The Original Curse: Did the Cubs Throw the 1918 World Series to Babe Ruth's Red Sox and Incite the Black Sox Scandal? by Sean Deveney

Author:Sean Deveney
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Chicago Cubs (Baseball team) - History, Editors, Sports & Recreation, Sports, 1918-1939, World Series (Baseball), (1918), History: specific events & topics, Publishers, USA, Baseball, Baseball - Corrupt practices - United States - History, Chicago Cubs (Baseball team), Baseball - History, Corrupt practices, United States, Inter-war period, Sports - General, History, Journalists, General, Biography & Autobiography, Ball Games: Field & Outdoor
ISBN: 9780071629973
Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional
Published: 2009-10-02T21:23:47.427000+00:00

THE ORIGINAL CURSE: JEAN DUBUC

As the Red Sox ranks were thinned by the draft, Barrow began signing players from minor leagues that shut down because of the work-or-fight order. One of those players was Jean Dubuc, a so-so, 29-year-old right-handed pitcher who had slipped out of the big leagues after seven seasons. Dubuc didn’t pitch much for the Red Sox—only two games, though he was used as a pinch hitter. He was signed by the Giants the next year and had some success as a reliever.

In 1912 Dubuc had befriended a teammate with the Tigers, little-used pitcher Bill Burns. Yes, the same Bill Burns who fed the Cubs wild turkey in spring training and gained further fame as briber of the Black Sox. During the trial, Giants pitcher Rube Benton testified that Dubuc had received telegrams—presumably from Burns—telling him how to bet on the 1919 World Series. His friendship with Burns convinced manager John McGraw to drop Dubuc from the Giants after his solid 1919 season. In 1920, after news of the Black Sox scandal broke, McGraw would explain: “Bill Burns, also indicted in Chicago, hung around the Giants the latter part of the 1919 campaign. He was trying to interest me in a Texas oil proposition, he said, but when the season ended and the Reds had clinched the pennant, he disappeared. He constantly associated with one of our pitchers, Jean Dubuc, for which reason I finally decided to release Dubuc unconditionally.”26

Dubuc, though not formally banned, never played in the big leagues again. He did go on to become a very popular figure in New England sports. He was Brown University’s baseball and hockey coach and had success establishing a pro hockey team in Providence, Rhode Island. He also did well for his former team, the Tigers, as a scout—among the players he signed was Hank Greenberg.

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