Bad To The Bone


Chick Gandil

    By Age 17, Chick Gandil ran away from home to play ball in towns along the badlands of the Arizona-Mexico border.

    He supplemented his income by boxing in the local heavyweight division, picking up $150 a fight. He rode the railways, taking to the life of a hobo.

    He played part of the 1910 season with the White Sox in 1910, then was sold to Washington, where he remained until 1916.

     Gandil made the acquaintance of Sport Sullivan, a sports gambler and bookie. Sullivan had rich, powerful friends, and his friendships with ballplayers like Gandil were crucial to a World Series fixing scheme he planned to pull off.

    Gandil rejoined the White Sox in 1917 as the regular first baseman, but, like many on the team, was a malcontent and was subject to a bad temper and a selfish personality.

    Vastly underpaid by the cheapskate Comiskey, he was considered to be the ringleader of the 1919 Series fix. He and six other players made deals with Sullivan to drop the series.

    In the 1919 Series, Gandil batted .233, committing one error but playing lethargically in the field.

    Gandil refused to play for Comiskey in 1920, due to a salary dispute with the cheap owner. In 1921 he was banned from baseball by Commissioner Landis. One of the Eight Men Out!