Swede Risberg
Encyclopedia
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
shortstop
Shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the...
. He played for the Chicago White Sox
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
from 1917 to 1920. He is best known for his involvement in the 1919 Black Sox scandal
Black Sox Scandal
The Black Sox Scandal took place around and during the play of the American baseball 1919 World Series. Eight members of the Chicago White Sox were banned for life from baseball for intentionally losing games, which allowed the Cincinnati Reds to win the World Series...
.
Background
Charles Risberg was born and raised in San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
. He had very little education growing up and dropped out of school in the third grade. However, he soon developed a reputation as a good semipro pitcher
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...
and began his professional baseball career in 1912.
Risberg soon converted to shortstop. In 1914, he hit .366 in the Class D Union Association and was acquired by the Venice Tigers
Vernon Tigers
The Vernon Tigers were a minor league baseball team which played in the Pacific Coast League from 1909 through 1925. Vernon, California, was and is a small town in Los Angeles County. The Tigers, together with the Sacramento Solons, joined the PCL as new teams in 1909 as the league expanded from...
of the Pacific Coast League
Pacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League is a minor-league baseball league operating in the Western, Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Along with the International League and the Mexican League, it is one of three leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball.The...
. He was the club's utility infielder
Utility infielder
A utility infielder is a baseball player, usually one who does not have a regular starting role on the team and who is capable of playing more than one of the four defensive infield positions: second base, third base, shortstop, and less typically first base...
in 1915 and 1916, gaining acclaim for his defensive skills. He was then bought by the American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
's Chicago White Sox
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
in early 1917.
Major League Baseball
Risberg made his debut on April 11, 1917 for the White Sox. He was a below-average hitter, but due to his superb defensive abilities, he won the full-time job at shortstop. Late in the season, though, Risberg went into a terrible slump, and he therefore only pinch hit twice when the Sox beat the New York GiantsSan Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
in the 1917 World Series
1917 World Series
In the 1917 World Series, the Chicago White Sox beat the New York Giants four games to two. The Series was played against the backdrop of World War I, which dominated the American newspapers that year and next....
.
The next season, Risberg briefly returned to California to work in a shipyard
Shipyard
Shipyards and dockyards are places which repair and build ships. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance and basing activities than shipyards, which are sometimes associated more with initial...
as part of the war effort. Although his job was termed essential and enabled him to avoid the draft, it consisted largely of playing baseball, as he batted .308 for the shipyard ballclub.
Risberg returned to the Sox for the pennant-winning 1919 season. In September, he received good press in the Atlanta Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the only major daily newspaper in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, and its suburbs. The AJC, as it is called, is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the result of the merger between The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta...
, which labeled him a "miracle man" who had "blossomed out as a wonder" after making four plays that were "phenomenal." Chicago was heavy favorites in 1919 World Series
1919 World Series
The 1919 World Series matched the American League champion Chicago White Sox against the National League champion Cincinnati Reds. Although most World Series have been of the best-of-seven format, the 1919 World Series was a best-of-nine series...
versus the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
. However, a group of White Sox players, including Risberg, decided to intentionally lose the series in exchange for monetary payments from a network of gamblers. Risberg was one of the ringleaders, helping to convince some of his teammates to go along with the scheme. In the eight-game series, he went 2 for 25 at the plate and made a Series-record eight errors.
Risberg received $15,000 for his role in the fix, which was over four times his regular season salary. The scandal broke in late 1920, and though the eight players were acquitted in the trial that followed, they were all banned from organized baseball by Commissioner
Baseball Commissioner
The Commissioner of Baseball is the chief executive of Major League Baseball and its associated minor leagues. Under the direction of the Commissioner, the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball hires and maintains the sport's umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, and television contracts...
Kenesaw Mountain Landis
Kenesaw Mountain Landis
Kenesaw Mountain Landis was an American jurist who served as a federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and as the first Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 until his death...
.
Later years
Risberg continued to play semi-pro baseball for a decade after his banishment. According to one source, "he came to MinnesotaMinnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
in 1922 with a traveling team called the Mesaba Range Black Sox, which featured three other members of the 1919 Black Sox team: Happy Felsch
Happy Felsch
Oscar Emil "Happy" Felsch was an American center fielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Chicago White Sox from 1915 to 1920. He is probably best known for his involvement in the 1919 Black Sox scandal....
, Buck Weaver
Buck Weaver
George Daniel "Buck" Weaver was an American shortstop and third baseman in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the Chicago White Sox...
and Lefty Williams
Lefty Williams
Claude Preston "Lefty" Williams was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball. He is probably best known for his involvement in the 1919 World Series fix, known as the Black Sox scandal.-Career:...
." He played throughout the midwest United States and Canada. Columbus, North Dakota newspaper reports claimed that Risberg played part of the 1927 season with a traveling team called Dellage's Cubans based in Lignite, North Dakota
Lignite, North Dakota
As of the census of 2000, there were 174 people, 85 households, and 57 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,244.4 people per square mile . There were 111 housing units at an average density of 793.8 per square mile...
.
In 1926, Risberg was called to testify about a 1917 gambling scandal involving Ty Cobb
Ty Cobb
Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb , nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. He was born in Narrows, Georgia...
and Tris Speaker
Tris Speaker
Tristram E. Speaker , nicknamed "Spoke" and "The Grey Eagle", was an American baseball player. Considered one of the best offensive and defensive center fielders in the history of Major League Baseball, he compiled a career batting average of .345 , and still holds the record of 792 career doubles...
. He claimed that he had collected money from the rest of the White Sox players to give to the Detroit Tigers
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...
so the Tigers would intentionally lose some games. However, his story was contradicted by over 30 other men, and it was disregarded.
Risberg also worked on a dairy farm. After his outlaw baseball career ended, he eventually ran a tavern and lumber business in the northwest United States. During his playing days, he had been spiked by an opposing player; the injury never properly healed, and he eventually had to have his leg amputated. At the end of his life, he lived with his son and remained an avid baseball fan.
Risberg died in Red Bluff, California
Red Bluff, California
Red Bluff is a city in and the county seat of Tehama County, California, United States. The population was 14,076 at the 2010 census, up from 13,147 at the 2000 census....
, in 1975, on his 81st birthday. He was the last living Black Sox player.
Other sources
- Asinof, Eliot. Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series (Holt Paperbacks, 2000).
- Muchlinski, Alan. After the Black Sox: The Swede Risberg Story (AuthorHouse, 2005).
External links
- Swede Risberg at BaseballLibrary.com