Joseph J. "Sport" Sullivan (November 2, 1870 – April 6, 1949) was an American

bookmaker A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays out bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds In probability theory, odds provide a measure of the probability of a particular outco ...

and gambler from

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

who helped to initiate the 1919

Black Sox Scandal The Black Sox Scandal was a match fixing, game-fixing scandal in Major League Baseball (MLB) in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of intentionally losing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for p ...

Biography

Sullivan was a known gambler in the Boston area who reportedly bet heavily on the 1903 World Series, and in fact tried to bribe Boston pitcher

Cy Young Denton True "Cy" Young (March 29, 1867 – November 4, 1955) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher. Born in Gilmore, Ohio, he worked on his family's farm as a youth before starting his professional baseball career. Young entered t ...

. He was arrested for gambling on baseball in 1907. In 1919, Sullivan was living in the Boston suburb of

Sharon, Massachusetts Sharon is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 18,575 at the 2020 census. Sharon is part of Greater Boston, about southwest of downtown Boston, and is connected to both Boston and Providence by the Prov ...

. In September 1919, Sullivan met with

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

White Sox' first baseman Charles Arnold 'Chick' Gandil at Boston's Hotel Buckminster and conspired with Gandil to perpetrate a fix of the

1919 World Series The 1919 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the 1919 Major League Baseball season, 1919 season. The 16th edition of the World Series, it matched the American League champion 1919 Chicago White Sox season, ...

. It has been disputed which of the two men initiated the meeting. Gandil had known Sullivan since 1912, and he later maintained that Sullivan approached him concerning the plot to throw the series. At Sullivan's suggestion, Gandil recruited several teammates to intentionally lose the games. Sullivan met with noted organized crime boss

Arnold Rothstein Arnold Rothstein (January 17, 1882 – November 6, 1928), nicknamed "The Brain", was an American racketeer, crime boss, businessman, and gambler who became a kingpin of the Jewish Mob in New York City. Rothstein was widely reputed to have orga ...

, who agreed to bankroll the fix for $80,000. Rothstein provided an initial $40,000 for Sullivan to distribute to the involved players; however Sullivan kept $30,000 for his own wagering and gave only $10,000 to Gandil.Linder, Dougla
"The Black Sox Trial: An Account"
University of Missouri - Kansas City Law School, 2001 After the scheme had been exposed, Sullivan did not testify in front of the Chicago grand jury hearing in October 1920, because William J. Fallon, the lawyer of

, persuaded Sullivan not to do so. If Sullivan did testify, it would probably expose the fact that Rothstein had been the one providing the money for the Black Sox players to fix the Series. Still, he was later indicted on nine counts of conspiracy to defraud. Sullivan reportedly was paid by Rothstein to flee to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

so that he would not go to Chicago to testify in front of the Grand Jury. Sullivan was never arrested nor appeared at the trial, which started on June 27, 1921. The trial ended in an acquittal for all the defendants. Sullivan appeared at

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx in New York City. It is the home field of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. The stadium opened in April 2009, replacing the Yankee S ...

during the

1926 World Series The 1926 World Series was the championship series of the 1926 Major League Baseball season. The 23rd edition of the Series, it pitted the National League champion St. Louis Cardinals against the American League champion New York Yankees. The ...

. He was recognized by

Ban Johnson Byron Bancroft "Ban" Johnson (January 5, 1864 – March 28, 1931) was an American executive in professional baseball who served as the founder and first president of the American League (AL). Johnson developed the AL—a descendant of th ...

, who had police escort Sullivan out of the stadium. Sullivan died in Sharon, Massachusetts in 1949.

Legacy

Sullivan's life was dramatized in Brendan Boyd's 1991

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the Setting (narrative), setting of particular real past events, historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literatur ...

''Blue Ruin: A Novel of the 1919 World Series'' which retells the Black Sox Scandal through Sullivan's narration.Daniel A. Nathan, ''Saying it's so: a cultural history of the Black Sox scandal'', University of Illinois Press (2002), p.164 Sullivan was portrayed by

Kevin Tighe Kevin Tighe (; born Jon Kevin Fishburn; August 13, 1944) is an American actor who has worked in television, film, and theater since the late 1960s. He is best known for portraying firefighter-paramedic Roy DeSoto, on the 1972–1977 NBC series ' ...

in the 1988 film ''

Eight Men Out ''Eight Men Out'' is a 1988 American sports drama film based on Eliot Asinof's 1963 book ''Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series''. It was written and directed by John Sayles. The film is a dramatization of Major League Baseball ...

''. He was also mentioned (despite not appearing as a character) in Season 1 Episode 8 of ''

Boardwalk Empire ''Boardwalk Empire'' is an American period crime drama television series created by Terence Winter for the premium cable channel HBO. The series is set chiefly in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition era of the 1920s. The series sta ...

Hold Me in Paradise and 11 of '' (Boardwalk Empire) Hold may refer to: Physical spaces * Hold (compartment), interior cargo space * Baggage hold, cargo space on an airplane * Stronghold, a castle or other fortified place Arts, entertainment, and media * Hold (musical term), a pause, also called a ...

'', ''

Paris Green (Boardwalk Empire) "Paris Green" is the 11th episode of the first season of the HBO television series ''Boardwalk Empire'', which premiered November 28, 2010. The episode was written by supervising producer Howard Korder and directed by Allen Coulter. The episode ...

''.

Notes

References

"White Sox Baseball Players Conspire"
''Great Events from History: Modern Scandals'', Salem Press, 2009,
"The Black Sox Baseball Scandal, 95 Years Ago"
History, by Evan Andrews, October 9, 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, Joseph J. Sportspeople involved in betting scandals American gamblers American gangsters of Irish descent 1870 births 1949 deaths People from Boston