Joseph J. Sullivan

Joseph J. "Sport" Sullivan (November 2, 1870 – April 6, 1949) was an American bookmaker and gambler from Boston, Massachusetts who helped to initiate the 1919 Black Sox Scandal.

This article is about the gambler. For the entertainer, see Joseph J. Sullivan (vaudeville).
Joseph J. Sullivan
BornNovember 2, 1870
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
DiedApril 6, 1949 (1949-04-07) (aged 78)
NationalityUnited States
Other namesSport Sullivan
OccupationGambler
Known forBlack Sox Scandal

Biography

Sullivan was a known gambler in the Boston area who reportedly bet heavily on the 1903 World Series, and in fact tried to bribe Boston pitcher Cy Young.[1] He was arrested for gambling on baseball in 1907.[2] In 1919, Sullivan was living in the Boston suburb of Sharon, Massachusetts. In September 1919, Sullivan met with Chicago White Sox' first baseman Charles Arnold 'Chick' Gandil at Boston's Hotel Buckminster and conspired with Gandil to perpetrate a fix of the 1919 World Series.[3] It has been disputed which of the two men initiated the meeting. Gandil had known Sullivan since 1912, and he later maintained that Sullivan approached him concerning the plot to throw the series.[4] At Sullivan's suggestion, Gandil recruited several teammates to intentionally lose the games. Sullivan met with noted organized crime boss Arnold Rothstein, who agreed to bankroll the fix for $80,000. Rothstein provided an initial $40,000 for Sullivan to distribute to the involved players; however Sullivan kept $30,000 for his own wagering and gave only $10,000 to Gandil.[5]

After the scheme had been exposed, Sullivan did not testify in front of the Chicago grand jury hearing in October 1920, because William J. Fallon, the lawyer of Arnold Rothstein, persuaded Sullivan not to do so.[6] If Sullivan did testify, it would probably expose the fact that Rothstein had been the one providing the money for the Black Sox players to fix the Series. Still, he was later indicted on nine counts of conspiracy to defraud. Sullivan reportedly was paid by Rothstein to flee to Mexico so that he would not go to Chicago to testify in front of the Grand Jury.[5] Sullivan was never arrested nor appeared at the trial, which started in June 27, 1921.[7] The trial ended in an acquittal for all the defendants.[8]

Sullivan appeared at Yankee Stadium during the 1926 World Series. He was recognized by Ban Johnson, who had police escort Sullivan out of the stadium.[9] Sullivan died in Sharon, Massachusetts in 1949.[10]

Legacy

Sullivan's life was dramatized in Brendan Boyd's 1991 historical fiction Blue Ruin: A Novel of the 1919 World Series which retells the Black Sox Scandal through Sullivan's narration.[11][12]

Sullivan was portrayed by Kevin Tighe in the 1988 film Eight Men Out.

He was also mentioned (despite not appearing as a character) in Boardwalk Empire.

Notes
  1. Bruce Allardice, "Out of the Shadows: Joseph J. 'Sport' Sullivan", Black Sox Research Committee Newsletter, June, 2014, accessible at the SABR website. The Boston Globe, October 13, 1903
  2. The Boston Globe, July 10, 1907
  3. Eliot Asinof, Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series, Holt, (May 1, 2000), pp6-8. Bruce Allardice, "Out of the Shadows: Joseph J. 'Sport' Sullivan", Black Sox Research Committee Newsletter, June, 2014, accessible at the SABR website.
  4. Bruce Allardice, "Out of the Shadows: Joseph J. 'Sport' Sullivan", Black Sox Research Committee Newsletter, June, 2014, accessible at SABR website. Daniel A. Nathan, Saying It's So: A Cultural History of the Black Sox Scandal, University of Illinois Press, 2006, p114 ISBN 0-252-07313-4
  5. Linder, Douglas "The Black Sox Trial: An Account", University of Missouri - Kansas City Law School, 2001
  6. Eliot Asinof, Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series, Holt, (May 1, 2000), p212
  7. Eliot Asinof, Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series, Holt, (May 1, 2000), p239
  8. "White Sox Players are All Acquitted by Chicago Jury", The New York Times, August 3, 1921
  9. David Pietrusza, Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series, 2003, 2011, page 382
  10. Bruce Allardice, "Out of the Shadows: Joseph J. 'Sport' Sullivan", Black Sox Research Committee Newsletter, June, 2014, accessible at the SABR website. The traditional photo of Sullivan, used in books up to 2014 and in this Wiki article, is of another Sport Sullivan, a NYC-based boxing promoter. See the Allardice article for a verified photo, one taken from the Boston Journal, July 9, 1907.
  11. Brendan C Boyd, Blue ruin : a novel of the 1919 World Series, Norton, 1991, ISBN 0-393-03020-2
  12. Daniel A. Nathan, Saying it's so: a cultural history of the Black Sox scandal, University of Illinois Press (2002), p.164
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References
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