Edward Victor Cicotte ( ,
later (June 19, 1884 – May 5, 1969), nicknamed "Knuckles", was an
American
right-handed
pitcher in Major League Baseball best known for
his time with the Chicago White
Sox. He was one of eight players permanently ineligible
for professional baseball for his alleged participation in the
Black Sox scandal in the
1919 World Series, in which the favored
White Sox lost to the
Cincinnati
Reds in eight games.
Biography
Cicotte was the son of Ambrose Cicotte (1843-1894) and Archange
Mary Drouillard (1843-1909), both of mainly French-Canadian
extraction. His father's early death is said to have pushed Cicotte
to excel and be very protective of his family. He married Rose
Ellen Freer (1885-1958), daughter of Russell John Freer (1852-1932)
and Annie Cecile Thornton (1863-1928), both of whom would later
live with the Cicottes. They had two daughters, Rose (born 1906)
and Virginia (1916-1992), and one son, Edward Jr.
(1919-1992).
Career
Cicotte was a
starting pitcher and
a
knuckleball specialist who won 208
games and lost 149 over the course of a 14-year career pitching for
the
Detroit Tigers,
Boston Red Sox, and White Sox. At the time of
his lifetime ban, he was considered one of the premier pitchers in
the American League.
A Detroit
native,
Cicotte played baseball in Georgia
in 1905, where he was a teammate of Ty Cobb. Both players were purchased by the
Tigers, and Cicotte made his big-league debut on
September 3,
1905. Pitching
in three games for Detroit, Cicotte compiled a 1-1 record with a
3.50
ERA.
Cicotte didn't return to the major leagues again until 1908, when
he resurfaced with the Red Sox. After he compiled a 41-48 record in
a Boston uniform, the Red Sox sold him to the White Sox on July 22,
1912.
Cicotte celebrated a breakout year in 1913, going 18-12 on the
season with an ERA of 1.58. He went on to lead the league in
winning percentage in 1916. But his
best year was 1917, when he won 28 games and led the league in
wins, ERA, and
innings pitched. On
April 14 he threw a
no
hitter against the
St. Louis Browns. That
year, the White Sox went to the World Series, defeating the
New York Giants 4 games to 2.
Cicotte won Game 1, lost Game 3, and pitched six innings of relief
in Game 5 for a no-decision.
Injuries reduced Cicotte to a 12-19 record in 1918, but in 1919, he
rebounded to win 29 games and once again lead the league in wins,
winning percentage, and innings pitched, as well as in
complete games. His 1919 salary was $6,000,
but he had a provision for a $10,000 bonus if he won 30 games.
Legend has it that as the season drew to a close, owner
Charles Comiskey ordered manager
Kid Gleason to bench Cicotte, denying him a
chance at a 30-win season and the bonus money. Some have speculated
this was his motivation for participating in the
fix, although the facts do not appear to
support this conclusion. (See
Black
Sox scandal.)
Scandal
However, the book
Eight Men
Out by
Eliot Asinof and the
movie based on the book does record that Cicotte, despite being
grossly underpaid for a pitcher of his ability, resisted repeated
attempts by
Chick Gandil to get him to
throw the series until just days before the World Series opened
when it became clear that Comiskey would never pay him even part of
the promised bonus. The fact that the offer price for the fix
exactly matched the promised bonus, lends credibility to this
version of events.
In the 1919 World Series against the Reds, Cicotte pitched in three
games, winning one but pitching ineffectively and losing the other
two.
Cicotte was the first of the eight players to come forward, signing
a confession and a waiver of immunity. He later recanted this
confession and was acquitted of all charges at trial by jury.
Despite this, Cicotte and his alleged co-conspirators were
subsequently made permanently ineligible for baseball by
Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Major
League Baseball's new commissioner, recently hired to restore the
integrity of the game in the wake of the 1919 scandal.
His baseball career over, Cicotte returned to Detroit, where he
worked for the
Ford Motor Company
and other miscellaneous jobs, including a berry farmer, until his
death in Detroit at age 84. He also served as a
Game Warden in the
Michigan Department of
Wildlife Resources.
Aftermath
In the
1988 film
Eight Men Out, about the Black Sox
scandal, Cicotte is portrayed by actor
David Strathairn.
Portrayed by actor
Steve Eastin in the
1989 film
Field of Dreams.
Cicotte's grandnephew
Al Cicotte
(1929-1982) would later pitch in the major leagues, compiling a
lifetime 10-13 record with six different teams, 1957-1962.
See also
References
- "From the time he joined the Indians in 1908 through the season
of 1920, Jack Graney faced Cicotte many times. He knew him well. He
often told stories about Eddie Sigh-COT-ee. Some were humorous,
others deadly serious, and all of them touched with sadness because
Jack Graney had liked and admired Cicotte. But in the movie version
of Eight Men Out, Cicotte was called SEE-cot. Why? Because in the
1950s Al Cicotte pitched in the major leagues. Not wanting to be
associated with his infamous relative, Al pronounced his name
SEE-cot. That was the pronunciation picked up by the film
makers.[1][2]
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