Art by Tim Carroll

October, 1919.  Chicago White Sox vs. the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series.  Although the Sox were heavily favored, the Reds simply outplayed them to capture the title……..or so it seemed.  When it was later revealed that eight White Sox players accepted money from Chicago mobsters to “throw” the series, it became the scandal that rocked the sports world.  The credibility of a sport that was starting to blossom was now in question.  Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis – appointed as baseball’s first commissioner – decided that, although these men were found not guilty in a court of law, to BAN all eight of them from baseball for life.  One of those players, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, has been the center of a heated debate for the past 90 years.  Did he really try to lose?  If he did, his statistics didn’t show it.  He played error-free defense, had a decent batting average for the series, and hit the only homerun – by EITHER team.  Destined to be a Hall-of-Famer before the series, “Shoeless” Joe now found himself out of the sport.  The 1919 White Sox – a team that was a favorite to win the World Series, was forever known as, “THE CHICAGO BLACK SOX”.

 

 

 

For this piece, which is very large (30” x 40”), I used EXACTLY 19 Black Socks.  Over 700 straight pins.  And 1 pair of scissors.

 

 

 

 

 

I started with the socks and the scissors (yes, the socks were used).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I then started cutting. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I began to stretch and pin the pieces to my board:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what I had when I  finished:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A closer look:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And one final view:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just in time for the playoffs, I wanted to keep with my underlying theme of "anniversaries".  90 years ago, baseball was rocked by the scandal of the Chicago "Black Sox".  Was Shoeless Joe guilty of throwing the series?  We'll never know the truth.  Should he be a Hall of Famer?  That's an opinion.  WILL HE ever be a Hall of Famer?  That is yet to be decided.