Field of Dreams — Baseball Bench Coach

This past Monday afternoon MLB announced the cancellation of the August 13 “Field of Dreams” game between the White Sox and the Cardinals. While I can’t say I am surprised, I must say that I am disappointed. It was the last major professional sporting event this summer on my calendar that hadn’t until now been postponed or delayed. The game was to be played at a newly constructed 8,000-seat ballpark in Dyersville, Iowa, on the farm where the 1989 movie was shot. It was going to be the first MLB game ever played in Iowa. I pondered that afternoon whether I should tell the story, despite the cancellation. I quickly concluded that it’s an important part of baseball history; and certainly, a wonderful story to share.

The movie was based on W.P. Kinsella’s 1982 novel “Shoeless Joe”, a delightful book that I first read over the past week. The novel tells the story of Ray Kinsella, an Iowa farmer, struggling with the memories of his relationship with his late Dad, John Kinsella, a faithful baseball fan. One day Ray hears a voice, “If you build it, he will come”. With the loving support of his wife Annie and daughter Karin, Ray begins to build a ballpark. Along the way, we learn about his Dad’s devotion to a White Sox star player, Shoeless Joe Jackson. As a teenager, Ray challenged that loyalty and pointed to the 1919 Black Sox Scandal. After that, Ray and his Dad never played catch again, something Ray deeply regrets. As Ray’s new ballpark begins to take shape, mystical ballplayers begin to appear and play games, first Shoeless Joe and then seven others, all of whom were banned from baseball as result of the scandal.

The story of the Black Sox Scandal actually begins the year before, 1918, in a way that is frighteningly similar to events today. In 1918 the Spanish Flu pandemic swept across the world. We lost an estimated 5 million people worldwide and 675,000 in the U.S. alone. There were four waves of the Spanish flu, the first beginning in the spring of 1918. The War Department required that the baseball season end by September 1st and the World Series by September 15th. See “Shortened Season”, 06/08/20. The Red Sox defeated the Cubs 4 games to 2. Over the next several weeks, a second wave of the Spanish flu hit the U.S. hard, especially in the metropolitan areas of Boston and Chicago. A third wave of the Spanish flu set in the next year, 1919. Attendance was down at ballparks across the country. At the time, players coveted shares of postseason winnings to add to their mostly average salaries, but with diminishing attendance, those shares would be taking a hit.

Betting on baseball was rampant during this era. Gamblers would gather just outside the outfield fence at ballparks, offering outfielders money for misplaying a fly ball. As the White Sox headed toward clinching the AL pennant in September 1919, some of the players were concerned about not getting much of a payday in the World Series. There were two factions in the Sox clubhouse, the “Clean Sox” players who didn’t want to participate in any side action, and a second faction that reached out to a gambling syndicate led by Arnold Rothstein. A meeting with the syndicate was set up on September 21 in New York to discuss a fix of the upcoming Series. Six players attended the meeting, each of whom were banned from baseball in the aftermath. One player who attended, Buck Weaver, never received any money but still was banned for not reporting the fix, and another player, Fred McMullin, who wasn’t at the meeting but heard about it and threatened to squeal if he didn’t get a payoff, was banned as well. The banned players also included Shoeless Joe Jackson, who didn’t attend the New York meeting and whose actual involvement is disputed.

The 1919 World Series, a 9-game format, featured the upstart NL Cincinnati Reds against the heavily favored White Sox. Sox star pitcher, Red Faber, one of the Clean Sox, came down with the flu prior to the Series and never pitched. Some of his starts went to pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Lefty Williams, who were on the take. Cicotte, the Game 1 starter, hit the Reds leadoff batter, a signal to the gambling syndicate the fix was on. With the Reds up 4 games to 1, there was concern among the White Sox players that the gamblers were reneging on payment. The Sox won Games 6 and 7. Prior to Game 8, there were mentions of threats of violence against White Sox players and family. Lefty Williams lost Game 8, his third loss of the Series, and the Reds won the Series 5 games to 3. In October 1920 eight Sox players and five gamblers were indicted by a federal grand jury in Chicago on nine counts of conspiracy to defraud. The case went to trial in July 1921, and all eight players were acquitted. Nevertheless, MLB’s first Commissioner, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who was hired by the owners to clean up the game, banned the eight players from baseball.

The 1982 novel captured a theme that I didn’t clearly remember in the movie. Ray’s Dad, John, and as a result, the entire Kinsella family, despised the Yankees, a notion to which many baseball fans can relate. The Yankees were the scheduled opponents of the White Sox in the “Field of Dreams” game prior to the 2020 season. Now I see why! We all have “that team” to root against (see “Dodgers Blues”, 04/29/19). For many AL teams, the Red Sox, the Indians, and even comically, the Washington Senators in the Broadway musical, “Damn Yankees”, that means the Yankees. The Pinstripes nowadays might have finally relinquished its American League hatred crown to the Houston Astros (see “Sign Stealing”, 06/01/20). While the Des Moines Register reported that the MLB has not decided on an opponent for the White Sox in the 2021 “Field of Dreams” game, the Astros might be a good choice.

Disdain for the Astros has been in MLB news over the past week. Houston’s series with the Dodgers marked the first time the teams had met since word broke this winter of the 2017 sign stealing shenanigans by the Astros en route to their World Series victory over LA. In the sixth inning of a game the Dodgers led 5-2, LA’s Joe Kelly threw a 3 and 0 fastball behind Alex Bregman’s head and then a curveball over the head of the next hitter, Alex Correa. The dugouts emptied and words were exchanged. Luckily for both teams, no punches were thrown, actions that would be severely punished during the pandemic. Kelly received an eight-game suspension, the Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts got one game, and new Astros’ manager, Dusty Baker, was fined. When I heard about this story, my baseball instincts were first to applaud Kelly, but then I saw the replay of the incident, and felt ashamed. It was a reckless act by Kelly, and deserving of the 8-game suspension, which is the equivalent of 22 games in a regular 162-game season.

Perhaps reckless, maybe careless behavior, and certainly bad luck, were at the heart of positive tests of COVID-19 for two National League teams, the Marlins and the Cardinals, over the first two weeks of baseball. Players and team personnel continue to struggle in this new world MLB has placed them in, full of seclusion at hotels and way too much travel. Yes, I see every night violations by players of health protocols (spitting and high-fiving), but overall the players are doing what they can and certainly what we had hoped, giving us a little enjoyment of baseball during the pandemic. The shutdowns of the Marlins and Cardinals have played havoc on MLB scheduling and caused uneven play. At week’s end, five NL teams have numerous games to make up, mostly through MLB’s newest creation, the 7-inning doubleheaders. I grimaced recently when I heard a remark that MLB’s season felt like a game of “Jenga”, ready to topple at any moment.

For me baseball has always been more like Lincoln logs, building memory after memory of life lessons. My favorite scene in the “Field of Dreams” movie is at the end when Ray Kinsella got his wish, to play catch with the catcher, his Dad, who finally showed up to play at the Iowa ballpark. When I was growing up I built my own little ballpark in our backyard where my Dad and I would play catch. One night my pitch sunk and badly hurt his shin, an injury he didn’t tell me about until much later in life. It was our last night of catch together. In my own idyllic “field of dreams”, I too wish for one last catch. Somehow, filling my days with baseball history brings his memory to life.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

P.S. It’s not possible to tell the full story of Shoeless Joe and the 1919 Black Sox Scandal in this space. I highly recommend your exploring www.shoelessjoejackson.org or taking a visit to Shoeless Joe’s museum in Greenville, South Carolina, next year.