“Say it ain’t so Joe.” Infamously uttered by star outfielder “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, he and his fellow Chicago White Sox found themselves at the heart of a sports scandal riveting the nation. In 1919, eight players on the Chicago White Sox were accused of accepting bribes to throw —purposely lose—the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. Moreover, the infamous New York and Chicago mobs are said to be strongly involved in placing these bribes. But proving guilty play from the ballplayers and quelling the influence of the powerful mob syndicates is something that no one knows how to do. Without a central executive office of professional baseball, there’s no clear path forward. Now in 1921, a jury of ballplayers, team owners, judges, sports writers, and of course mobsters, are tasked with investigating the scandal and reevaluating America’s favorite pastime. 

Topic 1 - Forming a Strong Baseball Executive and Lingering Questions of Guilt

Prior to the 1920s, the two leagues that made up professional baseball were the National League (NL) and the American League (AL). While the leagues still exist today, in the early 20th century they were almost completely independent of each other and there was no executive board any of the owners had to answer to aside from the poorly run four-man National Baseball Commision. Thus, there is no formal oversight for the two leagues, and there is no precedent for who can punish the White Sox players for their actions. Moverover, the guilt of the players is still questioned by many people, as each of the eight men has a different account for what happened, and the mob is naturally staying silent. Therefore, the committee must deal with the need for reorganizing professional baseball and how to punish the baseball players who cheated. 

Topic 2 - Mob Influence and Sports Betting

Although gambling was highly illegal in 1900s America, it remained prolific and rampant across the country. Syndicates across Chicago and New York raked in millions from bets on horse racing, boxing, card games, and with the increased popularity of professional sports; baseball. Pro players made significantly less money than they do in the modern era, so it was much more enticing for powerful mobsters to organize massive payouts to fix games in their favor. If the integrity and honor of the game is in question, then it will result in a massive loss of revenue for the league as well as a loss of favor from the American public.

Committee Procedures

This committee will be run following Specialized Agency Parliamentary Procedure. Debate will be primarily organized using moderated caucuses, unmoderated caucuses, and speaker’s list. Unlike a General Assembly, delegates should not expect to set an order of topics through voting in Committee Session I—all topics are up for debate. Borrowing crisis elements—as is the norm for a Specialized Agency—delegates will be expected to continuously complete rounds of public directives that will respond to crisis updates. Delegates will NOT be writing working papers or draft resolutions.