The 1911 Ticket Scandal

What happened during the 1911 World Series that made Ban Johnson suggest the New York Giants be expelled from the National League?

It had nothing to do with what John McGraw’s baseball club did on the field. No, the Giants lost out on a World Championship by losing the Series 4-2 to the Philadelphia Athletics. However, it had everything to do with how the ticket sales were handled in New York. Hundreds of fans were turned away from tickets to the games, being told that they were none more available. However, speculators (ticket agencies) and scalpers all over town had plenty of tickets and were selling them to turned-away fans for up to five times the original price. It was normal for scalpers to get their hands on tickets, especially for World Series games. But this time, there seemed to be an abnormal number of tickets that had ended up in the hands of scalpers and speculators.

Upset fans who did not receive tickets began to flood the editorials and charge the Giants with the fact that they had colluded with speculators and scalpers to make a few extra bucks. Instead of selling tickets to fans at face value, the public proclaimed, the ballclub would sell the tickets to speculators and scalpers for more money, who would then turn and sell the tickets back to the public at a higher price. William Gray, the secretary of the Giants, vehemently denied the charge before the start of Game 2. He offered a $5,000 reward for anyone who had direct evidence that the club was directly involved with speculators.

The next day, members of the National Commission of Baseball met in New York to discuss the ever-growing ticket scandal. Chairman Garry Herrmann found it very hard to believe that the Giants could be involved in such a mess and told the media that there was no time for an investigation during the World Series. He challenged the fans, whom he called ‘soreheads’, to bring him proof that the tickets fell into illicit hands. He scoffed at the idea that this was a scandal, calling the whole thing a ‘hubbub’. However, American League President Ban Johnson spoke in a much different tone:

“ The public in time will learn the truth. I will say, however, that if it can be proved that any official of the New York Club aided speculators to obtain tickets for the games in New York, I would be in favor of any move to expel that party or parties from the National League.”

It wasn’t the first time a team would be accused of selling tickets to outsiders looking for profits during the World Series. Johnson made charges against the Chicago Cubs of doing the same thing in 1908 and sent the Commission in to investigate. However, Herrmann found no evidence and quickly exonerated the Cubs of any wrongdoing. Still, Johnson believed the Cubs had blood on their hands in 1908 and thought the Giants did in this incident as well. During a massive rain delay that wiped out days of the Series, Johnson had more to say to the media:

“ The way the speculators got control of the tickets in New York [is] scandalous. It was even worse that it was [in Chicago] in 1908. Had we gone through with our investigation at that time and put one of two men out of baseball, the present ticket scandal would never have taken place.

“ The speculators in New York had all the tickets they wanted. You can buy any number of seats in one bunch. How they got them I cannot explain. There may be something important develop from the present scandal, but we have no time to take that up now.”

After the Series concluded, it appeared Johnson had received some evidence that he wanted. According to people close to Johnson, witnesses had come forward and said that they saw cars loaded with reserved tickets driven from Giants headquarters the day before tickets went on sale. Johnson requested to see Herrmann immediately and within days, the Commission announced it would begin an official inquiry into the scandal on the 14 ^th of November. The inquiry lasted five hours before the Commission delayed the investigation until December 11 ^th , citing other unresolved matters that needed to be attended to sooner.

Johnson arrival to New York was delayed one day so the Commission adjourned quickly on the 11 ^th , deciding to start when Johnson arrived with his evidence. The evidence was being touted as something that would ‘blow the lid’ off the case but National League President Thomas Lynch wasn’t so convinced. He said he had heard the evidence and didn’t think it was very damaging evidence against the New York Club. Lynch went to bat for the Giants, saying he believed the whole thing was just ‘gossip’ and that it would blow over in a few days.

Johnson finally arrived the day after the hearing was suppose to start and presented his evidence to the Commission. After sifting through the evidence, the Commission decided to postpone the investigation indefinitley until further evidence arose. That was not to say that the evidence wasn’t very good as it even surprised Lynch, who a day before was adamant that Johnson did not have any good proof that the Giants were involved. “We have some evidence but it isn’t enough to land anybody,” said Lynch, who was then asked if the documentation brought before the Commission was no good, “Yes, it is good evidence, but we want more of it.”

After the hearing concluded, Chairman Herrmann issued a statement that for the first time, included the Philadelphia ballclub as part of the scandal:

“ The commission has carried on a rigid investigation of the ticket scandal for several weeks and $1,500 has been expended to detectives in an effort to get at the truth of the matter. The commission realizes that the tickets were in the hands of speculators in New York and Philadelphia and that exorbitant price were asked for tickets. What we want to know is, was either of the clubs in collusion with the speculators?…We will continue this investigation and may not get through with it for some time. What the result will be nobody knows.”

The Commission’s conclusion to the matter angered AL President Ban Johnson. The next day at a meeting of American League owners, Johnson told the press that neither Herrmann or Lynch showed any interest in his inquiry and that the entire process was poorly run. He said his league would stop having any further contact with the National League then what was necessary and he also dropped a bombshell that his league would no longer participate in the World Series unless certain changes were made in regards to how the tickets are distributed.

The National League stayed quiet on the American League’s threats. New York President John T. Brush released a statement that said Johnson’s move to drop out of the World Series was just a plan “devised to divert the attention of the public from [his] failure to make good on the charges against the New York Club.” A letter Brush sent Johnson was also made public, which explained how Philadelphia’s name suddenly came up in the inquiry. Brush listed in detail how tickets in Philly had ended up in the hands of speculators but then said he had no idea how that happened in his city. One AL owner remarked that it was odd that Brush seemed to know more about the business of the A’s then he knew about his own.

Almost a month passed before the Commission met for it’s annual January meeting in Cincinnati and Herrmann, Lynch, and Johnson all met for one final sit down on the inquiry. It lasted eight-and-a-half hours and two days later, the Commission finally released a statement. In it, Herrmann exonerated both the Giants and A’s of any wrongdoing and said while their was evidence that some employees and outsiders were involved, there was nothing concrete to press charges. It also listed in detail the leads that the Commission had received and what it had done to investigate. The final report appeared to satisfy most men involved and the issue was considered resolved.

Johnson revoked his threat to pull the American League from the World Series after the Commission agreed to changes on how ticket sales would be handled. Instead of allowing individual teams control of the distribution of tickets, the sales would now be controlled by an independent contractor who would be hired by the Commission. After the tickets are sold, the Commission would then distribute the money back to the World Series teams.

Even though Johnson agreed to allow his league to participate in World Series – after withdrawing a few weeks earlier – he still didn’t seem entirely satisfied with the end result. While both Herrmann and Lynch offered comments to the press upon leaving the hotel, Johnson did not and would not speak on the subject ever again.