Max John Flack (February 5, 1890 – July 31, 1975) was a

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

. He played twelve seasons in the majors from 1914 to 1925 for the Chicago Chi-Feds/Whales (1914–15) of the

Federal League The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that played its first season as a minor league in 1913 and operated as a "third major league", in competition with the e ...

, then the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

(1916–22) and the St. Louis Cardinals (1922–25) of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

Career

Flack's career with Chicago got off to a great start. He stole 37 bases in each of his first two seasons. In his second year with the team, Flack's .314 batting average was fifth-best in the

for the 1915 season. He led the league in sacrifice hits in 1916 and had a career-best 172 hits in 1921. Flack finished his big-league career with 1,461 hits and 200 steals. He topped the .300 mark three times.

World Series

Flack was labeled the "goat" of the 1918 World Series. In the third inning of Game 6, at

Fenway Park Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and Boston Braves (baseball), since 1953, i ...

, playing for the Cubs, his throwing error resulted in two

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eig ...

runs, which provided the Bosox with the margin of victory, and a Series win, the last the Red Sox would achieve until 2004. Flack's possible involvement in throwing that World Series has recently come to light. Although nothing conclusive was said,

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

pitcher Eddie Cicotte, who threw the 1919 World Series, has referenced the 1918 Cubs as having inspired the "

Black Sox The Black Sox Scandal was a Major League Baseball game-fixing scandal in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for money from a gambling syndicate le ...

." Of all the players on that team whose performance was murky, it was Flack, who had multiple strange errors and was picked off twice in one game, who had the most suspicious performance. He remains the only player to get picked off twice in one game in a World Series.

Between-games trade

Flack is remembered, along with

Cliff Heathcote Clifton Earl Heathcote (January 24, 1898 – January 18, 1939) was a center fielder in Major League Baseball who played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1918–1922), Chicago Cubs (1922–1930), Cincinnati Reds (1931–1932), and Philadelphia Phi ...

, for being half of a unique player swap. On May 30, 1922, the Cardinals were playing a

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

doubleheader at

Cubs Park Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago Wh ...

. Between games, Flack was traded for Heathcote. Both men appeared in both games that day.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Flack, Max 1890 births 1975 deaths Major League Baseball right fielders Baseball players from Chicago St. Louis Cardinals players Chicago Whales players Chicago Cubs players Sportspeople from Belleville, Illinois Baseball players from St. Clair County, Illinois Baseball players from St. Louis Burlington Pathfinders players Peoria Distillers players Syracuse Stars (minor league baseball) players

Career

World Series

Between-games trade

See also

References

External links