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Eddie Cicotte

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Baseball Player

The Resume

    (June 19, 1884-May 5, 1969)
    Born in Springwells, Michigan
    Last name pronounced see-cot
    Pitcher for the Detroit Tigers (1905), Boston Red Sox (1908-12) and Chicago White Sox (1912-20)
    One of the ‘Black Sox’ who threw the 1919 World Series
    Banned from Major League Baseball for life

Why he might be annoying:

    During his stint with the Red Sox, he constantly clashed with owner John I. Taylor, with one sportswriter noting, ‘He was suspended without pay so much of the time that it was like having no job.’
    According to a frequently repeated story*, his motive for joining the Black Sox was that White Sox owner Charles Comiskey benched him for the remainder of the 1919 season after he got his 29th win, depriving him of a shot at a $10,000 bonus for reaching 30 wins. In reality, was the starting pitcher in two more games, but lost one and was relieved by another pitcher who was credited with the victory in the other.
    (*Among the places it’s been repeated: Charles Comiskey’s AIA profile. Who was the idiot profiler responsible for that?)
    Black Sox organizer Chick Gandil left $10,000 under his pillow the night before Game 1 of the 1919 World Series.
    He signaled to the gamblers that the fix was in by plunking the leadoff batter with his second pitch.

Why he might not be annoying:

    His father died when he was sixteen, and he had to drop out of school to help support the family.
    He was married to Rose Freer for 53 years.
    He was one of the first Major League pitchers to master the knuckleball.
    He led the American League twice in wins (1917,1919) and once in ERA (1917).
    He felt guilty enough about the fix to confess to a grand jury investigating gambling and baseball; without his testimony, the Black Sox might have remained an unproven rumor.
    Late in life, he said, ‘Everybody who has ever lived has committed sins of their own. I’ve tried to make up for it by living as clean a life as I could.’

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2022, Out of 12 Votes: 58.33% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 6 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 18 Votes: 38.89% Annoying