OT: HELP! Good Black Sox Book

[Never Fear 33 Is Here]

Hey all,

Sorry to open a new thread, but I really didn't know where else to place this. I also wasn't sure how active the White Sox forum is so thought it best to put it in here and in the Bulls section. I actively post over in the Basketball forums.

Basically, I am looking for the "best" version/book for the Black Sox era/story. I am a White Sox fan, have been since I was a kid. It was actually the story of the whole Black Sox saga that made me begin to follow them.

So anyways, any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

D

[Shootdabull]

You might want to try (you can pick up a used paperback copy for $1 on amazon):

Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series by Eliot Asinof

The headlines proclaimed the 1919 fix of the World Series and attempted cover-up as "the most gigantic sporting swindle in the history of America!" First published in 1963, Eight Men Out has become a timeless classic. Eliot Asinof has reconstructed the entire scene-by-scene story of the fantastic scandal in which eight Chicago White Sox players arranged with the nation's leading gamblers to throw the Series in Cincinnati. Mr. Asinof vividly describes the tense meetings, the hitches in the conniving, the actual plays in which the Series was thrown, the Grand Jury indictment, and the famous 1921 trial. Moving behind the scenes, he perceptively examines the motives and backgrounds of the players and the conditions that made the improbable fix all too possible. Here, too, is a graphic picture of the American underworld that managed the fix, the deeply shocked newspapermen who uncovered the story, and the war-exhausted nation that turned with relief and pride to the Series, only to be rocked by the scandal. Far more than a superbly told baseball story, this is a compelling slice of American history in the aftermath of World War I and at the cusp of the Roaring Twenties

[Shootdabull]

I found another one that looks interesting:

Burying the Black Sox
How Baseball's Cover-Up of the 1919 World Series Fix Almost Succeeded
by
Gene Carney

[Shootdabull]

Here is a portion of the description from Burying the Black Sox

Many, however, would be surprised to learn that it took nearly a year to uncover the fix. Burying the Black Sox is the first book to focus on the cover-up that kept the fix from the American public until almost another whole baseball season was played, and to examine in detail the way events unfolded as the deception was unraveled. Unlike Eliot Asinof in Eight Men Out, previously the definitive book on the subject, Carney thoroughly documents his information and brings together evidence from a wide variety of sources, many not available to Asinof or more recent writers.

In Burying the Black Sox, Gene Carney reveals what else happened and answers the questions that fascinate any baseball fan wondering about baseball’s original dilemma over guilt and innocence. Who else in baseball knew that the fix was in? When did they know? And what did they do about it? Carney explores how Charles Comiskey, the owner of the White Sox, and his fellow owners tried to bury the incident and control the damage, how the conspiracy failed, and how “Shoeless” Joe Jackson attempted to clear his name. He uses primary research materials that weren’t available when Asinof wrote Eight Men Out, including the 1920 grand jury statements by Jackson and pitcher Eddie Cicotte, the diary of Comiskey’s secretary, and the transcripts of Jackson’s 1924 suit against the Sox for back pay. Where Asinof told the story of the eight “Black Sox,” Carney explains the baseball industry’s uncertain response to the scandal.

[Never Fear 33 Is Here]

Cheers Shootdabull. I ended up buying both the ones you suggested, have started Eight Men Out and it is quite compelling.

I may also look into getting Say It Ain't So, Joe..............that seems pretty interesting too.

[Shootdabull]

Let me know how say it ain't compares to eight men out. if you like it I might give it try.

Thanks!