- Series: Diamond Heads '15
- League: American League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
William George Evans (1884-1956) began as the youngest ML umpire and went on to a Hall of Fame career of whom a top Yankee pitcher said “He is the best, fairest and squarest umpire in the league.” A rare official with no playing experience, Evans quickly established his credibility in a rowdy era. In “one of the most disgraceful scenes ever witnessed on a ball field” his skull was fractured by a hurled bottle in a Browns/Tigers game.
- A gifted writer and analyst of the game, authored books and was an early sports columnist
- Went on to executive positions with teams and head of the minor league Southern Association
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1973
- Series: Diamond Heads '15
- City: Chicago
- Team: White Sox
- League: American League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
Charles Albert Comiskey (1859-1931) rose from decent first-baseman to become one of the foremost managers and owners of baseball’s early decades. “The Old Roman’s” leadership skills emerged with his first team, the newly-minted St. Louis Browns whom he piloted to four pennants. He would go on to compile an outstanding 840-541 record. His .608 winning percentage is third-highest behind Joe McCarthy and Jim Mutrie. “Commy” parlayed his ownership of the Western Association’s Dubuque Rabbits into a franchise in the American League which he helped found in 1901. He built the White Sox stadium in 1910 which would bear his name for the next 81 years and presided for the next decade over one of the most talented and troubled teams in history. While many dismiss the charge that it was Comiskey’s penurious ways that “drove” his 1919 squad to infamy, there is no doubt he was a cheapskate of the first order. He underpaid, over-promised and reneged with abandon, epitomizing the arrogance of the reserve-clause era.
- Charles is credited with revolutionizing play at first-base, innovating play off the bag
- Owned the Chicago White Sox from 1901-1931, winning two World Series
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1939
- Series: Diamond Heads '15
- City: Philadelphia
- Team: Athletics (AL)
- League: American League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
Edward Trowbridge Collins Sr. (1887-1951) was sold by Connie Mack to the White Sox in 1915 for the amazing sum of $50,000. His salary put him behind only Cobb and Speaker. He left the “$100,000 infield” of the Athletics for what would become the most notorious team in MLB history. He never believed the rumored “fix” for the Sox in 1919 and survived the scandal to lead the team in its aftermath.
- Only man to play for 2 teams for at least 12 yrs each
- Spent 15 yrs as GM for the Red Sox under his friend Tom Yawkey
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1939
- Series: Diamond Heads '15
- City: Detroit
- Team: Tigers
- League: American League
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
Tyrus Raymond Cobb (1886-1961) swept over the baseball landscape like a tidal wave. He lived by a fierce code that drove him to greatness and others to distraction. At the end, his own words could be his epitaph: “But I beat the bastards and left them in the ditch.”
- Cobb never won a World Series and performed with mediocrity in his only three tries
- No one of his era came close to the impact, for good or ill, made by this snarling Tiger
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1936
- Series: Diamond Heads '15
- 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 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.
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