Did the 1918 Cubs throw World Series?

Cubs fans already know the team's World Series drought has lasted longer than it should have. But what they might not realize is how much longer. The odometer has turned in Chicago, where, as readers of just about any sports section know, the Cubs are in Year 100 of their World Series chase. Or, as a local T-shirt entrepreneur puts it, the Cubs are going for their "Century Peat."

It didn't have to be this way. At least, not for 10 more years. That's because the Cubs should have won the 1918 World Series, and, if they had, well, who cares about a measly 90 years without a championship? Alas, in the gambling scandal that never was, the 1918 Cubs just might have laid down for that year's American League champ, the Boston Red Sox. In their defense, those Cubs could not have known that, 90 years later, North Side fans would still be pulling hair out over this team.

Now, it cannot be said for certain that gamblers got to the 1918 Cubs. But Eddie Cicotte, pitcher and one of the eight White Sox outcasts from the 1919 World Series, did say in a newly found affidavit he gave to the 1920 Cook County, Ill., grand jury that the Cubs influenced the Black Sox. Cicotte said the notion of throwing a World Series first came up when the White Sox were on a train to New York. The team was discussing the previous year's World Series, which had been fixed, according to players. Some members of the White Sox tried to figure how many players it would take to throw a Series. From that conversation, Cicotte said, a scandal was born.

That's some heavy-duty history, and, fittingly, the Cicotte affidavit sits in a room on the third floor of the Chicago Historical Society. Last December, the museum won an auction for the rights to a group of documents pertaining to the 1919 White Sox. The museum's curator, Peter Alter, says the museum will eventually make the documents available to the public.

In the meantime, Alter gave me a sneak preview. It's fascinating stuff — private notes, detailed depositions, internal memos, canceled checks. "It's a lot of material," Alter says. "What you are not going to find is something definitive that says who was innocent and who was guilty. People want clear-cut answers — I understand. But there was a lot going on at the time that clouds the picture."

What stuck with me, though, was Cicotte's testimony. The 1918 Cubs, inspiration for the 1919 Sox? Two pillars of baseball infamy — the Cubs' 99-year streak and the Black Sox scandal — both in Chicago, both solidly linked to what should have been a Cubs championship. The Cubs were 84-45 that year and serious favorites. Cicotte is not alone in suggesting they had been paid off. The lost diary of Charles Comiskey's right-hand man, Harry Grabiner, supposedly indicates that the 1918 World Series was fixed.

The reporting of baseball columnist Hugh Fullerton — the man who eventually blew the whistle on baseball's gambling problem — also suggested that something was afoul in 1918. Fullerton's accounts of those games repeatedly point out bizarre baserunning mistakes and defensive flubs.

The box scores support his descriptions. The Cubs were picked off three times, including twice in the decisive Game 6. That game was lost, 2-1, on a two-run error by Cubs right fielder Max Flack. Game 4 had been tied, 2-2, in the eighth inning, when Cubs pitcher Shufflin' Phil Douglas gave up a single, followed by a passed ball, followed by an errant throw on a bunt attempt that allowed the winning run to score.

If Cicotte was right, the 2008 Cubs should be heading into Year 90 of the drought, not Year 100. I asked Darrell Horwitz, creator and purveyor of the Century Peat T-shirts, how different things might be if those 1918 Cubs had won. " 'Ninety Peat' would not be quite so catchy," he said. "But it's still a hell of a long time."