WHO IS THE MYSTERIOUS SPORT SULLIVAN?
Once again on this week’s That’s Enough Outta You podcast, we dispel a legend that has been accepted as fact. We have done this so many times before on the Podcast with disinformation about the Kennedys. This time it is about the legend that Arnold Rothstein, the powerful Jewish gangster from New York, was the mastermind behind the 1919 Black Sox Scandal. This is simply not true. The mastermind of this scandal was a mysterious figure from Boston named Joseph J. "Sport" Sullivan.
Who is Sport Sullivan?
Joseph J. "Sport" Sullivan is a bookmaker and gambler from Boston. He is very different from other legendary Irish gangsters like Owney Madden, Jimmy Coonan and Whitey Bulger. Sport Sullivan was a math wizard and big-time gambler. He made huge bets on the 1903 World Series and tried to bribe Boston pitcher Cy Young. Sport was arrested for gambling on baseball in 1907. In 1919, Sport came up with a plan to fix the 1919 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds. Sport met with White Sox First basemen Chick Gandil in a room at the legendary Buckminster Hotel in Boston near Historic Fenway park. Sport had a long-time association with Gandil. Sport and Gandil brought in more players and they wanted up-front money so Sport went to perhaps the most powerful gangster in the country at the time, Arnold Rothstein. Sport and Rothstein had a mutual respect for one another. This goes to a deep connection between Irish and Jewish gangsters that they did not have with other ethnic groups, besides the Italians. Rothstein agreed to bankroll the plan for $80,000. Rothstein provided an initial $40,000 for Sullivan to distribute to the players, however Sullivan kept $30,000 for his own gambling addiction and gave $10,000 to Gandil for him and the other players. After the plan had been exposed, Sullivan did not testify in front of the Chicago grand jury hearing in October 1920, because Rothstein’s attorney, William J. Fallon advised him not to do so. Rothstein paid Sport 50K to Flee to Mexico to avoid the nine Indictments leveled against him. Sport was never arrested but he was not seen again until the 1926 World Series at Yankee stadium, where he was spotted and escorted out by Police. He died in 1949 as a mysterious footnote to history.
Shoeless Joe Jackson
Another Legend that we dispel on the podcast is that White Sox player Shoeless Joe Jackson was one of the players involved in the Black Sox scandal. Jackson was banned from Baseball and it has been accepted as fact that he was involved in a lot of circles, however he never attended any of the meetings with the other players and Sport Sullivan. During the World Series , Jackson led both teams in several statistical categories and set a World Series record with 12 base hits so he did a very bad job if he was fixing the series and trying to lose on purpose. In the series he batted .375, committed zero errors and threw a base runner out at the plate. I believe the other players approached Jackson to participate but he declined. Some players would later admit that they gave his name to the Grand Jury just to lend credibility to their statements. I think when one looks at the evidence fairly, that it can be concluded the Jackson was innocent and the ban by baseball was a horrible mistake. As we discuss a lot on our podcast, lies and rumors lead to a cloud of suspicion that is hard for one to escape and it leads to false legends being created!
