Card #6 - Eddie Murphy"Honest" Eddie Murphy played for the White Sox from 1915 until 1921. During that time, he played in one World Series with the South Side team in 1919, which the Sox were accused and acquitted of throwing.
In the wake of lifetime bans to eight of the 1919 World Series White Sox players, Eddie was deemed to have played honestly. In response to this, Charles Comiskey sent the following letter to Eddie.
Dear friend:
If it be possible, I regret more than you do the occurrences of the 1919 worlds series. The honest ball player is stronger to-day than ever.
As one of the honest ballplayers of the Chicago White Sox team of 1919, I feel that you were deprived of the winner's share of the worlds series receipts through no fault of yours. I do not intend that you, as an honest ball player, should be penalized for your honesty, or suffer by reason of the dishonesty of others. I therefore take pleasure in handing to you $1,500.00, being the difference between the winning and losing players share.
I wish you all the luck possible, and hope that the future will bring nothing but happiness to you and yours.
Very truly yours,
Charles Comiskey
Eddie was on the 1917 team, but did not appear in the World Series that year.
Kind of puts the Old Roman in a whole new light
ReplyDeleteIt just goes to show that there are multiple sides to every story. The story of the Old Roman as a penny pinching tyrant is now part of the lexicon thanks to movies like Eight Men Out which presented Comiskey as a caricature of himself. Generosity such as this and trying for Babe Ruth show that there was more complexity behind Comiskey. He even footed the bill for the Black Sox legal team, when he thought that those players didn't cheat.
ReplyDeleteThis is not who I was expecting when I saw the title of the article.
ReplyDelete