"Black Sox" team members who played in Macomb, 1970 riots at SIU, and Chicago Tribune and U.S. foreign policy from 1945 - 1960 are featured in latest Journal of Illinois History

SPRINGFIELD - Members of the infamous "Black Sox" who played as "ringers" in Macomb after being banned from professional baseball, the May 1970 riots at Southern Illinois University, and the Chicago Tribune and U.S. foreign policy from 1945 - 1960 are featured in the latest issue of the Journal of Illinois History, a scholarly publication about the state's history.

 

            Eight Chicago White Sox players conspired to throw the 1919 World Series, and as a result they were banned from professional baseball for life.  These players, who ever after were known as the "Black Sox," had been acquitted of all charges by a cheering jury but could not escape the banishment handed down by baseball's new commissioner, Kennesaw Mountain Landis.  Just five weeks after being banned, three of the "Black Sox" were in uniform again, playing for the Colchester Red Men.  Joseph Jefferson "Shoeless Joe" Jackson, Eddie Cicotte and Charles "Swede" Risberg had been convinced by a McDonough County civic leader to secretly join the Colchester semi-professional baseball team in a key game against their arch-rivals from Macomb.  The three players emerged from a parked car behind the grandstand at the beginning of the September 11, 1921 game, while shocked fans from both sides immediately began to cheer or jeer.  The Macomb team, which had also secretly hired "ringers," was no match for three of the best players in baseball at the time, and Colchester won the game, 5 - 0.  The article was written by San Bernardino, California journalist Jacob Pomrenke.           

               

            Another article examines the May 1970 riots at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.  On May 12, 1970 Chancellor Robert MacVicar announced that SIU, after a week of almost continuous unrest, would be closed for an "indefinite" period.  By then students had openly clashed with police on the streets of Carbondale, occupied school buildings, and surrounded the house of SIU President Delyte Morris and threatened to burn it to the ground.  On the surface the unrest at SIU mirrored the national violence in reaction to the U.S. invasion of Cambodia and the shootings at Kent State University.  However, deeper factors inspired the violence in Carbondale during those seven days in May.  The school had a history of apolitical riots beginning in 1962 which had become a yearly spring tradition, including the infamous "panty raid" riot of 1966.  The national political focus of the 1970 riots took the traditional Dionysian Carbondale unrest one step further, causing the school to be shut down to avoid more damage and violence.  The article was written by Jason Stacy, Ph.D., assistant professor of history and history pedagogy at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.

 

            The Chicago Tribune, under the leadership of Colonel Robert R. McCormick, emerged as the strongest isolationist voice in the world of newspaper publishing after World War II.  From 1945 to 1960 the Tribune opposed the internationalism that so many  other newspapers readily embraced.  The paper was a frequent critic of the foreign policies of Presidents Truman and Eisenhower, who sought peace and security through aid programs and mutual defense pacts.  This isolationist stance stemmed largely from the strong feelings of McCormick and the conservative environment in which the Tribune evolved.  The self-described "World's Greatest Newspaper" was deemed the "worst newspaper in the nation" by President Truman after constant attacks on Truman's foreign policy, and the Tribune backed Senator Joseph McCarthy's isolationist agenda, much to the chagrin of President Eisenhower.  Upon closer examination, however, it is apparent that the Tribune reflected the feelings of the majority of its readers as well as the Illinois Congressional delegation, who were strongly against involvement in international problems.  The article was written by Bernard Lemelin, Ph.D., professor in the Department of History at Laval University in Quebec City, Canada.

                    

The Journal of Illinois History is the foremost publication for readers who value documented research on the state's history, and features articles, book reviews, essays and bibliographies that have been reviewed by some of the country's leading historians.  The Journal is published by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency (www.Illinois-History.gov).  Subscriptions are $18 per year for four issues.  To obtain a sample copy, contact:  Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, Publications Section, 1 Old State Capitol Plaza, Springfield, IL  62701, or call (217) 524-6045.