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 Lefty Williams and the 1919 Black Sox Photo Gallery
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Focus on “The Eight Men Out,” Part Seven: Claude “Lefty” Williams

“Anything they did would be agreeable to me if it was going to happen anyway…I had no money and I might as well get what I could.” –Lefty Williams

The Black Sox scandal rocked the baseball world to its core in 1919. There were many personal tragedies associated with this sordid chapter in baseball history, but none more so than the story of Claude “Lefty” Williams.

In the featured photo above, we see Lefty Williams with his Black Sox teammate, Eddie Cicotte (R).

By 1919, the 26-year-old pitcher was a budding star whose best years seemed to lie just ahead. But, as is well known, he made one very bad decision which effectively brought an end to a promising career. Like others involved in the fix, Lefty lived the rest of his life tormented by the eternally unanswerable question: “What might have been?”

ON THE PATH TO STARDOM…

By the time of his banishment, he was just entering his prime. After seven seasons in the “Bigs”, Lefty had compiled a remarkable 82-48 record with a 2.31 ERA. His .631 winning percentage still ranks in the top 25 all-time among American League pitchers. Nearly a century later, no other American League pitcher had recorded more wins in his final active season than Lefty’s 22 in 1920.

He began his major league career in 1913 with the Tigers. After a couple of stellar minor league seasons, he caught the attention of the White Sox. They picked him up in 1915, and by 1916 he had settled into their starting rotation. Possessing outstanding control, a mid-nineties fastball, and a swooping curve,  he helped the White Sox win the pennant in 1917 with an excellent 17–8 record (.680).

Like many ballplayers during World War I, Lefty missed most of the 1918 season, appearing in only 15 games. He spent most of the year working in Navy shipyards in support of the war effort. He came back strong in 1919 with his best season, 23–11 (.676) with a 2.64 ERA, as the White Sox again won the American League pennant. He led the American League that season with 40 starts and was second with 27 complete games.

RINGLEADER CHICK GANDIL MAKES HIM AN OFFER…

His baseball fate became forever sealed shortly before the start of the 1919 World Series when teammate Chick Gandil approached him outside the Ansonia Hotel in New York. Gandil offered the underpaid Lefty ten grand to participate in the World Series “fix.” With a salary of only $2,600, it apparently was an offer he couldn’t refuse.

His piece of the action never fully materialized, however, as he only saw five grand –  half of his promised cut of the dough. Ironically, the five grand payoff was about the same he would have received if the Sox had won the World Series.

LEFTY’S WILDNESS IN GAME TWO

With rumors of a fix already in the air, Lefty immediately raised suspicions in Game Two with an uncharacteristically wild performance. He starting the game by facing the minimum nine batters through the first three innings, but then unexplainably slipped into wildness in the fourth. He surrendered only four hits but walked six (tying a career high), as the Sox fell 4-2 and went down 0-2 in games.

Another disastrous inning proved to be his downfall in Game Five, resulting in a 5-0 loss. After allowing just one hit through five innings, Lefty gave up four runs in the sixth. His poor performance in Game Eight, the final game of the series, where he lasted less than an inning pitching to all of five batters, is well known.

For the series, Lefty went 0–3, with a 6.63 ERA. His three losses set a World Series record for futility that stood until 1981. Lefty later claimed he was unable to fully concentrate with the fix playing prominently on his psyche: “I was sorry. I wanted to be out of it and not mixed up in it at all.”

CONFLICTING  VIEWS OF HIS WILDNESS IN GAME TWO

There were conflicting views of Lefty’s poor performance in Game Two. Catcher Ray Schalk suspected something wasn’t right with Williams who lacked his normally sharp control. Schalk had words with Lefty after the game which some say evolved into fisticuffs. Chicago Tribune sportswriter Irving Sanborn saw it the same way, saying Lefty was “almost criminally wild.”

But home plate umpire Billy Evans had a different take: “I regarded the loss of that game at the time as one of the hardest bits of luck I ever saw. All of the fourth-inning walks were on full counts and not one of them was over six inches inside or outside.” 

After Game Four, Gandil gave Lefty $10,000, half of which was to go to Jackson.  Lefty famously delivered “the goods” to Jackson under his pillow in a dirty envelope. The players were now deeply bound to the gamblers; and like a tar baby, could never break free.

In 1920, Williams went 22–14, but was named in the indictments handed down by the Cook County Grand Jury. Though acquitted in the subsequent trial, Williams and the seven other Black Sox were banned for life by Judge Landis.

LEFTY’S DIFFICULT LIFE AFTER BASEBALL

With baseball being the only life he really knew, Williams barnstormed and played in outlaw leagues for a few years. In 1922, he joined up with Swede Risberg, Buck Weaver, and Happy Felsch on a short-lived team promoted as the “Ex-Major League Stars,” which toured the Midwest playing town teams in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. 

Here’s some interesting information about Lefty Williams from his SABR biography:

“More than any other player involved in the 1919 World Series fix, Williams struggled to make peace with his fateful decision to accept the bribe. Like many players of his era, he had few other marketable skills outside of his ability to play baseball. After struggling to run a pool hall on Chicago’s South Side…Williams took odd jobs as a painter, a department store floorman, and a tile-fitter…He began drinking more and his marriage suffered…In 1923, with Lefty still drinking heavily, his wife Lyria kicked him out of the house and the couple separated.” [Ed. note: They later reconciled and Lyria played a major role in straightening out his life].

Lefty Williams spent his later years in Laguna Beach, California, operating a garden nursery business. He passed away on November 4, 1959, ironically just weeks after the White Sox – with their first pennant since the Black Sox scandal of 1919 – lost the World Series to the Dodgers.

Gary Livacari 

Photo Credits: All from Google search

Information: Excerpts edited from Lefty Williams Wikipedia page; and from Lefty Williams SABR biography by Jacob Pomrenke

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