User Reviews

This segment, covering the decade 1910-1919, continues with some fascinating characters such as Ty Cobb, Connie Mack, John McGraw, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Judge Kenesaw "Mountain" Landis and more in an era where Americans went absolutely bonkers over baseball.

The players were at their toughest during this period as wages were very poor and the game was "life and death" to many players. It was rough, rugged era, and the opposite of today where players make ridiculous amounts of money. This owner-dominated era led to some desperate players trying to make some easy cash (see below.)

The decade ends on the lowest note in baseball history: the "Black Sox Scandal," involving the Chicago White Sox throwing the 1919 World Series. The last half hour of this segment is devoted to that topic. Of particular interest were the comments on "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and Commissioner Landis, I thought.

This is 1910 to 1919. It focused on the players efforts to get some sustenance from what they did. They had failed to get rid of the reserve clause which tied players to their teams for life. It tells of the Federal League which lasted two years but pulled players from the existing American and National Leagues. It further demonstrates what awful people the owners were, how little they respected the people who were their meal tickets. It tells of the role of baseball during World War I. Once again the owners tried to manipulate the situation to keep their players out of the military, but ultimately, over 200 were enlisted, although many continued playing baseball on military teams. The episode ends with a focus on the 1919 Black Sox scandal and how it all came about. One could almost see how this could happen, considering the basic enslavement of the players.

Baseball: Third Inning 'The Faith of Fifty Million People' (1994)

**** (out of 4)

The third of nine episodes in Ken Burns' documentary takes a look at the years between 1910 and 1920. As the documentary correctly states, the decade started off with the sport reaching heights that no one could see but it would come crashing down in 1919 with the Chicago White Sox scandal. Other subjects in this episode include the Snodgrass error in the World Series, the building of Fenway Park, WWI's impact on the sport, the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Star Spangle Banner being played, the 1914 Federal League and we get looks at players like Grover Cleveland Alexander and manager Connie Mack. This episode also looks at Ty Cobb's racism and the damage he was doing to his sport including an August 15, 1912 incident where he went into the stands and beat a handicapped man. Needless to say, this here is yet another winning episode and the best thing that can be said is that it's both entertaining and it also makes you smarter. There's really nothing negative that can be said about this episode and especially the final segments where we take a look at the White Sox scandal and the aftermath of the team throwing the World Series. Another benefit of this is that there's some video footage of the World Series as well as the court cases that would follow and we get some great images of Shoeless Joe Jackson. Fans of baseball are really going to love all of the stories here and those unfamiliar with the sport but want to learn it's history will have a great lesson.