What story does the baseball flick “Eight Men Out” tell?
Plot The 1919 Chicago White Sox are considered the greatest team in baseball and, in fact, one of the greatest ever assembled to that point. However, the team’s owner, Charles Comiskey, is a skinflint with little inclination to reward his players for a spectacular season. When a gambling syndicate led by Arnold Rothstein gets wind of the players’ discontent, it offers a select group of stars — including star pitcher Eddie Cicotte — more money to play badly than they would have earned to try to win the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. A number of players, like Chick Gandil, Swede Risberg and Lefty Williams, gladly go along with the scheme. The team’s biggest star, Shoeless Joe Jackson, is depicted as not being very bright and not entirely sure what is going on. Buck Weaver, meanwhile, is included with the seven others but insists that he will not throw any games. When the best-of-nine series begins, Cicotte deliberately pitches badly to lose the first game. Williams does likewi
