September 28, 1920, proves to be a dark day in the history of baseball. The White Sox scandal gets a four column headline on page one of the New York Tribune, and takes up all of page two as Eddie Cicotte and Joe Jackson confess their guilt to the grand jury in Chicago.

Indictments were voted against eight baseball stars to-day, confessions were obtained from two of them, and Charles A. Comiskey, owner of the oft-time champion Chicago White Sox, smashed his pennant chasing machine to clean up baseball. The confessions told how the Sox threw last year’s world championship to Cincinnati for money paid by gamblers.

New York Tribune

Comiskey paid off the eight players and suspended them for the rest of the season. This basically killed Chicago’s hope of catching Cleveland for the AL pennant. It the day the Chicago American League Club became the Black Sox.

On the field, five of the six games scheduled in the major leagues play to completion, including two doubleheaders. The Reds beat the Pirates at home 2-0 in game one of their twin bill for the low scoring game of the day. The Indians beat the Browns in St. Louis 9-5 for the high scoring game of the day.

Eddie Foster of the Red Sox takes home the honor of best offensive game of the day. He posts a four for five day in game one, missing the cycle by a homer as he collects two doubles and a triple. The Senators win that game 7-6 in ten innings. Foster collected 23 extra-base hits in 1920, none of them home runs, so this was an unusually powerful day for the third baseman. He was a bit of an iron man, leading the league in at bats four times in his career.

Wilbur Cooper of the Pirates takes home best pitched game of the day. It’s an unusual situation, as he takes the loss despite his high game score. He allowed two unearned runs on four hits and no walks, striking out two. Twice in the bottom of the fourth inning, rookie shortstop Pie Traynor made throwing errors that wind up costing the Pirates the game.

George Sisler of the Browns sets the single season mark for hits as he posts a two for four day to raise his league leading BA to .407. The two hits give him 249 on the season, one ahead to Ty Cobb‘s 1911 record. Speaker goes two for five in the game to stay at .386. The batting race is over, and now we’ll see if Sisler can stay above .400.

The Yankees and White Sox are idle. The Indians win gives them a one-game lead in the AL, with a two-game lead in the loss column. The Yankees are three games back, but the best they can do is clinch a tie. The Indians magic number is down to four. Jim Bagby of the Indians picks up his 30th win of the season.

On the sports page, the AL Pennant is conceded to Cleveland. The Dodgers and Indians already started discussing the series. It seems that back then a coin toss determined which team would get the extra game at home. The Indians won the toss, but elected to play the middle four game of the best of nine in Cleveland. The Indians wanted more time to erect extra seating. It is also agreed that Joe Sewell, who replace Ray Chapman on the Indians roster following Chapman’s death, would be allowed to play. Sewell joined the Indians after the deadline for post-season play. The page lists all the players on both teams eligible for the series.