskey has provided them champagne (flat champagne, at that) in lieu of monetary bonuses, and another where star pitcher Eddie Cicotte (David Strathairn) visits Comiskey in his office to ask about a $10,000 bonus for winning 30 games.
“Harry,” Comiskey asks his right-hand man, Harry Grabiner (Jack Merrill), “how many games did Mr. Cicotte win for us this year?”
“Twenty-nine, sir.”
Cicotte pleads his case, saying manager Kid Gleason (John Mahoney) held him out for two weeks in midseason. Comiskey is unmoved.
“Twenty-nine is not 30, Eddie,” he says. “You will get only the money you deserve.”
Great scene, but it’s all hokum. Baseball historians have pointed out that contrary to what Sayles (and Asinof before him) portrayed, those White Sox were not underpaid. In fact, they had the second-highest payroll in the major leagues in 1919. And the salaries, even for alleged conspirators like third baseman Buck Weaver ($6,500), outfielder Joe Jackson ($6,000) and Cicotte ($5,000), were in line with those other players received in that day and age. Moreover, Cicotte did receive a bonus — for $2,000, not $10,000 — in 1917, when he went 28-12, and likely received another in ‘19.
This is all flabbergasting. Next thing you know, we’re gonna find out that the White Sox actually won that World Series.
Runner-Up: I guess I’ve gotta go with the heroic sportswriters, right? Throughout the movie, Hugh Fullerton (played by author Studs Turkel) and Ring Lardner (played by Sayles) have an idea that something’s up. They circle suspicious plays on their scorecards. They crack wise. And in real life the two of them — along with another writer, James Isaminger — revealed the startling truth about the Black Sox.
Nitpicks: You mean other than, like, nearly everything? Well, there’s also this: According to IMDB.com, Asinof admitted that the wife of pitcher Lefty Williams was not threatened with bodily harm if her husband failed to dump his second start of the Series, as the author depicted in his book and Sayles depicted in the movie. And one more thing: The whole “Say it ain’t so, Joe” thing was long ago revealed as a myth — and that Fullerton might have been at least partially responsible for that.
Aimless Fact: Ken Berry, who spent the first nine of his 14 major league seasons as an outfielder with the White Sox, appears as a heckler in the film.
At least they’re saying it was him.