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Ty Cobb & Tris Speaker in baseball scandal ?...
Ty Cobb & Tris Speaker in baseball scandal ?...
Item # 699394
December 23, 1926
THE OMAHA DAILY NEWS, December 23, 1926
* Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker baseball scandal ?
* Gambling and fixing baseball games
* Dutch Leonard letters exposed
* Babe Ruth to benefit in popularity ?
The top of page 10 has a banner heading: "Newest Scandal Makes 'Bad Boy' Babe Ruth Greater Hero Than Ever" with subheads and related photo. (see images) Another related article on page 11.
Complete with 14 pages, some light staining, a few small binding slits along the spine, generally in good condition.
wikipedia notes: Rumors began to spread that Leonard was claiming he "had something" on Cobb. Leonard was quoted as saying, "I am going to expose that bastard Cobb, I'll ruin him." And in 1926, Leonard sought his revenge, contacting American League president Ban Johnson and accusing Cobb of being involved in gambling and/or fixing games with Tris Speaker. Leonard claimed that Speaker and Cobb had conspired before a 1919 Tigers–Indians game to allow the Tigers to win, enabling the team to reach third place and qualify for World Series money. To corroborate his story, Leonard produced letters written at the time (one by Cobb and one by Smoky Joe Wood) that obliquely referred to gambling or game-fixing. When Johnson made Leonard's letter public in December 1926, it started a scandal.
Cobb was called to testify at a hearing before Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, and denied Leonard's allegations. Cobb noted that Leonard "had the reputation in the past of being a bolshevik on the club." Leonard declined to appear and testify at the hearing, saying he feared a physical attack from "that wild man." In the absence of Leonard's testimony, Landis found Cobb and Speaker not guilty.
Category: The 20th Century
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