Imperial Valley press., 1926-12-21
BASE: [: BALI.
scandal
Re: E:VE:ALE:[
Cobb, Speaker, Wood and
Leonard Named by
Lands in Accusation.
STARTLES SPORTDOM
Charges Four Men Nam
ed ConsDired to Throw
a Game Seven Yrs. Ago
Ev United Press Leased Wire

Ev United Press Leased Wire
CHICAGO, pec. Il. - Ty cobb,
iris Speaker, Joe Wood and Dutch
ronard - f@ur Of tn" best known
PLAYERS in base ball = were
NAMED today hv Commissioner H..
NJ. LandiS in making pubiic or" Of
the greatest NrandalS in the history
Of the national pas;imr.
These four mcn, according to Il
statement Landis issued, were il
volVcd in a deal wherein Cleveland
was to "throW a game to Detroit,
September -, 1919. BY 50 doing,
it was pointed out. Cleveland could
not be noscd out of second place IN
the American league and it would
help Detroit to finish third.
I.andiS quoted from statement
which ho said was made by Leonard
when the commissioner interviewed
him on his ranch near Sanger. Cal.
The uotatiOuS from Leonard. as set
forth in Lands statement. follow:
" After the first game (mcaning
the first game Of the two regularly
scheduled games % be paved be-
tween Detroit and Cleveland. Sep
tcmbcY - and -, 1912 Cobb,
Speaker Wood and happened to
meet and get together under the
stand and of course the talk was
about baseball and that we (meaH-
ing nctroitJ wanted to finish third.
"Spcakrr said: Don t worry
about tomorrow : game We (meaa-
ing Clcyclaull have got second place
cinehcd and you will win tomorrow.
And everybody then agreed that If
il was going to be sct-up that We
mi"ht rs we'll save some money on
it,
Bet On Game
"Thcn "" talked about getting
til" money down on the game. that
is how to get up the dough and how
much we would put NJ, and cobb
said thot he would send West down
TO US. ! was to put up $500 and as
| remember il, cobb $1,000 and Wood
and Speaker $1,000 each.
- had pitched that day and
was through for the season and so
| gave my check for $500 to Wood
at the bah park and went to the
hotel, packed my things and left
that night for Independence, Mo
"Scvcral days later on. | rcceiv-
ed the Wood letter at Independence
with Il check for $500. He wrote
that West was only able to get up
part of the money and that my
share Of the winning was $l30. Dur
ing the tall; under the stand about
the next days game. Speaker said
he would 60 in and pitch himself if
necessary.
"Thorc was not very much talk
and we did not stay there very long.
There was Just four of us there and
no other player was in on it, When
| met Wood the next spring, said
to him:
- what do you think, Cobb
wrote me that be did not get any
money up on that game and
Wood says: He told me the same
thing. -
Players Make Denial
In testimony taken from Cobb and
Speaker, both denied implication in
the deal, their dcuoSitionS show.
Cobb admitted he knew large
sum Of money was waGcred on the
game in question, but denied he had
any connection with it.
Speaker denied that he was pres
cnt at the alleged conference under
meath the grandStand and said he
had heard that "Lconard was try
ing to implicatc me in letters about
a game that was fixed in 1919
Iandis statement closed with the
following words:
"ThcSc men being out of base
ball, no decision will he made un-
less changed conditions in the fu-
ture require it.
Portions of the letter written by
Cobb to Leonard and dated October
%. 1919, follow: y
"Wood and myself were consider
ably disappointed in our business
as we had $4,000 to put
into il and the other side quoted us
s 400 and when we finally secured
that much money. it was about >
o clock aud they refused to deal
with us rs they had men in Chicago
to take the matter up with and they
had no time so we completely fell
down and of course we felt badly
over it. Everything was open to
Wood and he can tell YOU about it
when we get together again. 1t
was quite responsibility and |
don't care for it again, | can assure
YOU.