Should all of those "1918" references thrown around at the Red Sox before the 2004 World Series really have been "1916" references? New documents say that may be true.
ESPN.com reports that the Chicago Cubs may have thrown the 1918 World Series, according to documents released by the Chicago History Museum.
The 1920 court deposition from Chicago White Sox pitcher Eddie Cicotte, was posted to the museum's website hinting that Cicotte and the members of the famous 1919 "Black Sox" scandal, got their idea to throw the 1919 series from their crosstown rivals the year before.
Cicotte, one of those banned from baseball for his role in throwing the 1919 World Series, says that he and his teammates drew inspiration from the allegation that members of the Cubs may have received $10,000 for throwing the World Series in 1918, a series that the Red Sox won 4-2.
"The ball players were talking about somebody trying to fix the National League ball players or something like that," Cicotte said in his deposition.
"Well anyway there was some talk about them offering $10,000 or something to throw the Cubs in the Boston Series," he said. "Somebody made a crack about getting money, if we got into the Series, to throw the Series."
However, as juicy as the report may be, it is also a bit vague. Cicotte never actually named names in his deposition, and the Cubs actually played a pretty clean World Series in 1919.
