A ticket fix

Next was the World Series, facing AL champ Chicago, who had survived a tight pennant race with the Indians. Game 1 was set for Redland Field on Wednesday, Oct. 1.

Charles Comiskey’s White Sox rebounded from a disappointing 1918 campaign, which followed their 1917 World Series triumph. Despite finishing with a slightly worse record than the Reds, the Sox were initially favored to capture their second title in three years. However, as the game drew close, the betting odds changed so dramatically, making the White Sox underdogs, rumors of fixing began to circulate.

More 30,500 fans used tickets like this one to enter Redland Field – renamed Crosley Field in 1934 – for the Series opener. With the United States involved in WWI hostilities, each ticket purchased was subject to a War Tax, funding the nation’s war efforts. Printed by Roessler Brothers, a local firm, the ticket entitled one to a seat in one of the pavilion sections, located down each foul line. Other tickets would be sold for the grandstand or the bleachers.

Though half of the ticket has been torn off, it appears that there is a warning to potential scalpers regarding the resale of tickets at above face value. Not only does it appear that Revenue Agents would do their best to trace the ticket back to its original holder, but there is at least a fine if one is convicted, as permitted by the Revenue Act of 1918.

The Boston Daily Globe noted one arrest was made by federal authorities and that, according to the law, ticket re-sellers were “obliged to pay a federal war tax of 50 percent of the amount received.”

Some in attendance that autumn afternoon might have suspected the fix was on, but Chicago fans were certainly disappointed to see their ace, Eddie Cicotte get pummeled in 3.2 innings by the Reds. Cicotte’s counterpart, Dutch Ruether, in his first full major league season, went the distance in Game 1, also going 3-for-3 at the plate with a pair of triples and three RBI. The two triples tied a World Series record. Jake Daubert and Greasy Neale produced three-hit performances en route to a 9-1 Cincinnati victory.

Cincinnati would struggle mightily throughout most of the next 20 years before taking the world championship in 1940. It would be another 30 years before the Reds would sustain their success for an extended period of time.