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Red Legs and Black Sox

By Dr. John D. Eigenauer
May 5, 2006

Susan Dellinger’s book Red Legs and Black Sox: Edd Roush and the Untold Story of the 1919 World Series, adds unique perspective and important historical details to the well documented history of the Black Sox and the 1919 World Series. But the book is more than a story of the fix—it is a delightful mini-biography of Dellinger’s grandfather, Edd Roush. That relationship allowed the author enviable opportunities to hear first hand stories about Roush’s life, to capture his views on the 1919 World Series, and to provide insight into details of a hero’s life that fans seldom see.

The first chapter, for example, is based entirely on interviews with Roush’s wife (Dellinger’s grandmother), Essie. Dellinger uses Essie’s account to create an interesting narrative about Roush as a young farmhand with great baseball talent who loved his future wife dearly and never gave up his dream of playing ball. Along the way, we learn numerous fascinating details, such as the fact that Roush was perfectly ambidextrous, carried two gloves, and originally played right field left handed and left field right handed.

These details give the book charm and historical value. We no longer have to wonder why Roush held out so many times in his career—his father taught him to never play for less than he was worth and he refused to break that rule even though it cost him significant portions of seasons in the prime of his career. And now we know how Roush and the Reds felt about Hal Chase: Roush said, “I told him [manager Mathewson] about Chase in 1916. I played with him in ’13 in Chicago and he was rotten then.” Not even Martin Kohout’s meticulously researched biography of Chase (Hal Chase: The Defiant Life and Turbulent Times of Baseball’s Biggest Crook) gives us that kind of personal detail.

Ed Roush A contemporary picture of Edd Roush by George Grantham Bain (colorized by Patrick Mondout). Roush played in the Federal League before being traded with Christy Mathewson to the Reds in 1916. He played in all 8 games of the 1919 World Series.

These personal details, while invigorating the book, detract somewhat from its historical flavor when Dellinger recounts the story of the World Series fix. For example, she says that her description of a meeting in which Jimmy Widmeyer (the famed millionaire paperboy) learned of the fix “is hypothetical and based on Detective Calvin Crim’s investigative report.” While keeping with the tone of the book, the invented dialogue in this example and the broader narrative lessens the historical authenticity of her account. In fairness, her history is not intended to be as detailed as Gene Carney’s revisionist Burying the Black Sox, but it is nonetheless valuable.

After recounting the Black Sox’ story, Dellinger returns to the book’s strength: her personal knowledge of Edd Roush’s life. We learn at the end that Roush had serious suspicions about Dutch Reuther and Slim Sallee being involved in payoffs during the same 1919 World Series. And we learn that in 1928, Roush ended up in a hospital bed with a torn stomach muscle next to a gambler involved in the 1919 World Series fix. The men revealed to each other secrets about the Series, with Roush learning who was involved, where the fix got started, and that his ex-teammate, Hal Chase, was an important player through it all. None of the revelations surprised Roush, but at last he learned the truth.

The book is a valuable addition to our knowledge of the Black Sox scandal, of baseball in the 1910s and 20s, and of Hall of Famer Edd Roush’s life. And the story of his death, which I will not reveal, is affecting enough to make some tough old baseball players sentimental.

John Eigenauer can be contacted at jeigenauer@yahoo.com. A complete list of his reviews and more about him can be found here.