- Series: 1919 Black Sox Scandal
- City: Chicago
- Team: White Sox
- League: American League
Edward Victor “Knuckles” Cicotte (1884-1969) won 208 games and a World Series with the White Sox in 1917. The Sporting News said in 1918 that “Perhaps no pitcher in the world has such a varied assortment of wares….” But it was Eddie’s first pitch of the 1919 Series that plunked Morrie Rath in the back and signaled the fix was in. No one was ever convicted of the infamous Black Sox scandal but Cicotte, with seven teammates, never played ML ball after his tearful confession following the ’20 season.
- Cicotte, Shoeless Joe, and other banned Sox players went on to barnstorm under false names
- His mastery of the knuckleball led to a transformation of his career. His control improved to the point of walking only 89 in 572 innings in 1918/19 combined.
- Series: Diamond Heads '15
- City: Chicago
- Team: White Sox
- League: American League
John Frank Fournier (1889-1973) has been ranked by Bill James as the 35th-best first baseman of all-time. Yet, his inability to play the position competently left the managers of his five major league teams in a constant quandary. He got his ranking at the plate, not afield. Always a good hitter, as his career progressed, Jack put up numbers with the best of the era. His career BA was .313 in 15 ML seasons and he really soared when the Cardinals dealt him to Zack Wheat's Brooklyn Robins. From 1923-26 Fournier averaged .337 and slugged 82 homers. His performance with the bat only improved as he aged. A recent ranking of hitters in their Age 34 to 36 seasons shows Fournier among twenty of the best ever. In fact, only he and Gavvy Cravath failed to make the Hall after achieving what he did in his mid-thirties. And he was no slouch in his twenties. Jack began his professional endeavors with Seattle in the Northwestern League in 1908. The teenager knocked around the west coast until the White Sox came calling in 1912. In two years he was hitting .300 and rarely dipped below that threshold thereafter. Had his glove been as magnetic as his body, Jack may have played even more—he led the league in being hit-by-pitch three times.
- Fournier may well have been the most mis-matched player of his day. The stratagems of the Dead Ball era dictated many bunts, a particular weakness for the sturdy fielder. And one is left to imagine the hits he'd have had with a livelier ball
- Jack almost quit the game rather than report to the Robins. He relented and went on to the best years of his career, despite leading the NL in errors his first season in Brooklyn
- Series: Diamond Heads '15
- League: American League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
Thomas Henry Connolly (1870-1961) was a young English immigrant who became so fascinated by the strange game of baseball that he resolved to learn as much as he could about it. He devoured the rule book, began umpiring in Massachusetts and was discovered by a big league ump. So began a half-century career ending with election to the Hall of Fame as one of the first two officials so honored (with Bill Klem).
- Found his niche in the American League, officiating its first game on April 24, 1901
- From 1931 to 1954 was AL supervisor of umpires, assuring integrity and consistency in the game he knew as well as any man
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1953
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