Author probes man who fixed the Series

Chicago Daily Southtown ^ | October 26, 2003 | Steve Metsch

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Without Arnold Rothstein, the 1919 White Sox may have been known as a championship team, instead of as the team that threw the World Series. Author David Pietrusza tells a fascinating story in "Rothstein: The Life, Times and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series" (Carroll & Graf, $27).

We are taken to the seedy New York underworld from where Rothstein financed gamblers who bribed eight White Sox players to throw the World Series to Cincinnati. The Reds won the series, then a best-of-nine format, in eight games.

"Rothstein made lots of money betting on underdogs to win big. He once won $950,000 on a single horse race. He also lost $300,000 on a card game once. But, by and large, he was very profitable," Pietrusza says.

Hence Rothstein's nicknames: "The Big Bankroll," "The Brain," and "The Man Uptown."

Back in the early 1900s, baseball had strong ties to gambling. There was talk that the 1914 World Series may have been fixed. And there were rumors the 1918 World Series, featuring the Red Sox and Cubs, was targeted by gamblers who couldn't find enough money, Pietrusza says.