Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-12-22
COBB AND SPEAKER NAMED IN
SCANDAL 1919 BhS1vsiL GAME
Continued from Page One)


produced two letters which eventually
reached the commissioner, one was
from Wood and another from Cobb.
Woods letter accompanied a check for
the $500 Leonard had put up to make
the bet and his $3.50 winnings. Writ
| ten a few days after the 1919 season
closed, it explained that the best bet
to be gotten was $500 to S420, odds OF
10 to in Detroit, and that some of
, the principal was not staked.
1t related that Cobb did not get up
a cent" Cobb's letter. written to
Leonard October %. 1919, from the
formers Augusta, Georgia. home. said
/ Wood and myself were disappointed
in our business proposition as we had
$4,000 TO put into it and the other side
promised us S2400, and when we finally
secured that much money it was about
. o'clock and they refused to deal with
us" Cobb told Lands this was a
yelled way of giving Leonard informa-
ton he has asked him to set from
Wood.
Cobb, ASSERTING that he "never bet
a cent on an American League base
ball game, admitted today that his
letter to Leonard bore upon a betting
proposition, but denied that he had
shared in or had known of any plan
to throw the contest, and called
the bet to which he referred wholly
legitimate one of the sort frequently
entered into by baseball players. De-
spite his own habit of refusing to bet
on games n his own league, Cobb
said, It was frequent custom among
players to bet on their own team,
apd that he sometimes had knowl-
edge of bets like this, just as ! have
known of club owners betting on
horse races or on baseball games.
Il have been in baseball for twenty
two years." Cobb said, with a quaver
in bis throat, as he talked of the
charges. II have played the game as
hard and square and clean as any
man ever did; all / thought of was
to win, every year. every month,
every day, every hour My conscience
is clear. / will rest my case with the
American fans, and will match my
record in baseball against that Of
anybody connected with the. game"
Cobb ascribed Leonard's story to
pique over his dismissal from the
Detroit club in 1925 and to his desire
for money.
Leonard got $4,000 for those two
letters, / understand from American
League officials. / think, too, that he
tried to sell them to newspapers on
the Pacific coast. If Leonard had
anything on me, do you think / would
have released him in 1925? l alawys
was friendly with him, but I had to
let him go for the good of the club.
If I had feared ANYTHING, or had any
thing to fear, is 1t reasonable that
should gain his ill-will by getting
waivers on him?"
This explanation of Leonard's ac-
ton found confederation in Woods
testimony before Lands Asked if
Leonard had any reason for fabricat-
ing such story if it was not true,
Wood testified:
"He had about seven years to
frame a story around these two let
ters and he was very bitter against
Cobb, because he let him go to the
Coast League l guess he was also
bitter against Speaker because he did
not claim him and keep him in the
league. In order to get at those two
fellows he had to bring my letter in
and incriminate me, and he had no
regard for that. He did not care who
he got as long as he reached his goal.
That is the way it looks to me-"
Cobb told the commissioner:
Il believe Leonard was after what
ever money he could get out of these
letters. | see no possible reason why
he could be sore at any other club
for waving him, because the other
clubs knew he was considered a
Bolshevik."
Cobb went into detail, however,
about friction within the club, be-
tween Cobb and the pitcher, just be-
fore Leonards release. Leonard re-
fused to work out of turn in the clos
ing days of the pennant race, he said,
when Cobb urged him to
Despite Leonard's charge that the
game was fixed" to assure the De-
troit team third place that year, the ,
Tigers finished fourth, half a game !
behind the T. 4 place club. CIeve- I
land finished second. 1t was in the !
same year that the Chicago White +
COX finished first, lost the world SER /