Working Baseball by Al Figone: Pacific Coast League Gambling Scandal of 1919

The Pacific Coast League (PCL) Scandal of 1919: “Prince Hal” Chase Had Nothing on Babe Borton

Al Figone, Ph.d

Professor Emeritus

Introduction

One of the most written about, iconic, and remembered sordid events in American sports history was the 1919 appropriately named Black Sox Scandal. Because it involved a cultural and sacred event in sports annals, the World Series, it remains in popular lore as an aberration in America’s baseball history. From a literary perspective, the scandal remains widely written and subject of an entire film based on the seminal book by Eliot Gorn and John Sayles’s movie of the same name (“Eight Men Out).”[i] It was part of another 1920’s movie (“The Great Gatsby”) and novel penned by J. Scott Fitzgerald.[ii] City-wise Meyer Wolfsheim (in real life Arnold Rothstein), “the man who fixed the World Series back in 1919” was featured in the film.

During the beginning of professional baseball in the middle of the 19^th century, there were probably more real than reported scandals as “hippodroming” or the faking or fair play was as common as a bat in the game. In one of the few reported incidents in the 1860’s, two New York Mutuals were banished from the game for consorting with gamblers. While that single event was portrayed as a common event by baseball insiders, the next scandal was a little more brazen, but not enough to warrant any formal rules changes directly aimed at banning players who rigged games. In 1877, four Louisville Players were banished from the National League (NL) for “throwing” or deliberately losing games after they had clinched the pennant, but were unpaid by their owner.[iii] By the early 20^th century, personal gambling at games in specific locations in minor and major league ballparks was open and normally not a threat to the game’s integrity. Unless, a pitcher or catcher had arranged a set of signals with specific gamblers that a batter might walk, fed a diet of “batting practice balls” to get a basehit, or hit by a pitch. In one instance, two pitchers were quietly dismissed from the San Francisco Seals’ owner Charles Graham. Barely a month into the 1920 season, pitchers Tom Seaton and Casey Smith were detected colluding with gamblers between pitches via a secret code.[iv] However, the big money involved betting on game or series outcomes. During World War I horseracing tracks shut down forcing many gamblers to shift to baseball and many stayed in the business as baseball players proved easier to bribe than jockeys who were more closely regulated.

By 1919, the game had grown up, matured, and Major League Baseball (MLB) became America’s 17^th most popular entertainment event.[v] But, so had gambling on the sport as many gamblers hung around in the same social circles as minor and major league owners, boasted of carrying professional players on their payrolls, and in some cases traveled on the same Pullman sleepers as the players.[vi] The gamblers still controlled the game to the consternation of many owners. A three-person committee composed of the two league commissioners and one executive selected as major league Baseball Commissioner talked about the gambling problem issuing perfunctory warnings. Without any local, state, or federal statutes prohibiting hippodroming, baseball executives, managers, and sportswriter were reluctant to accuse well known player-fixers such as Hal Chase and many others fearing a lawsuit. Hence, the problem had spread like an ugly wart on a disease and was rarely cured. Gambling was also quietly favored by the owners as a source of income. Parley cards in which a spectator had to select the correct outcomes out of a certain number of games, runs scored in an inning, or hits given up were regularly sold near major and minor league parks. The income generated by the card sellers was substantial. Outside of some ballparks on houses, a sign was posted “make your bets.”

Players at all levels of the game were not unreceptive to listening to and agreeing to play for gamblers. Before 1919, at least 38 players were quietly dismissed or asked to leave MLB.[vii] Adding to these conditions was that unofficial betting areas in ballparks attracted gamblers that had become well known among the owners, players, sportswriters, and law enforcement. Spectators who might see as much as $5000 changing hands during the course of the game. At times, a reform-minded administration might be elected and temporarily shut down the wagering in the park forcing the gamblers to temporarily relocate just outside the venue. In Emeryville, the Oakland Oaks of the PCL played in Oaks Park, just over the border from north Oakland on the north side of Park Avenue and east of San Pablo Blvd.[viii] If gamblers were temporarily removed from the park with a “wink of an eye,” they would move their fluid baseball gambling business 300 yards away to Park Ave.[ix]

The gamblers were not hard to spot at games at they sat as a group in a specific ballparks' locations to consummate personal or game outcome bets sporting fancy Fedoras with a fistful of money. At Washington Park in Los Angeles (before Wrigley Field on 32^nd and Avalon), home of the Angeles and Tigers, it was in the right field bleachers. After PCL president William H. McCarthy visited the franchise during the 1920 season, 11 gamblers were arrested at the ballpark, jailed, paid a $10 fine, but were back in business the next day.[x]At San Francisco’s Recreation Park, it was an area along the first base line above the dugout adjacent to the better-known “booze cage” that resided directly behind homeplate.[xi] Ignoring Prohibiting, gamblers and spectators could buy a shot of whiskey for ninety cents in the cage. After banning Roy Hurlburt and two other gamblers from PCL parks, McCarthy was walking with a lady friend to a restaurant on Geary Street when he encountered Hurlburt expecting a plea of innocence. Instead, the league president was sucker-punched barely avoided gambler’s foot, and was quickly on his feet ready to do battle. A nearby policeman broke up the fracas.[xii] The gambler owned the Colonial Club on Powell Street. Despite McCarthy’s tenuous legal position in banning reported gamblers from PCL parks, he and the owners were determined to rid the gambling parasite from the league.

Gambling on Baseball on The West Coast: The Pacific Coast League Scandal of 1919

Gambling, night clubs, lottery dens, bars, and bordellos flourished just a stone’s throw from the Oakland Oaks’ playing site. During the 1930’s , Alameda County’s District Attorney and future Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Earl Warren labeled Emeryville as “the rottenest city on the Pacific Coast. Vice is flourishing in Emeryville under the encouragement of city and public officials, who are getting their cut,”[xiii] Under these conditions, it’s easy to see how gambling on baseball was a prominent feature in a park which might host as many as 100 home games or gambling events a year. Hence, it’s not surprising that professional baseball’s feigned ignorance of its gambling problem would not surface until 1920. First in the PCL followed by the stunning revelation that eight Chicago White Sox players had dumped the 1919 World Series to Cincinnati. In the west coast circuit, it was the selling out of at least three Salt Lake Bees’ players to the Vernon Tigers in their last home and home series that brought rigging to the forefront in that league. Vernon edged the Los Angeles Angels on the last day of the season 3-2 to win 1919 PCL title before 22, 000 spectators and the $10,000 prize money. The Angels’ players, management, and followers rightfully believed they were cheated out of a pennant and money.

By 1880, professional baseballs had reached California and as two leagues were formed but did not formally join organized baseball. In that sense the California League and the California State League were outlaws and did not have to adhere to the same rules, regulations, and contractual precepts as other professional leagues. Not unexpectedly, gambling, drunkenness, and rigged games plagued both leagues.[xiv] The case of pitcher Charlie Sweeney was instructive. A talented player with a disruptive disposition fueled by alcohol and gambling, Sweeney managed to pitch his way to the majors only to self-destruct his way back to his hometown San Francisco. While serving a 10 year prison sentence for manslaughter, he contracted tuberculosis in 1902 dying in jail.[xv]

The PCL in 1919 was classified as Double A (AA) or the highest level in the minor leagues. Shedding its wild west and outlaw status from the before “the turn of the century days,” the PCL gained a measure of prestige when it engaged in a best of nine game playoff series with the American Association (AA) in what was dubbed the Little World Series (1919-1923).[xvi] Career minor leaguers, former major leaguers, and young prospects welcomed the opportunity to join the near major league as the California locations provided abundant good weather, a schedule of close to 200 games a season, and a comfortable traveling schedule. Playing a single game one in location from Tuesday to Saturday and two games on Sunday, the relative short distances (Portland-Seattle, Oakland-Sacramento-San Francisco, Los Angeles-Vernon, later Hollywood and San Diego prompted a small number of players to spend their entire careers in the PCL at a sometimes equivalent major league salary.[xvii] By the start of the 1919 season, the league included: Vernon Tigers (then named after a small suburb just across the southern border of the city of Angels), Los Angeles Angels, San Francisco Seals, Oakland Oaks, Sacramento Senators, Salt Lake Bees, Portland Beavers, and Seattle Rainiers.[xviii] Like the rest of major and minor league baseball, it was a league which had not been able to manage its independence and avoid the almost self-destruction that invariably followed when a sport became infested and informally controlled by gamblers. Professional boxing and Pedestrianism (track) were two sports whose demise in the 19^th century was caused by unchecked wagering.[xix]

Many gamblers followed certain teams up and down the coast and resided in the same hotels as players freely associating with them. Some of the more “ace-in-the-hole-bettors” included: Nate Raymond, Hal Chase (banned from MLB in 1919 along with Lee Magee and Heine Zimmernan), Sidney Cohn, Benny Rudnick, Max Zimmer, and Vince Levy. Vernon catcher Al DeVormer reported that a Salt Lake City gambler had offered him $500 to throw a game. In Seattle, McCarthy continued his war against gamblers by banning six of them from the Rainiers' Dugdale Park in early August 1920. In informing Seattle owner William H. Klepper of his actions, the PCL head stated:

“If half the reports I receive (from undercover detectives trailing players) are true,

your Chief of Police should back up his patrol wagon….and put some of the gamblers

where they belong.[xx]

McCarthy’s actions were based in part on an affidavit signed by Seattle first baseman Robert “Rod” Murphy who stated Raymond had offered him $3000 in 1920 at Seattle’s Savoy Hotel to throw games “with a lot more to come.”[xxi] When Murphy queried Raymond about which players also played for him, the gambler replied, “Rod, to prove my truthfulness to you, I will mention two players. Ask Meggert and Borton how I treated them in our agreement.”[xxii] The cost in 1919 for Borton’s services was $10,000. A profit to the gambler of $40,000 or return of 400% ( in 2014 over $569,000 in purchasing power). McCarthy was informed by Klepper that he was monitoring the gambling on Seattle’s games cancelling the president’s plans to personally investigate baseball wagering in the city. Meggert confessed to McCarthy that Borton gave him $200 at beginning of 1920 season and $300 in cash payments on July 27^th of the same season. The money was for “laying down” during the crucial series against Vernon the previous season. At first, Borton and Meggert steadfastly asserted the money was for winnings in a crap game, but, ultimately confessed the story was a lie.[xxiii] Also, Meggert alleged Raymond stiffed him out of $500 of the $1000 that he was promised. The gambler never confirmed the outfielder’s version of the agreement.[xxiv]

The 1919 PCL scandal was publicly uncovered during the latter part of the 1920 season and before the Black Sox revelations hit the newspapers. The game rigging was in all respects as deep and wide as any “lying down” recorded in the major and minor leagues. Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis' iron first baseball edict contradicted a Cook County jury’s not guilty decision temporarily delighting baseball fans. After a night of a short-lived celebration, the eight black sox would learn that MLB, baseball fans, and Babe Ruth, didn’t care about the gambling shenanigans.[xxv] Seeing the outcome of a game changed within seconds as Ruth hit one his gargantuan 54 homeruns in 1920 was more thrilling than reading about the near destruction of baseball. Suddenly, watching a game for nine innings in which only three runs were scored in unfriendly home run ballparks became boring. The PCL and MLB scandals were not dissimilar in terms how the gamblers did business with the Babe Bortons, Hal Chases, and Chick Gandils of the world. In the end, it was the “brazenness” of the baseball gambler’s and fixer’s worlds that could not bring baseball to its knees as it had boxing and pedestrianism in the 19tth century.[xxvi]

The PCL scandal was not unexpected. By the 1919 season, “laying down” for a pennant for a contending team by a pitcher or group of players was common practice at all levels of baseball. For what reasons this became a part of the professional baseball has perplexed baseball and sport historians for years. Prominent San Francisco attorney and grand jury foreman William H. McCarthy had been selected to serve the PCL full-time as president in the wake of the stolen pennant.[xxvii] With support of all eight owners, at least in eradicating the gambling nemesis (only five voted for his appointment), he quickly announced his unequivocal opposition to the rampant gambling, players selling games, and presence of a loosely organized gambling syndicate that had been known to handsomely prosper because of their connections to certain baseball players in the PCL

The 1919 PCL Scandal Uncovered 1920: The McCarthy Investigation

The 1919 scandal would have ended up in the scrap heap of fixed professional baseball games except for the alleged honesty of Salt Lake City pitching ace Ralph Stroud, McCarthy, and Los Angeles Angels’ manager Wade Killefer and players who rightfully believed certain Bees’ players sold the previous year’s pennant to Vernon.[xxviii] In their seven games series in 1920 in Los Angeles, Killefer erroneosly accused Stroud of accepting money ($500) to quit the team before the crucial September series against Vernon the year before. In truth, the pitcher bolted from the team over a 1920 contract dispute. Clearly, the pitcher was shaken by Kellefer as he was hammered in two starts and the truth may have shaken the entire team as it dropped four of six games to the Angels. Borton offered Stroud $300 twice, before his first start and after the game—both offers were refused.[xxix] Instead of ordering Killefer and the rest of the Angels to “hush up” as expected by baseball’s insiders, McCarthy hired a detective to tail the Bees. Thirty days later the Angels’ players and manager wired Stroud a telegram apologizing for the “grave injustice.”[xxx] But, the detective’s report was touched off a series of events that ultimately revealed what the baseball gambling community knew, accepted as part of baseball, and was not publicized except in rare instances. In the PCL, game rigging was a time-honored tradition. The question was: which players on how many teams were rigging games in a league that had winked an eye at the practice?

The first combination fixer, gambler, and ex-player to feel the wrath of McCarthy was Chase. Banned from MLB ballparks, the talented first baseman was immediately prohibited from entering PCL parks in August 1920.[xxxi] Simultaneously, released from the Bees was 37 year old outfielder Harl Maggert who was enjoying a stellar season batting .371 and 22 game hitting streak. On the morning of July 27^th, he was observed entering a bank in Los Angeles and receiving $300 in cash from Borton. After his planned ejection in the third game of series because of a bitter protest of a third strike, Meggert quit the team, was suspended, and fined $25. Salt Lake owner William H. Lane quickly moved to release the outfielder more than likely because of receiving information from McCarthy that the outfielder had laid down” in the previous year’s series against the Tigers. Meggert’s batting averages during the back to the back to series were .227 in five out seven home games and .167 in Los Angeles, respectively; substantially lower than his season average of .274. Asked why he had rigged in the crucial series, “I knew the other fellows were getting theirs, so I thought I may as well get mine.”[xxxii]

If Meggert was to be believed, the involvement of outfielder Bill Rumler and pitcher Gene Dale was not a stretch. Third baseman Eddie Mulligan’s name had turned up as a player “looking to make some money” before the 1919 scandal.[xxxiii] Dale had been traded to Dallas in the Texas League (TL) and experienced sudden bouts of wildness or loss of velocity during the Bees’ 11 losses to the Tigers losing three games It was also reported Dale was paid to “groove the ball” to the Tigers’ batters, (but, allowed to pitch the rest of the 1920 season in the TL). Dale refused to appear before McCarthy in California and the ruling body of minor leagues (National Organization of Professional Baseball Leagues) later banned Dale for life.[xxxiv] The Bees’ team level of play was so atrocious that even the most inexpert follower could not have missed the “laying down.”[xxxv] Under these conditions, the game was destined to be adversely affected, at least temporarily.

Later evidence submitted by master fixer Babe Borton implicated Mulligan as also receiving money to “lay down” in the 1919 Vernon series. The allegations against the future California League president illustrated how even “straight” or honest player might on occasion play for a gambler. Mulligan countered any charges by pointing to his play during the series in question as being close to his batting average. He did miss a Sunday doubleheader in Los Angeles lending credence to his involvement.[xxxvi] Later, he would replace the disgraced third baseman Buck Weaver, one of the eight Black Sox for the White Sox during the 1921 and 1922 seasons. Weaver spent a substantial part of his life unsuccessfully convincing MLB he had not participated in the Black Sox machinations.

To many gamblers’ and players’ surprises, Vernon’s first baseman Babe Borton was only suspended by owner Eugene Maier and his good friend and team manager Bill Essick. Even the acceptance of the decision to only suspend Borton could not spare Chase’s look-alike from eventual release by Maier. A former MLB player, Borton’s involvement in the dark world of playing for gamblers was in all respects as “slick” as Prince Hal’s (Chase’s moniker for his deftness around first base for executing honestly or gamblers).[xxxvii] Borton’s finesse around the bag could only detected by players, gamblers, and anyone else involved on the same side of bet as the first baseman. On many occasions he would convert a sure double play into a two base error, by stretching too soon or not shifting his feet to reach a ball to his sides, or breaking too late to field a bunt. (Players who routinely played for gamblers were masters in avoiding detection—a botched play was routinely seen as an error) Working for Raymond, Chase, or some other gamblers, it was Borton’s obsessiveness in clearing his name and what he believed were false accusations about fixing that prompted more investigations.[xxxviii] By early August 1920, Borton’s partial or full truthfulness had implicated no less than 27 PCL players

They included almost the entire Vernon team which had allegedly received a “fan’s fund” of $3, 965. But, sources differed as to how much and to which Vernon opponents were offered and accepted fan fund money to lie down. Tangible evidence in the form of affidavits from a bank branch auditor and cancelled checks in the amount of $200 and $500 respectively dated October 18. 1919 documented checks made out to Rumler and Dale from Borton.[xxxix] The first baseman also submitted a letter that included the home addresses of Mulligan and Rumler; Ostensibly not for “Christmas card purposes” reasoned Borton. Meggert’s receipt of $300 and $200 in separated cash payments from Borton was corroborated by both individuals and an undercover detective who witnessed the second July 27^th payment at the Lankershim Hotel in Los Angeles.[xl]

If Borton’s allegations could be verified, a significant number of PCL players and by inference in professional baseball could be purchased. Particularly astonishing was the PCL’s master fixer’s recounting of how almost the entire Vernon team has agreed to use “fan fund” money to pay players on the Bees, Portland, Seatte, and possibly all seven of their opponents.[xli] On August 16, 1920 in the midst of McCarthy’s investigation, the Los Angeles Evening Herald ran a story involving the deniability of manager Essick and 10 Vernon players about agreeing to use approximately $2000 of the collected $3,965 collected from the fans. Undoubtedly, little money would have been available if the fans had been aware it might be used to buy a pennant.[xlii] Most PCL fans were in the dark about games not honestly won which speaks to the cleverness of the fixers’ style of play. .

Borton steadfastly maintained throughout the scandal investigations that before the 1919 seven game series in Salt Lake, the Tigers’ manager had approached the first baseman asking how many Bees could be bribed to “lie down?” Vernon outfielder Jacob “Stump” Eddington was quoted as knowing some of the Bees would be offered money to "dump." Pitcher William “Wheezer” Dell was quoted as responding “three hundred dollars! Well, that’s more than anybody offered me” to throw a game when he learned about the plans. Borton informed his teammate $300 was his anytime he chose to do business .[xliii] Despite McCarthy’s putting up $5000 to anyone supporting Borton’s contention that several Vernon players had conspired to create a bribery fund, nobody came forward to corroborate Borton’s allegations. [xliv]

Vernon Catcher Al De Vormer denied any knowledge or agreeing to pay four Portland players $700 and the Bees’ players’ $1100 dollars to not play their best against the Tigers. Vernon officials revealed the fan’s collected money was $2000 short because of delinquent funds and unfilled pledges. However, that claim that was never substantiated and it remained plausible the money was used to buy the pennant.[xlv] By this time in the investigation, it became clear that the PCL gambling problems were beyond four or five players occasionally throwing a game. Bill Rumler’s interaction with Borton proved fatal in terms of returning to the majors and was prescient regarding how the Black Sox would be penalized by incoming Commissioner Landis (“the association or appearance of consorting with rigging”).[xlvi]

Rumler’s contention was that in July of the 1919 season, he and Borton consummated a $250 “hedge bet.” If the other’s team won the pennant (i.e. Vernon), then the winner of the bet was the player on the team which did not. In this case, Borton paid Rumler via a $200 (not $250) check. McCarthy saw this wager as no different from lying down.[xlvii] Not so argued Rumler, Lane, and Salt Lake business manage Jack Cook viewing the transaction as a trade and not a bet, Rumler in defending his decision stated:

Dozens of such trades are made each year in the major leagues and I’ll wager

There are many of them pending on the two big league championships right

now. I‘ll dare anyone to produce any evidence that I ever laid down on any club

I have ever drawn money from or that I have ever wagered against my club. I did

merely what hundreds of other honorable ball players have done and, what is more,

I made no secret of it.[xlviii]

Rumler was slated to be sold to the Boston Braves where it was expected he would crack their starting lineup in 1921. On one hand, Lane’s and Cook’s decision to not release Rumler for the 1921 season, even though his association with Borton made him unwelcome in the PCL, was for money reasons in the event the Braves or some other major league team purchased him. McCarthy squelched that possibility by rightfully suspending Rumler for five years.[xlix] Borton also implicated Rumler by stating the Vernon pitchers “would groove the ball” to the outfielder during the critical 1919 series as he was engaged in battle for the league’s battle title with Portland’s Sam Chapman.[l] There were likely a number of other situations where Rumler’s performance may have assisted in Vernon winning 11 of the 13 games.[li] Those possibilities were not investigated. Dr. Charles Spencer testified in the subsequent Grand Jury in investigation in Los Angeles County removing any doubt about the outfielder sitting out the last five games of the series. Rumler injured his wrist sliding into third base during the allegedly fixed Vernon series at Washington Park. Dr. Spencer recounted “he (Rumler) said he did not want to stay out of the game because he was battling (Sam Crawford for the hitting leadership of the Coast League. I found the ligaments so badly injured that he could not throw or grip a bat. Not only would he have been a detriment to his own club if he had played ball, but he also would have taken chances of cutting short his baseball career.”[lii]At the time of his injury, Rumler was leading the league in batting at .362 with 42 doubles, 17 triples, and 17 home runs. Against the Tigers in Salt Lake, Rumler posted a .467 batting average including two home runs and .333 in two games at Vernon. [liii] Numbers that hardly suggested he was playing for Vernon to win.

Borton also reported he passed $100 to Seattle pitcher Elner Rieger to “bear down” against Los Angeles and $100 to Portland pitcher John “Red” Oldham, outfielder Jack Farmer, and catchers Del Baker and Art Koehler.[liv] During McCarthy’s day-long meeting with Borton in Los Angeles, he fingered an unusually high number of players in one the highest minor leagues that added complexity to an already corrupt league from which its fans were kept in the dark. After meeting and collectively interviewing the entire Vernon team, the league president determined as expected that there were “contradictions” and discrepancies” between the players’ accounting and Borton’s about employing the fan’s fund for bribery. He cited a lack of documentation and assessed Borton’s claims as a “mass of falsehoods.” McCarthy also believed Borton vindictively created “out of whole cloth” with the intent of “discrediting reputable players and bring the game into disrepute.”[lv] Writing to Vernon owner Ed Maier, he issued his team a clean bill of health.[lvi]

The president’s decided to conduct a unilateral investigation of an obvious endemic problem instead of convening the league directors who could either conduct the inquiry themselves or hire trained law enforcement to do so. The Los Angeles Evening Express commented on McCarthy’s move by stating:

The allegations against Borton and Meggert were and are not being properly

handled. This is the biggest and most startling scandal baseball has ever faced,

and McCarthy should not endeavor to handle it single-handed. It’s not a one man’s

job and a board of inquiry should have been appointed by the league directors, who

should have held a special session immediately after these charges were made.”[lvii]

The Sporting News’ commentary inferred that Borton’s allegations were so extensive as to create an unintended effect. Implicating an entire team by one player, opined the tabloid, leads to “incriminating others to lessen guilt.” Hence, “the devastating consequences to league and public morale of even the possibility of an entire team in crooked play unnerved the PCL president and effectively precluded further investigation.”[lviii] Borton’s allegations were also startling to owners Judge Walter W. McCredie of Portland and Seattle’s William H. Klepper. McCredie reported the play of the implicated players was not unusual although Borton informed the league president Portland’s dumping was “crude” according to “Borton’s fixing standards.” Baker and Koehler denied accepting money from Borton and wrongly stated they had not played Vernon when the race was close. The result was the Portland club failed to investigate the charges against its players and the Oregon Journal and Portland Telegram stopped writing about the growing scandal.[lix]In Seattle, Murphy and Klepper did report Raymond’s offer to the police who set-up a “sting,” The gambler was probably tipped off and did not appear.[lx]

McCarthy further placed himself on a collision course with a least four owners by informing Klepper, “you need not worry over reports…of gambling on the Seattle ball club. Your players are not involved as far as I’m concerned.”[lxi] Allegedly, there were three more Rainiers’ players not yet identified that had played for gamblers. Intending to travel to the northwest to interview the players, the trip was cancelled possible because of Klepper’s and McCredie’s assurances reinforced McCarthy reluctance to expose the PCL’s gambling corruption. By this time, the president’s focus on the scandal was on the four Bees’s players (Meggert, Rumler, Dale, Mulligan) and Borton.[lxii] That decision by McCarthy without the consensus of the eight owners was to produce an acrimonious relationship with the league president. Newspaper writers now saw the McCarthy’s actions as an attempt to politize, coverup, and wish the true events of the scandal would mysteriously disappear.

One of McCarthy’s first steps as the PCL’s head, in conjunction along with Seals’ President Charles Strub and San Francisco Police Judge Timothy L. Fitzpatrick, was to craft a bill to introduce to the California legislature in January 1921. The proposed legislation would change “betting” or “bookmaking” on the result of any “ play” in a baseball game to a felony---the same criminal classification as betting on horse racing.[lxiii] Conviction of this crime resulted in up to a five year prison term or six months in county jail. Regardless of the crime, the political reality was that the former sport brought in public revenue whose honesty was guaranteed by the state. Baseball, on other hand, brought revenue for owners who had historically not assured the public the sport was not susceptible to fixing. Hence, baseball owners and presidents were less likely to expose the underbelly of the sport such as an entire team buying a pennant. Instead, the businessmen baseball owners believed it was more profitable to hide the corruption from unsuspecting fans and selectively attribute dumping to players who were expendable as property.[lxiv] This strategy, believed PCL sportswriters, only made the next scandal bigger and more brazen.

The Bees’ bottom line was affected in two ways (sale of Rumler and pennant winning proceeds) as losing two of their best hitters in the midst of a pennant chase was difficult to overcome in 1920. It was Salt Lake owner Bill Lane and business manager Jack Cook who were the most persistent and vocal about McCarthy’s actions as they related to Rumler’s five year suspension for an alleged lesser transgression than an entire team buying a pennant.[lxv] Lane, Cook, and the Salt Lake Board of Directors decided to assume the cudgel and adopted a resolution contending McCarthy’s suspension of Rumler was “without authority and without right.” Specifically, the Bees’ Board of Directors cited the league president’s with “willfully and deliberately violating Sections 20-22 inclusive of the league’s constitution and assumption of unwarranted authority [is not only despotic but dangerous,”] [lxvi] After refusing to grant Lane an owners meeting to hear and determine the “truth or falsity” of the charges against Rumler and suspending him for five years, McCarthy acquiesced and called a PCL Board of Directors meeting for October 27^th.

Adding to McCarthy’s woes by supporting Salt Lake’s positon were Portland’s McCredie, Seattle’s Klepper, Sacramento’s Lewis Moreing, and Oakland’s J. Cal Ewing. These four were convinced the president “violated the spirit and letter of the constitution” and assumed “a high and mighty attitude for which he has no warrant whatsoever.”[lxvii] Sensing these owners’ support for Salt Lake’s position, McCarthy was forced to call a meeting of the league directors for September 30th. But, after doing so, vowed to quit if the directors voted to overturn the Rumler decision. Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vernon, and Oakland—the leagues wealthiest franchises---decided to support the president. Los Angeles owner Johnny Powers favored investigating the entire scandal believing his franchise was cheated out of the pennant. Or, very possibly because on September 7^th, the Cook County Grand Jury was convened to examine the Black Sox evidence. Powers proposed summoning Borton, Essick, Vernon second baseman Bobby Fisher (identified as a co-conspirator by Borton), and other Tigers’ players ---“with scandal in the majors ripping baseball wide open, I believe we should take up he charges once more.”[lxviii] Understandably, reading about a fixed World Series, albeit not a big surprise to the gambling cognoscenti was chilling to those attending the PCL meeting (rumors of several fixed world series including in 1918 was no secret in MLB or Organized Baseball).[lxix]

Fearing any discussion of Rumler’s case and PCL game rigging might leak to the public, the owners opted to name a three-person committee of McCarthy, Ewing, and Graham “to thoroughly investigate the Rumler case and incidentally probe the case of every other player in the Coast League under suspicion in the past.”[lxx] In truth, the committee was a public relations move to placate owners like Powers and Lane and manage public opinion. Still to be answered was the quilt or innocence of the Salt Lake players (Dale, Rumler, Meggert), Borton, Raymond and other gamblers. And, what other players, gamblers, or others might have been involved?

More important to some sportswriters, had McCarthy served PCL followers and his employers in accordance with the contract he signed? Los Angeles Times’ sportswriter Clyde A. Bruckman had long asserted the president handled the scandal in “bush league fashion” and alleged McCarthy was guilty of breach of faith with baseball fans.”[lxxi] Borton’s attorney released a letter that was printed in the Los Angeles Evening Express and Daily Times from Meggert to Borton. Vernon players Bobby Fisher and Chet Chadbourne had allegedly told Meggert that Al DeVormer, Stump Eddington and Al Mitchell had revealed to McCarthy during his recent investigative trip how Tigers’ players had framed Borton. According to Meggert, DeVormer responded to McCarthy’s query about objecting to the “fan fund” as bribe money with a “you are right, yes, I did.” The possibility of the league president had both ignored and failed to investigate Borton’s revelations about an entire team bribing another one to buy a pennant appeared to not support the universal absolution of the Vernon team. Upon hearing of Meggert’s letter, the league president still refused to investigate Meggert attorney’s alleged new evidence.[lxxii]

The Grand Jury Investigation: Game Fixing. Politics, and Baseball Don’t Mix

In the middle of October, a Los Angeles County was convened to investigate game fixing in the PCL. The two questions the jury probe’s was designed to answer were (1.) the existence of a conspiracy by the entire Vernon team to bribe opposing players to intentionally lose , and (2.) the alleged involvement of gamblers in rigging games. Chief District Attorney William A. Doran’s opening comments labeled the 1919 and part of the 1920 season shenanigans as one of the “greatest bunko conspiracies ever perpetrated on the West Coast,” ---“the entire league was honeycombed with graft,”---“buying and selling games was almost an everyday occurrence,”---“at least two or three players on at least five of the eight teams had taken bribes.”---“and, scores of games during the 1919 season were thrown for money.”[lxxiii] The first witness Babe Borton testified three times and presented three drafts for $100 to unnamed Bees, letters supporting his version of the scandal events, and three letters from Maggert substantiating his version of how the bribery scheme unfolded. Borton stated his objective had always been to win the pennant for Vernon and not play for gamblers (how many chuckled in the room was not reported). As expected, subsequent witnesses repeated what had been reported in the press or stated in writing—they played to win all the time. Deputy District Attorney Frank W. Stafford commented that at Grand Jury proceedings one in three witnesses have probably perjured himself.[lxxiv] Observers reported the word “perjury” was heard frequently in the grand jury corridors.

Fresher revelations included Bees’ catcher Ed Spencer’s letter that included his refusal of $1700 from Borton near the end of the 1919 season. That was rebutted by Borton, who in a humorous comment, stated the catcher overrated himself by at least $1200. Bees’ second baseman Marty Krug has also been approached which brought the total Salt Lake players to seven who had been tendered money to rig (Rumler, Meggert, Mulligan, Stroud, Baum [by Chase], Spencer, Krug). Portland’s second baseman Paddy Siglin had been offered $100 to not appear in the lineup against Vernon in 1919, and in a new fixing twist, pitcher John Glazier and outfielder Dick Cox recounted one of Borton's offers was to advise them similar to a first base coach regarding a pitcher pickoff or how long of a lead they could assume safely [Borton was a firstbaseman]. Vernon pitcher William “Wheezer Dell informed the jury Meggert offered him $300 on July 26^th to not find the plate or his velocity at selected times during a game.[lxxv]

Predictably, the Grand Jury’s primary focus of the proceedings centered on Rumler, Meggert, Mulligan, Dale, and Stroud---all most likely at least circumstantially to have done business with Borton as a gambler’s emissary or, directly with one of more gamblers. Meggert’s testimony was that the four players (except Stroud) listened to and accepted Borton’s offer to forget “how to play the game temporarily” in exchange for money (fan fund) pooled from the first baseman’s teammates. Each of the five as expected denied accepting bribe money or any involvement in the scheme for reasons already described except for Dale. McCarthy and other owners met Dale at a minor league meeting in Kansas City who under oath admitted receiving $500 in 1919 from Borton as repayment for a loan. His loss of three games during the crucial series and profession of innocence was not convincing. Mulligan’s repeated denials appeared to be crocodile tears as his name appeared too many times with the others fixers’ names for him not to have accepted gambler’s money. If the jury was attempting to indict a number of gamblers for bribing or working in concert with Borton or other players, it quickly found out no players were willing to admit to this association for good reason. To have done would have been their “greased shute to oblivion” from organized baseball.

After two months of evidence collecting, it was not surprising that no new or “magic bullet” evidence was collected. Technically, the findings included:

Bills of indictment charging Raymond, Burton, Meggert, and Rumler with

“criminal conspiracy.”[lxxvi]

The jurors’ concluded: “together with Raymond the three accused players did willfully, feloniously, fraudulently, and corruptly conspire on September 5, 1919 [incorrect-- Bees hosted Los Angeles on that date. Vernon was in Salt Lake on September 15^th] to play so imperfectly and with such lack of skill as to procure the Vernon team to win games during the subsequent home-and-home series in Salt Lake and Los Angeles.”[lxxvii] The primary perpetrators included Meggert and Rumler who “did purposefully, willfully, and corruptly make errors misplays, fail to bat the ball and by other apparent or not lapses of skill” allowing Vernon the win games and the PCL title. Further, by conspiring to enable Tiger players to obtain unjustly the $3,985 fan bonus purse for winning the pennant, the accused “had defrauded the spectators who had paid to see games with integrity. Also, defrauded were the Salt Lake and Los Angeles Clubs that had paid them to perform to the best of their ability.”[lxxviii] Under California law, “criminal conspiracy” carried a two-year prison sentence, a fine of $5000, or both. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patrick R. Willis issued bench warrants for the arrest of the accused, set bail at $1000, and a December 31st date for the parties to appear in court and submit a plea.[lxxix] The Grand Jury’s decision afforded the benefits of court trial for the players where the evidentiary bar (beyond a reasonable doubt) was higher than any other legal forum. If found not guilty, they could return to OB. Raymond fled to Canada and later surfaced in New York as one of the card playing members present when 1919 Black Sox World Series bankroller Arnold Rothstein was fatally shot for allegedly cheating in 1928. Rothstein refused to name his assassin before dying

Grand Jury Results: Analysis

The Grand Jury conclusions were in all respects flawed. The conspiracy involving the entire Vernon team using fan fund money ($2000) to bribe selected PCL players was not investigated. And, to assume only one player unilaterally concocted the scheme to collect money from the entire team does not pass the logic test. It’s also hard to believe Borton without knowledge of his teammates, manager, and owner was committing fan money before the team won the pennant which was not decided until the last day of the season. After President McCarthy began using detectives to investigate players consorting with gamblers, not one instance of such an event was reported to McCarthy or law enforcement (the Raymond sting was reported to Seattle police by team officials). The only player-fixer observed passing money from the fan fund to players Meggert and Rumler was Borton. From whom Mulligan was paid was never ascertained as he steadfastly denied rigging games.

Further, the Angels before the six game series held a 2.5 lead over second-place Vernon ---a split in the series would have given the title to the Angels. From that perspective notwithstanding Vernon’s buying of Salt Lake’s players, the Angels blew the pennant. An entire team involved in a conspiracy to buy a pennant was plausible. If reported, the PCL’s reputation may have been harmed for years, especially in the eyes of its fans. None of the two named co-conspirators stepped up to pursue legal action against Borton. Nor did any other team members. Borton’s only planned legal action was against manager Bill Essick.

As to a gambling syndicate controlling PCL players, the only records presented to the Grand Jury were a log of Raymond following the Vernon team on its road trips up to the date in 1920 when the scandal was brought to the attention of league president McCarthy. Murphy’s affidavit and District Attorney’s Doran’ assertion of a “league honeycombed with gamblers” and at least “two or three players from five of the eight teams on the payroll of gamblers” (as many as 15) was unfounded speculation. The Grand Jury pursued no investigation of a league-wide gambling ring. In the end, all the indicted players escaped a court trial when their attorneys filed a demurrer or cited a civil law precept in California which did not did not make unfulfilling a contract illegal. Hence, the indictment as presented by the district attorney’s office was legally deficient to convict the defendants. Judge Willis accepted the demurrer with prejudice (could not refile the same case) and dismissed the case.

Of all the fingered players, the clearest evidence of rigging was the pitching of Dale. Except for the muddy conditions of the first game in Salt Lake in which he pitched, his other two performances were typical of a dumper—periodically grooving pitches and bouts of wildness. Yet, he was not indicted. Meggert’s batting averages of less than .200 in both 1919 Vernon series’ games, offer of $300 to Vernon pitcher William “Wheezer” Dell to “groove the ball,” and sudden bolting from the league in 1920 point to a player paid to not “play his best.” Rumler’s 1919 league leading batting average (.362), the probability of returning to the major leagues, his batting averages in the 1919 Vernon series (.467) and (.333), and missing of five games because of a wrist injury renders his association with Borton a grave error. Seeing Mulligan and Del Baker return to the big leagues despite MLB’s conventional wisdom[----- “in the laws of baseball not playing one’s best or to win is a violation—regardless of the court’s decision”] must have rung hollow to him.[lxxx]