Banks are making huge profits and cutting jobs.

Scotiabank is richer than you think.  The Bank of Nova Scotia, as it is formally known, made a record net profit of $6.7 billion in the fiscal year that ended October 31, 2013.  Yet, earlier this month, it cut 1,500 jobs worldwide, about 1,000 of them in Canada?

The bank also plans to close or downsize about 120 branches in its international banking division. Scotiabank is  restructuring, you understand.  Well, let's call a spade a spade.  The truth is that words such as "restructuring" and "reorganizing" are convenient euphemisms for layoffs and firings.

Bank of Nova Scotia logo

You can bet your bottom dollar that none of Scotiabank's highest paid executives will see a decrease in their salary or lose their jobs.

The Bank of Nova Scotia is by no means the only Canadian bank taking such actions.  At the end of 2013, the Bank of Montreal (BMO), quietly cut about 1,000 jobs.  BMO, founded in 1817, is Canada's oldest bank.  In July, 2013, it had 46,628 full-time employees.  By the end of the quarter ending in October, 2013, that number was speedily reduced to 45,631 (a decline of 997 full-time jobs or two per cent of the total work force).

A spokesperson for the Bank of Montreal issued the following statement to CBC News.

That number reflects reductions due to a combination [of] productivity initiatives, attrition and a decline in part-time work hours due to seasonal fluctuations," 

BMO's chief operating officer, Frank Techar, defended the move during a conference call to discuss the bank's fourth quarter results.  He argued that the cuts were necessary to decrease expenses and to make banking operations more efficient.   Techar stated that the total reductions were "full-time equivalent" positions (jobs that are calculated on an average work week and which can include part-time positions).  "We did see a big reduction in head count," Techar admitted to analysts.  He actually conceded that the Bank of Montreal laid off too many employees at one time.  Here are his exact words as quoted by the CBC:

For the quarter we overshot a little bit.  We do have some outstanding vacancies that I would expect will fill as we go into the first quarter.

Those were comforting words for the employees who lost their jobs, weren't they?  By the way, in BMO's 2013 earnings report, the bank announced its full-year profit hit a record of $4.2 billion. In addition, the bank increased its dividend by two cents per quarter.

The Royal Bank of Canada, the country's largest bank, has also recently gotten into the act.  On Friday, November 21, 2014 (just before the weekend - How convenient!), RBC announced its plans to close down its international client-wealth management business in the Caribbean, along with some international advisory businesses in Canada and the United States.  The Financial Post reported that the cuts could involve about 300 employees, including many brokers and private bankers located in Toronto and Montreal.

Ed Clark, who recently stepped down as head of TD Canada Trust,was asked if bank CEOs are paid too much.  His answers was an unequivocal "yes."  In an interview on CBC's The Exchange with Amanda Lang,  He candidly admitted that he was paid to much and that he makes up for it by giving back.  His personal solution is to "give money to people who need it more than you do."

Clark, who does seem to have a social conscience, contributes greatly to Egale, a crisis counselling centre for the homeless in downtown Toronto.. That's all very noble and to his credit, but how does it help bank employees who have lost their jobs?  How does it bridge the growing gap between the haves and have-nots in our society?  Donating to charities is fine, but it will not solve the problem of poverty.  Improved social services are needed.

Clark told Amanda Lang that he hasn't found a way to deal with the disparity between average incomes and executive salaries at TD Canada Trust.  "If you said if I could remake the world would I have a narrower income distribution, I would,” he declared."  And as you know, I’d love to try to figure out how to do that singlehandedly, but you can't, because if I do it for myself do I do it for the next level? At what point are you no longer paying market rates?”

I don't buy his explanation.  Where there's a will, there's a way.  I believe banks could find a solution to the problem if thy really wanted to.  It seems that they don't really want to.  Could the reason be greed?


- Joanne

Reflections on November: Trying to find beauty in a gloomy month

October extinguished itself in a rush of howling winds and driving rain and November arrived, cold as frozen iron, with hard frosts every morning and icy drafts that bit at exposed hands and faces.

- J.K. Rowling
From Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

We are about halfway through November, which I will freely admit, is not favourite month.  Here in the Northern Hemisphere, the eleventh month is often dark and dank and dreary.  It is the death month.  It is the melancholy month.  Some people describe it as hauntingly beautiful; and yes, it is that at times. November is part of the natural order, a rite of passage.  There has to be a November so that there can be spring and rebirth.  Still, I can't deny that I find the lack of sunlight difficult and that the bleak, damp weather can be depressing.

Even the holidays in November tend to reflect the solemnity of the month.  November 1st is All Saints Day and November 2nd is All Souls Day.  Then we have November 11th, the mournful day in which we reflect on those who have died in wars.  Here in Canada, it's called Remembrance Day.  The Americans call it Veteran's Day.  South of the border, of course, Thanksgiving comes on a Thursday in late November to usher in the Christmas season, and it is a more festive holiday. However, Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving in October, which is fine with me.  Our Thanksgiving coincides with the harvest and the magnificent colours of the autumn leaves.  By the end of November, the promise of the Winter Solstice and the lights of Christmas and  are just around the corner anyway.

November, therefore, is inextricably linked to spring.  Edward Way Teale (1899-1980), an American naturalist, photographer and Pulitzer-prize winning author, wrote:

How sad would be November if we had no knowledge of the spring!

LUCY MAUD MONTGOMERY AND NOVEMBER

L.M. Montgomery

Canadian author, L.M. Montgomery (1874-1942) must have experienced some harsh Novembers in her beloved Prince Edward Island.  The woman who wrote Anne of Green Gables expressed some thoughts about the month of November in her works.  It seems she found something cathartic about it.

But there is always a November space after the leaves have fallen when she felt it was almost indecent to intrude on the woods…for their glory terrestrial had departed and their glory celestial of spirit and purity and whiteness had not yet come upon them.

- Lucy Maud Montgomery
From Anne of Windy Poplars


It was November - the month of crimson sunsets, parting birds, deep, sad hymns of the sea, passionate wind-songs in the pines.  Anne roamed through the pineland alleys in the park, as she said, let that great sweeping wind blow the fogs out of her soul.

- Lucy Maud Montgomery
From Anne of Green Gables

EMILY DICKINSON AND NOVEMBER

Emily Dickinson

In an 1864 letter to her friend, Elizabeth Holland, the great American poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) wrote:

It is also November. The noons are more laconic and the sunsets sterner, and Gibraltar lights make the village foreign. November always seemed to me the Norway of the year. ------ is still with the sister who put her child in an ice nest last Monday forenoon. The redoubtable God! I notice where Death has been introduced, he frequently calls, making it desirable to forestall his advances.

Why did Emily Dickinson describe November as the "Norway of the year?"  What did she know of Norway, this reclusive woman who was born, lived most of her life, and died at her family's homestead in Amherst, Massachusetts?  What did she know of life outside of New England? Dickinson's words are intriguing, though, and tantalizingly ambiguous.  Did she have some romantic notion of Norway and its Nordic climate?  Was she expressing the beauty of life after death?

One thing is certain. A frequent theme of Dickinson's poetry is death and immortality.  There is little doubt that she linked November with death. and the afterlife.




ROBERT FROST AND NOVEMBER

The American poet. Robert Lee Frost (1974-1963) first published "My November Guest" in the November 1912 issue of The Forum.  It then appeared in A Boy's Will, a volume of Frost's work, published in 1913.

Frost

My November Guest

My Sorrow, when she's here with me,
   Thinks these dark days of autumn rain
Are beautiful as days can be;
She loves the bare, the withered tree;
   She walks the sodden pasture lane.

Her pleasure will not let me stay.
   She talks and I am fain to list:
She's glad the birds are gone away,
She's glad her simple worsted gray
   Is silver now with clinging mist.

The desolate, deserted trees,
   The faded earth, the heavy sky,
The beauties she so truly sees,
She thinks I have no eye for these,
   And vexes me for reason why.

Not yesterday I learned to know
   The love of bare November days
Before the coming of the snow,
But it were vain to tell her so,
   And they are better for her praise.              

In the poem,"Sorrow" is the personification of a female guest who sees great beauty in November days.  In a way, I'm trying to imitate the "guest," by trying to find the best in a gloomy month.

- Joanne

The Cat came back - Cat Stevens, that is . . . or did he?

True, at one time – following my embracing of Islam – I was ready to cast the whole music thing behind me and get on with my new life far away from the spotlights, public appearances and adoring crowds.

In a letter to my record companies, I asked them to let me off my obligations, which involved producing another three albums. They graciously agreed… perhaps thinking that this was just another short-term spiritual excursion.

It wasn't. The Cat never came back. Instead, I changed my name to Yusuf, decided to get married, and bought a small semi-detached house in Hampstead Garden Suburbs, London, a few doors away from my mother.

- Cat Stevens/Yusuf
Rolling Stone Magazine
April 4, 2014

During the late 1960s and much of the 1970s, Cat Stevens' gentle folk rock sound filled the airwaves. He was one of the most successful songwriters and recording artists of the era with hit song after hit song. His hits includes "Moonshadow" (1971), "Peace Train"(1971), "Wild World" (1971), "Morning Has Broken" (1972), "Oh Very Young" (1974) and more. There were hit albums too: Tea for the Tillerman, Teaser and the Firecat and Catch Bull at Four.

Then it all ended abruptly before Stevens had even reached the age of 30.  The popular balladeer announced his conversion to Islam and declared that his religious beliefs were not compatible with his career as a singing star. How and why did he transform himself from a hard-living bohemian folk-rock singer into a devout Muslim?  Let's examine his background to find some answers.

Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam, was born Steven Demetre Georgiou on July 21, 1948 in a district of London, England called Marylebone.  He was the third child of a Greek Cypriot father, Stavros Georgiou, and a Swedish mother, Ingrid Wickman.  Along with his older siblings (his sister Anita, and brother, David),  young Steven lived above the restaurant his parents operated.  The restaurant, called The Moulin Rouge, was located at 245 Shaftesbury Avenue (with a second entrance on New Oxford Street), just steps from Piccadilly Circus and the Soho theatre district of London.

In an October 2014 interview with Ken Sharp for Rockcellar Magazine, the former Cat Stevens was asked what it was like growing up in the lively London theatre district.  Here is his reply:

It was the backdrop. And in a way one of the major influences of my life and career was the fact that I grew up in the center of London and the hub of the West End where theatres and coffee bars and jukeboxes played throughout the night. So in a way it was natural that I fell into the entertainment world. It was a natural step

Steven Georgiou was raised in a Christian home.  Although his father was of the Greek Orthodox faith and his mother was a Baptist, they chose to educate their son at a private Catholic school in London (St. Joseph Roman Catholic Primary School on Macklin Street).  Steven also attended other local schools in the West End, where he received poor grades in everything but art.  At a young age, he took an interest in piano and later, influenced by The Beatles, he was became drawn to guitar-playing.  While in his early teens, he persuaded his father to purchase a guitar for him.  He eagerly learned how to play the instrument and began composing his own songs.

Steven's parents broke up when he was about eight years old. They remained business partners, however, and the entire family, helped out at the restaurant.  Meanwhile, the teenage Steven aspired to become an artist like his uncle Hugo Wickman (his mother's brother), who was a well-known painter in Sweden.  He enrolled at Hammersmith Art College, considering a career as a cartoonist, but he couldn't get music out of his system.

In July of 1964, while still at Hammersmith, he made his folk music debut at a local London bar called Black Horse, performing under the name "Steve Adams." He began singing in small coffee houses, clubs and pubs around the city, and his music attracted attention. In 1965, he signed with Decca records and adopted the stage name "Cat Stevens," partly because a girlfriend had remarked that he had eyes like a cat.   Stevens certainly had the look of a troubadour. With wavy black hair and soulful eyes, he appeared sensitive and thoughtful.  The up-and-coming singer soon released his first album, Matthew and Son.  

Two tracks from Matthew and Son became quite successful as singles.  In October 1966, his composition "I Love My Dog" reached the British charts.  His next single, "Matthew and Son," was even more successful.  It entered the charts in January of 1967 and just missed becoming number one in the U.K.   In the United States, "Matthew and Son" straddled at the bottom of the charts. Although Stevens had been popular overseas, it was not until the American release of Tea for the Tillerman in 1970, with its hit single "Wild World," that he became a true star in the U.S.  The album went gold, and created interest in the singer's previous recordings.

By his late teens, Cat Stevens was headed for stardom and he was tasting the fruits of fame.  ''My first experience was a dazzling one, as an 18-year-old with a hit record and girls chasing me all over Europe,'' he told Karl Quinn in a 2012 interview for the Sydney Morning Herald. ''There I was on tour with (Jimi) Hendrix and everything that was a consequence of that. I didn't learn that much, I just succumbed to the moment, and that was stardom."

Stevens did not only fall under the spell of stardom, he also succumbed to the lure of alcohol and drugs.  "For sure we did all that," he admitted to Karl Quinn.  "And because of that I contracted tuberculosis at (21). That was an important inoculation, because I knew then that whatever I did next I must keep more control, I must keep my own interests at heart, and not worry too much about what the manager and agents, and even the public, were saying.''

Although Cat Stevens was experiencing success as a pop star, he was not satisfied.  He longed to release some of his more mature songs. Decca, however, refused to accommodate him.  They preferred that the singer continue to focus on a teenage audience.  This disappointed Stevens and caused him to sink into a depression.  The depression, combined with his stressful and hard-partying lifestyle, had a negative effect on his health.

After contracting tuberculosis in 1968, Cat Stevens became gravely ill.  According to the BBC' News website, "the singer 'spent three months in hospital and another year recuperating."  The illness prompted him to take a look at his life and to embark on a spiritual journey.  He underwent an existential crisis and spent years searching for answers.  During his quest for enlightenment,
Stevens investigated eastern faiths such Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism, and he also looked into astrology, tarot cards and numerology.

While vacationing in Morocco, Cat became captivated by the sound of the Muslim call to prayer. He was deeply impressed by this "music to God."  In 1976, he came close to drowning off the Malibu coast in California.  He vowed to do God's work if his life were spared.  A wave soon came and transported him safely to shore.  The near-death experienced strengthened his resolve to find spiritual fulfillment.

That same year, following a visit to a mosque in Jerusalem, Cat Stevens' brother David gifted him with a copy of the Qur'an as a 28th-birthday present. Stevens read it, and after an intense study of Islam, he decided that he had found the answers to his questions about the meaning of life. On December 23, 1977, Stevens officially converted to the Muslim faith.  He auctioned off his guitars and devoted himself to charitable and educational causes within the Islamic community.  On July 4, 1978, he changed his name to Yusuf Islam.

In order to fulfill contractual obligations, Yusuf produced one more album under the name "Cat Stevens."  The album. Back to Earth, was recorded in November of 1978 and released on December 3, 1978.  On the very day of the album's release, the singer's father, Stavros Georgiou, passed away.

On September 7, 1979, the former Cat Stevens wed Fauzia Mubarak Ali, the daughter of a Surbiton accountant (Surbiton is a suburban area in south-west London).  Their marriage has been falsely described as an arranged one,  In a November 10, 2006 story by Alexis Pedridis in The Guardian, Stevens himself said: "I simply had two girls that I was, in a way, interested in marrying. I invited them home separately and asked my mother which one she thought I should marry and, by God, she was perfectly right.".

The nuptials took place  at Regent's Park Mosque in London, The couple raised five children (four daughters and son named Muhammad) and are now grandparents. (There was a sixth child, their youngest, who died at 13 days).

Fauzia Mubarak Ali

Since his conversion to the Muslim faith, the former Cat Stevens has become embroiled in some bitter controversies.  In February of 1989, he received a great deal of media criticism for seeming to condone Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa on author Salman Rushdie for writing The Satanic Verses.  He later claimed to be misinterpreted and that the statement was the result of his naivety at the time.  He denied ever calling for the death of Salman Rushdie.

Yusuf unequivocally condemned the 2001 World Trade Centre terrorist attacks and the July 7. 2005 London bombings.  Here is his statement at the time of the 9/11 attacks.

I wish to express my heartfelt horror at the indiscriminate terrorist attacks committed against innocent people of the United States yesterday. While it is still not clear who carried out the attack, it must be stated that no right-thinking follower of Islam could possibly condone such an action. The Qur'an equates the murder of one innocent person with the murder of the whole of humanity. We pray for the families of all those who lost their lives in this unthinkable act of violence as well as all those injured; I hope to reflect the feelings of all Muslims and people around the world whose sympathies go out to the victims of this sorrowful moment.

On September 21, 2004, Yusuf  boarded a United Airlines flight from London to Washington. D.C. He was scheduled to meet up with Dolly Parton, who had recorded "Peace Train" and was planning to include him on her new album.  However, during the flight, his name was tagged as being on The No Fly List.  The plane was rerouted to Bangor, Maine and Yusuf was detained by U.S. Department of Homeland Security officers.  The next day, he was refused entry into the United States and was flown back to Britain.  Homeland Security later said there were "concerns of ties he may have to potential terrorist-related activities" and added him to a "watch list."

In October of 2004, two British newspapers, The Sun and The Sunday Times, endorsed the United States' refusal to allow Yusuf entry into the country, accusing the singer of supporting terrorism.  He responded by launching a successful libel suit against the two papers.  An out-of-court settlement was reach and both papers issued apologies to him.

The incident sparked an international controversy and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw complained to his American counterpart, Secretary of State Colin  Powell.  However, in 2006, Yusuf had no problem entering the United States for performances and interviews

In the 1990s, Yusuf Islam began his gradual return to a musical career.  He was driven. he told interviewer Karl Quinn, "by a desire ''to start bridging some of my dreams unfulfilled."  He was especially motivated by his desire to write a musical - and yes. he did write that musical.  He called it Moonshadow: The Musical, .after the blockbuster hit from his 1971 album Teaser and the Firecat.

In the same way Mamma Mia highlights the music of ABBA, Moonshadow: The Musical, consists of a story based around a long list of Cat Stevens songs.  It premiered at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne, Australia on May 31, 2012, with Yusuf in attendance.  The show received mixed reviews and closed early.  

When he returned to making music, Yusuf's initial works featured only percussion sounds and Islamic-themed lyrics.  ln 2006, he recorded and actively promoted An Other Cup, his first pop music album of new songs in 28 years.  In 2009, he released Roadsinger (To Warm You Through the Night). The album made its debut on the Billboard 200 at position number 41 and on the UK charts at nuuber 10. One of the tracks, "Everytime I Dream," was inspired by the Salmon Rushdie controversy.

On October 27, 2014, Yusuf/Cat Stevens released a  a new album called Tell 'em I'm Gone, produced by Legacy Recordings.  The  ten-track album, his first since 2009's Roadsinger, contains a mixture of cover songs and new material.  The Cat id definitely back, but he has been changed by age, experience and his conversion to Islam.  His hair and beard are grey now, but his voice is intact.

In 2011, the former Cat Stevens embarked on a European tour, performing in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium and Sweden.  He is about to embark on another tour, which includes North America, where he hasn't performed in 36 years.  It's called the "Peace Train... Late Again Tour" and its first North American stop will be my city, Toronto.  Here's the schedule, according to his website.

Nov 4, 2014 - London  Hammersmith Eventim Apollo

Nov 5. 2014 - London  Hammersmith Eventim Apollo

Nov 9, 2014 - Brussels  Forest National

Nov 11, 2014 - Milan  Mediolanum Forum

Nov 13, 2014 - Vienna  Stadthalle

Nov 16, 2014 - Paris  Zenith

Nov 20, 2014 - Berlin  Tempodrom

Nov 23, 2014 - Hamburg  CCH1

Nov 25, 2014 - Dusseldorf  Mitsubishi Electric Hall

Dec 1, 2014 - Toronto  Massey Hall

Dec 4, 2014 - Philadelphia  Tower Theatre

Dec 7, 2014 - Boston  Wang Theatre

Dec 9, 2014 - Chicago  The Chicago Theatre

Dec 12, 2014 - San Francisco  Masonic Auditorium

Dec 14, 2014 - Los Angeles  Nokia Theatre

After all these years, how does Yusuf/Cat Stevens view his musical legacy?  He has said that "Moonshadow" is his favourite of all his old songs. In a July 1, 2006 article for American Songwriter ("Cat Stevens: Full Circle," by Ken Sharp), the singer/songwriter expressed his pride in the 1971 ballad.  He declared, "'Moonshadow"' is what I call the eternal optimist's anthem, which is fine.  If that's the final word on my music, I think that's what should be remembered."

In 2009, when Yusuf appeared on The Chris Isaak Hour, he explained how the song came about:  "I was on a holiday in Spain. I was a kid from the West End (of London) - bright lights, et cetera.  I never got to see the moon on its own in the dark, there were always streetlamps. So there I was on the edge of the water on a beautiful night with the moon glowing, and suddenly I looked down and saw my shadow. I thought that was so cool, I'd never seen it before."        


END NOTES

*  Some sources list Cat Stevens' birth date as July 21, 1947.      

*  His mother, Ingrid Wickman, passed away c. 1989.  She was a native of Gävle, Sweden.

*  Stevens' former girlfriend, American actress Patti D'Arbanville, was the inspiration for the song "Lady D'Arbanville" from his 1970 album Mona Bone Jackson.  She apparently also inspired two of his other songs - "Hard-Headed Woman "and "Wild World."

*  For several months in 1971, Cat Stevens was romantically linked with another American - singer Carly Simon.  The two met while Stevens was preparing for his first American shows at the Troubador in Los Angeles.  During their relationship, they wrote songs about each other.  For example, Cat Stevens wrote the song "Sweet Scarlet" from his album Catch Bull  at Four for Carly. Simon, however, married James Taylor on November 3, 1972.

Cat Stevens with ex-girlfriend Carly Simon

* Although Cat Stevens chose a music career over and art career, he is a talented artist.  He drew and designed his album covers, most famously for Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and the Firecat.

*  In 1965, Cat Stevens signed a publishing deal with Ardmore & Beechwood and recorded several demos of his compositions, including "The First Cut is the Deepest."  He had originally planned on being a songwriter and wrote the tune with the intention of promoting it to other artists.

"The First Cut is the Deepest" has the distinction of being a hit for four different artists: P.P. Arnold (1967); Keith Hampshire (1973); Rod Stewart (1977) and Sheryl Crow (2003).  In May of 1967, the P.P. Arnold version reached number 18 on the UK Singles Chart.  Stevens himself did not record his own version until October of 1967.  It appeared on his second album, New Masters, which was released in December 1967.  He has never released his original recording of the song as a single.

By the way, Cat Stevens reportedly sold "The First Cut is the Deepest" to P.P. Arnold for 30 pounds.

*  In 1978, after his conversion to the Muslim faith, Cat Stevenss adopted the name Yusuf Islam. "Yusuf" is the Islamic translation of "Joseph."  Stevens chose the name because he identified with the Joseph whose story is told in the Bible and the Qur'an and who was sold into slavery.  He now calls himself Yusuf/Cat Stevens professionally because so many people recognize him as "Cat Stevens."

*  Yusuf/Cat Stevens and his wife, Fauzia (who's of Afghan and Turkish descent). currently reside in London and spend part of each year in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  Their son, Muhammad Islam, is a singer-songwriter who has adopted the name Yoriyos,  Yusuf credits Muhammad with inspiring him to pick up the guitar again after so many years.  His then-17-year-old placed his own guitar where his father couldn't help but notice it.  "He bought a guitar back into the house and was writing songs in his bedroom," Yusuf has said.  "I had no idea he was doing it or that he was so talented."

On November 27, 2006, at the age of 21, Muhammad released his debut album, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, under the name Yoriyos.  The release of Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee came just a couple of weeks after Another Cup, his father's first album in 28 years.

The former Cat Stevens with his son

*  In April of 2014, Yusf was inducted into the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame for his work under the name of Cat Stevens.  He was inducted by Art Garfunkel at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.


- Joanne

The Blue Jays and Rogers have some nerve raising ticket prices again!

I’m pretty surprised they had the audacity to raise the ticket prices this much . . . They have the longest streak of playoff futility in the league, and after Game 2 of the World Series they hit us up with a price increase? It’s par for the course for what people expect from Rogers.

- Mike Wilkomirsky, a disgruntled Blue Jays fan, as quoted in the Toronto Star


Sixty bucks might not seem like much, but when you’re on a tight budget you have to think twice about what you spend on leisure.

- Vishala Shembedasie, another disgruntled fan whose 20-game 500-level ticket package increased from $200 to $260 this season, as quoted in the Toronto Star.


I won't mince word either.  The decision by the Toronto Blue Jays and Rogers, the mammoth telecommunication company that owns the team, to increase ticket prices is absolutely contemptible. This is a team that has failed to make post-season play since 1993 and they have the unmitigated gall to ask fans to shell out more of their hard-earned money.  It's disgusting! Worst of all, the price for 500-level tickets is increasing the most.  The fans in the nose-bleed seats are going to be hit the hardest.  Talk about gouging the public!

Here's the deal.  Your Toronto Blue Jays chose the 21st anniversary of the last day they were in the post-season to increase ticket prices almost across the board for season ticket-holders in 2015.  Prices in the 500-level were the hardest hit, where costs for a 15-game flex pack rose a whopping 50 per cent compared to last season.  Other price increases ranged from five to ten per to 35 or 40 per cent. Prices in the 200-hundred level outfield seats decreased slightly. Single-game tickets don’t go on sale until January, but Stephen Brooks. Blue Jays senior vice-president, confirmed that those prices will go up as well.

According to Brooks, prices had to be raised in order to "get consistency in product pricing relative to other products by section.”  All that corporate bafflegag doesn't mean a thing to fans. All they know is that the Blue Jays organization did not even have the decency to give season ticket-holders any prior notice about the price increases.  Subscribers were merely informed of the increases when they received their invoices.  Is that how the Jays show their respect for the team's most loyal followers!

What a great sense of timing!  What great appreciation for the fans who have supported them during all years of frustration and losing!  Is this Rogers' way of rewarding such patience.  It's time someone stood up for the much-maligned fans.  The players have agents and a union to support them. Rogers is a huge corporation and billionaire owners have wads of cash.  Tell me, please, who speaks for the downtrodden fans?  Who will be their advocate?  When was the last time you heard a baseball player express concern about the affordability of attending a game for fans?

These ticket increases are pocket change to the wealthy player and billionaire owners.  They live in in a very different world than most people.  For the ordinary Joe and Jane, with bills to play, higher ticket prices will probably mean that they won't be able to afford to take their children to many baseball games.  It's sad because these are the truest fans. They don't attend games because it's trendy and they want to be seen.  They attend because they genuinely enjoy the game.

Baseball used to be one of the most reasonably priced sports for live attendance.  Those days are quickly fading away, ruined by greed and selfishness.  Oh yes, sports teams pay lip service to the fans.  They use phrases such as "our wonderful fans" and they have "fan appreciation days" at the end of each season.  Big deal!  So they give away a few cars and cell phones, while at the same time receiving advertising revenue from the companies that provide the prizes.  What good is that when live sporting events are becoming more and more expensive?  If the owners and players really cared about the fans, they'd be concerned about the affordability of their product.

I write this as a longtime fan of the Jays, and I am no fair-weather fan either.  Here in Toronto, we are gouged more than almost any city in North America.  The cost of tickets for Leaf and Raptor games are beyond the reach of an increasing number of Torontonians.  The prices at the concession stands at the Air Canada Centre and the former Sky Dome are outrageous.  I call it highway robbery, pure and simple.

We all know about the soulless and silent "fans" in the platinum seats at the Air Canada Centre Most of the time, they just eat and talk business.  Often their chairs are unoccupied, a testament to their interest in the game.  Is this what Rogers wants for the Blue Jays too?  Perhaps, as long as the cash keeps rolling in.


- Joanne

2014 World Series Quiz

It's that time again, baseball fans.  It's October and the World Series is just around the corner.  To put you in the mood for the Fall Classic, Number 16 presents a 2014 World Series Quiz.  Are you up to the challenge.  Put on your baseball cap and find out by answer the following questions. Get ready to play ball!


2014 WORLD SERIES QUIZ


1.  Which of the following statements is not true about the 1964 World Series between the New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals?

A.  The 1964 World Series marked the last Series appearance for both Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford.

B.  The St. Louis Cardinals won in six games.

C.  Yankee manager Yogi Berra was fired after the Series ended and replaced by the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals.

D.  The New York Yankees did not play in another World Series until 1976.

E,  All of the above.



2.  Name the youngest man ever to broadcast a World Series game.

A,  Vin Scully

B.  Ernie Harwell

C.  Red Barber

D.  Bob Costas

E.   Mel Allen



3.  What was the nickname of the 1982 World Series between the Milwaukee Brewers and the St. Louis Cardinals?

A.  "The Beer Fest"

B.  "The Brew War"

C.  "The Big Brewsky"

D.  "The Suds Series"

E.  "The Battle of the Brews"



4.  When was the last time the Chicago Cubs won the World Series?

A.  1912

B.  1907

C.  1908

D.  1913

E.  1924



5.  Reggie Jackson, known as "Mr. October," played in 27 World Series games during his career.  How many home runs did he hit in those 27 games?

A.  seven

B.  ten

C.  twelve

D.  nine

E.  eight



6.  Have any of the various versions of the Washington Senators ever won the World Series?

A.  No team named the Washington Senators has ever won the World Series.

B.  Yes, the Washington Senators won the 1922 World Series.

C.  No team named the Washington Senators has ever even played in the World Series.

D.  Yes, the Washington Senators won the 1931 World Series.

E.  Yes, the Washington Senators won the 1924 World Series.



7.  Which baseball manager has won the most World Series rings?

A.  Connie Mack

B.  Joe Torre

C.  A tie between Joe McCarthy and Casey Stengel

D.  A tie between Sparky Anderson and Tony La Russa

E.  Miller Huggins



8.  Did Ty Cobb ever play on a World Series championship team?

A.  No, Cobb never won a World Series ring during his baseball career.

B.  No, he never even played in the World Series.

C.  Ty Cobb won a World Series with the Detroit Tigers.

D.  Cobb won a World Series with the Philadelphia Athletics.

E,  Cobb won two World Series rings with Detroit.



9.  Which of these statements in false about the Toronto Blue Jays' back-to-back World Series victories in 1992 and 1993.

A. 1992 marked the first time a World Series game was played outside the United States.

B.  The Blue Jays' manager, Cito Gaston, became the first black manager to win the World Series.

C.  The Toronto Blue Jays became the first Canadian-based team to win the World Series.

D.  The Blue Jays became the first Canadian-based team to participate in major league post-season play.

E,  All of the above.



10.  When the New York Mets (dubbed the "Miracle Mets" or the "Amazing Mets") won the 1969 World Series, which American League team did they defeat?

The Mets celebrating their 1969 World Series win

A.  Detroit Tigers

B.  Baltimore Orioles

C.  Kansas City Royals

D.  Chicago White Sox

E.  Cleveland Indians



11,  What team defeated the Chicago White Sox in the infamous 1919 World Series?

A.  New York Giants

B.  Philadelphia Phillies

C.  St. Louis Cardinals

D.  Boston Braves

E.  Cincinnati Reds



12.  To date, the New York Yankees have won 27 World Series championships, the most of any team in Major League history.  Which team has recorded the second-most World Series victories?

A.  St. Louis Cardinals

B.  Pittsburgh Pirates

C.  Boston Red Sox

D.  New York/San Francisco Giants

E.  Detroit Tigers



13.  On October 8, 1956, Don Larsen pitched a perfect game for the New York Yankees in Game 5 of the World Series.  To date, Larsen's perfect game is the only perfect game in the history of the Fall Classic.  Until 2010, it remained the only no-hitter of any kind in post-season play.  Which pitcher threw a no-hitter in the National League Division Series that year?

Don Larson after his perfect game

A.  Pedro Martinez

B.  Cliff Lee

C.  Roy Halladay

D.  Cole Hamels

E.  Roy Oswalt




ANSWERS

1.  B

The St. Louis won the 1964 World Series in seven games.  They won the seventh game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis by a score of 7-5.  Yogi Berra was fired and replaced by Johnny Keane, who had resigned from the Cardinals after the series.  It was the last World Series appearance for both Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle.  Mantle played his final major league game in 1968 and announced his retirement on March 1, 1969.  Ford  played his final major league game in 1967.  Their New York Yankees did not appear in another Word Series until 1976 when they were swept by the Cincinnati Reds in four games straight.


2.  A

Vin Scully was only 25 years old when he broadcast the 1953 World Series, a rematch between the four-time defending champion New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers.  He replaced Red Barber who was involved in a salary dispute.  In so doing, Scully became the youngest person to broadcast a World Series game, a record that still stands today.  At the age of 86, he is still the voice of Dodger baseball, but in Los Angeles.

By the way, the Yankees won that 1953 Series in six games for their fifth straight title - another mark that has yet to be equalled.


3.  D.

The 1982 World Series was dubbed the "Suds Series."  St. Louis and Milwaukee had never met in a Series before, but the two cities were beer market rivals with St. Louis being the home of Anheuser-Busch and Milwaukee the home of Miller Brewing.  The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Milwaukee brewers in seven games.


4.  C

The last time the Chicago Cubs won the World Series was 1908 - that's 106 years ago!  The Cubbies have only won two Series in their storied history - back to back wins in 1907 and 1908.  Both times, they defeated the Detroit Tigers.


5.  B

Reggie Jackson slammed ten home runs in his 27 World Series games, batting .354 with 24 RBIs. The Hall of Famer played on five World Series championship teams.  He won three times with the Oakland Athletics and twice with the New York Yankees.  On October 18, 1977, Reggie slugged three home runs in Game 6 of the World Series, leading the Yankees to a 4-1 win over the Los Angels Dodgers and a victory in the Series four games to two.


6.  E

The Washington Senators did indeed win the World Series - in 1924.  They defeated the New York Giants in seven games.  In the above photo, Washington manager Bucky Harris presents U.S. President Calvin Coolidge with the baseball used to open the 1924 World Series at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D,C.  The Senators lost the first game of the Series by a score of 4-3 (in 12 innings).

Pitching great Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators made his first World Series appearance in 1924.  He was 36 years old.


7.  C

Joe McCarthy

Casey Stengel

Joe McCarthy and Casey Stengel hold the MLB record with seven World Series rings each. McCarthy earned his rings while managing the New York Yankees in 1932, 1936-1939, 1941 and 1943. Stengel's victories were with the Yankees from 1949 to 1953 (five straight championships), and in 1956 and 1958.  Stengel won a total of 37 World Series games, while McCarthy won 30.

Connie Mack is in second place with five rings.  Joe Torre won four World Series and Sparky Anderson, Tony La Russa and Miller Huggins each notched three.


8.  A

No, Ty Cobb never won a World Series.  However, he did play in three straight World Series for the Detroit Tigers in 1907, 1908 and 1909.  The Tigers lost all three.  They lost to the Chicago Cubs in 1907 and 1908 and to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1909.


9.  D

The Toronto Blue Jays had been in post-season play prior to 1992, but they were not the first Canadian-based team to participate in the post-season  That distinction belongs to the Montreal Expos. In 1981, the Expos made it to post-season play for the first and only time as a Montreal franchise. However, they lost the best-of-five National League Championship when Rick Monday of the Los Angeles Dodgers hit a ninth-inning home run in Game 5 at Montreal's Olympic Stadium.  In 2005, the Expos moved to Washington D.C. to become the Washington Nationals.

Cito Gaston, who spent his entire managerial career with the Toronto Blue Jays, became the first African-American manager to win a World Series in Major League history when the Blue Jays won the championship in 1992.

Cito Gaston

10. B

In 1969, the New York Mets defeated the Baltimore Orioles in what is considered one of the greatest upsets in World Series history.  The Mets won the Series in five games, becoming the first expansion team to win a division title, a pennant, and the World Series.  Under manager Gil Hodges, the Mets captured the championship in what was only the eighth year of their existence.  They overcame a fine Baltimore Orioles club, managed by Earl Weaver.



11.  E

In 1919, the Cincinnati Reds defeated the heavily-favoured Chicago White Sox five games to three in the best--of-nine World Series.  A scandal followed (dubbed the "Black Sox" in which it was revealed that several members of the White Sox had conspired with gamblers to intentionally lose the 1919 championship.


12.  A

To date, the St. Louis Cardinals have won 11 World Series championships, the second-most Series victories.  The Boston Red Sox have won eight times, having appeared in 12 October Classics. The New York/San Francisco Giants have combined for seven World Series titles - five in New York and two in San Francisco.  The Pittsburgh PIrates have compiled five championships, while the Detroit Tigers have prevailed four times - 1935, 1945, 1968 and 1984.


13,  B

On October 6, 2010, Roy Halladay tossed a no-hitter for the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 of their 2010 National League Division series against the Cincinnati Reds.  It was Halladay's  second no-hitter in 2010 and the first postseason appearance of his career.



NOTE TO READERS: If you can't get enough baseball trivia, why don't you also try a previous baseball quiz I posted on October 1, 2012.  It's called "Baseball and World Series Quiz."  Just click the QUIZ tab at the top of the page.


- Joanne

Spare the rod and spoil the child?: Corporal Punishment and the Adrian Peterson Case

We need to understand the difference between discipline and punishment.  Punishment is what you do to someone; discipline is what you do for someone.

- Zig Ziglar (1926-2012), American author, motivational speaker


If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.

- Albert Einstein

The Adrian Peterson case has certainly stirred up the debate on corporal punishment..  Peterson, 29, is a star running back for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League. On Thursday, September 11, 2014, he was indicted by a  grand jury and charged with causing reckless or negligent injury to a child.  On Saturday, September 13, he was freed on $15,000 bail after turning himself in to police in Houston, Texas. Peterson was booked amid allegations that he disciplined his four-year-old son by repeatedly hitting him with a tree branch.  Last May, he allegedly struck the boy approximately ten to 15 times with the branch, causing injuries to the child's back, hand, buttocks, ankles, legs and scrotum.

Adrian  Peterson

Adrian Peterson apparently told police earlier this year that he cares deeply about his son and that he did not consider himself guilty of wrongdoing.  He said he would never "eliminate whooping my kids . . . because I know how being spanked has helped me in my life."  Peterson's lawyer made the following statement to ESL.com.

He used the same kind of discipline with his child that he experienced as a child growing up in east Texas," the statement read. "Adrian never intended to harm his son and deeply regrets the unintentional injury.

In the United States, parents in every state are permitted to legally hit their child, provided the force is "reasonable."  Corporal punishment is also permitted in schools in 19 states, including Texas. According to Texas law (Texas' Family Code), child abuse is "an act or omission that endangers or impairs a child's physical, mental or emotional health and development."  The state, however, makes an exception for "reasonable discipline" by the child's parent or guardian.

Here in Canada, criminal law is under the jurisdiction of the federal government and applies to all the provinces and territories.  Under Section 43 of the Canadian Criminal Code,

Section 43 of the Criminal Code of Canada

Section 43 of the Criminal Code( reads as follows:

Every schoolteacher, parent or person standing in the place of a parent is justified in using force by way of correction toward a pupil or child, as the case may be, who is under his care, if the force does not exceed what is reasonable under the circumstances.

The defence of reasonable correction appeared in Canada’s first Criminal Code back in 1892.  The content has remained practically unchanged since that time, the only update being the removal of "masters" and "apprentices" from among the relationships covered by the defence.

The controversial law remains despite challenges from the Senate, the House of Commons and the Supreme Court.  Sadly, as a result, Canada continues to be one of the few developed countries in the world that officially condones corporal punishment.  In September of 2012, the Canadian Medical Association Journal called for the repeal of Section Section 43.  Its editor-in-chief, John Fletcher, wrote: "To have a specific code excusing parents is to suggest that assault is a normal and accepted part of bringing up children."  He also referred to Section 43 as a "constant excuse for parents to cling to an ineffective method of child discipline."

The CMA's editorial was prompted in part by a February 2012 study that looked into 20 years of research on corporal punishment and its effects.  The study found that spanked children are more likely to become antagonistic  and aggressive adults, more prone to antisocial behaviour.  Despite such findings, both social and economic conservatives continue to support corporal punishment. Social conservatives support the practice because, as Dave Quist, executive director of the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada put it, "There is a distinct difference between assault and discipline,” He and other social conservatives it consider it a necessary, although increasingly less popular, means of disciplining a child.

Social conservatives are fond of quoting the old axiom about sparing the rod and spoiling the child. Right-wing religious fundamentalists are strongly influenced by the biblical adage: "He that spareth the rod, hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes." (King James Version of the Bible, Book of Proverbs 13:24).  Note: The old adage is probably derived from a 17th century poem by Samuel Butler called Hudibras.  In the poem, a love affair is compared to a child, and spanking is lauded as a means of strengthening the love. The actual verse reads as follows:

"What medicine else can cure the fits

Of lovers when they lose their wits?

Love is a boy by poets styled

Then spare the rod and spoil the child."

Conservatives tend to believe that parents, not government, know best how to raise their children. They consider it the duty of parent, not the state. to decide how children should be disciplined, as long as it is reasonable.  Therein lies the rub.  How does one define the word "reasonable" and how can one ensure that spanking remains within reasonable limits?  Where does one draw the line between "spanking" and "child abuse?"  If the state doesn't protect children from abuse, who will?

Although Canada holds strict guidelines on what constitutes a legal spank (The child must be between two and 12 years of age, the blows may only be administered with an open palm and the force used must be “transitory and trifling in nature), there is no way those guidelines can be truly enforced or monitored.  Furthermore, they do not prevent a child from receiving unintentional injuries from parents who become extremely angry and go overboard in their attempts to punish a child.

Shouldn't society have some role in protecting children from abuse before it happens?  In some instances, parents don't intend to abuse their children, but they get carried away or overwhelmed by frustration, stress and anger.  If corporal punishment were outlawed, there would fewer occurrences of child abuse due to parents losing control.  There would be fewer adults perpetuating the attitude of parents who spanked them.

If the allegations against Adrian Peterson are true, then he is guilty of child abuse.  No matter what his intentions, if he caused physical harm to his son, his method of "discipline' was utterly reprehensible and disgusting, to say the least.  Opponents of corporal punishment do not deny that children require discipline.  However, there are many other methods of discipline that are effective and do not result in children being beaten and bruised and frightened of their parents.

It is unfortunate that former basketball star, Charles Barkley, defended Peterson in a recent interview with Jim Rome for CBS Sports' The NFL Today.  Barkley, who hails from Leeds, Alabama stated: "Every black parent in my neighbourhood in the South would be in trouble or in jail under those circumstances. . . . As far as being from the South, we all spanked our kids. I got spanked, me and my two brothers."  It would have been more helpful if Sir Charles had criticized such conduct and called for a a change of attitude, an end to such behaviour in the southern states.  "I'm a good ol' Texas boy and my daddy spanked me" is not an acceptable justification for hitting a child.

Corporal punishment is archaic and should not be tolerated.  It is a 17th century method of discipline that has no place in the 21st century.  It should be outlawed.  It should be taboo.  It is unacceptable PERIOD.  That is why the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC) proposes that all states implement a law prohibiting all forms of corporal punishment in schools, private and public institutions, the juvenile justice system, the alternative care system and the home.


- Joanne

Shoeless Joe Jackson: His Life Before and After the Scandal

(Shoeless Joe) Jackson's fall from grace is one of the real tragedies of baseball.  I always thought he was more sinned against than sinning.
- Connie Mack (1862-1956), baseball player, manager and team owner


Joe Jackson agreed to throw the World Series, and he received $5,000 for doing so. The evidence that he actually did throw the Series is slightly less than conclusive, but in a way that's irrelevant. He certainly knew what was going on, and he probably helped. And that's all we need to know. Shoeless Joe's not a god, nor even a ghost. He was a man who happened to play baseball exceptionally well.
- Rob Neyer
July 30, 2014, ESPN.com

There has been a great deal of controversy about whether Pete Rose should remain banned from Major League Baseball and whether he should eligible for membership in the exclusive National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.  In 1989, Rose was expelled from MLB amid allegations that he gambled on baseball games during his tenure as player and manager for the Cincinnati Reds.  In 2004, he admitted to betting on baseball, but not against his own team.  The issue of Pete Rose's possible reinstatement and induction to the Hall of Fame continues to spark debate. There is, however, another player from a much earlier era whose exclusion from the hallowed halls of Cooperstown still remains an issue.  That player is Joseph Jefferson Jackson, better known as "Shoeless Joe."

Shoeless Joe Jackson was born on July 16, 1887 (some sources cite 1888 as his birth year) in Pickens County, South Carolina, the eldest of the eight children (six boys and two girls) of George Jackson, a sharecropper, and his wife, Martha.  In 1901, the family moved to a company town called Brandon Mill, just outside of Greenville, South Carolina where George found employment at the textile factory.  Young Joe also went to work at the Brandon Mill to help meet family finances.  He probably would have remained a mill worker if it hadn't been such an immensely talented baseball player..

The Jackson family was poor and could not afford to send Joe to school.  Of his lack of formal education, Joe once stated, "I ain't afraid to tell the world that it don't take school stuff to help a fella play ball."  Well, Joe sure knew how to play ball!  The great Babe Ruth imitated Shoeless Joe Jackson's style because "I thought he was the greatest hitter I ever saw.  He's the guy who made me a hitter."  Ty Cobb, no stranger to controversy himself, praised Joe as "the finest natural hitter in the game."

Joe was originally a pitcher for the mill league squad, but he was moved to the outfield because his fastball was so hard that he once broke a catcher's hand or arm.  After that, it was difficult to find someone who would agree to catch for him.

On July 19, 1908, Joe Jackson married 15-year-old Katherine "Katie" Wynn, also of Greenville.  That same year, the newlywed Joe played professional baseball for the first time, with the Greenville Spinners of the Carolina Association. He led the league with an impressive .346 batting average.  In August of 1908, Connie Mack, manager of the Philadelphia Athletics, bought Joe's major league contract.

Joe and Katie on their wedding day

Shoeless Joe had a difficult time in Philadelphia, then a city of over 1.5 million people.  It was all rather overwhelming for the illiterate country boy who was teased incessantly by his teammates because of his inability to read and write.  When Connie Mack offered to get Joe a tutor, he refused the offer. In 1909, after five games with the Athletics, a homesick Joe departed for his native South.  He played 118 games for the South Atlantic League's Savannah, Georgia team (the Savannah Indians) and batted .358 for the season.

The Philadelphia Athletic eventually gave up on Shoeless Joe.  In July of 1910, he was traded to the Cleveland Naps (later the Indians) for outfielder Bris Lord and $6,000.  He dutifully reported to the team's New Orleans farm club (the Pelicans) and batted .354 during that Southern League season.  Joe's performance in New Orleans earned him a promotion and he was brought up to play for the Cleveland team for the last twenty games of their season. During that time, his batting average was an impressive .347.

In 1911, Jackson's first full major league season, he batted a stellar .408, the highest batting average ever recorded by a rookie.  In 1912, his batting average was .395 and he led the American League in triples. The following year, 1913, he led the league in hits with 197.

Joe as a Cleveland Naps player

On August 20, 1915, Shoeless Joe Jackson was traded to the Chicago White Sox for $31,500 in cash and three players (Braggo Roth, Larry Chappell and Ed Klepfer).  The owner of his new team was Charles Albert Comiskey (1859-1931).  A former player and manager, Comiskey had been instrumental in the formation of the American League and the founding of the White Sox.  Under his direction, the team's renowned stadium, Comiskey Park, was built in 1910.

Charles Comiskey

Joe's trade to the White Sox would alter the course of his life.  As he boarded a train to Chicago on the night of the deal, he had no way of knowing what turbulence lay ahead.  The next day, he joined his new team and played left field in a double header against the New York Yankees.

By 1917, the United States had entered World War I and Shoeless Joe was a star outfielder for the Chicago White Sox.  He batted .307 that season and led his team to a World Series victory over the New York Giants - four games to two.  Joe was ineligible for the draft because he was the sole supporter of his wife and his mother.  In 1918, he took a job in the shipyards, receiving much criticism for not going overseas to fight in the war.  He continued to play baseball for industrial team leagues and returned to Chicago when the war ended.

During the 1919 season, Joe Jackson resumed his fine play on the field.  He recorded a .351 average during the regular season and once again led his team to a berth in the World Series.  His Chicago White Sox were heavily favoured to defeat their National League opponents, the Cincinnati Reds. Despite being underdogs, the Reds won the best-of-nine Series five games to three.

1919 Chicago White Sox

1919 Chicago outfield  (L to R) -  Nemo Leibold, Happy Felsch, Shano Collins, Jackson

After Chicago's lacklustre performance, suspicions were aroused that some of the White Sox players had been influenced by gamblers and bookies.  Owner Charles Comiskey attempted to discourage speculation that the Series had been fixed.  He made the following statement to the press.

I believe my boys fought the battle of the recent World Series on the level, as they have always done.  And I would be the first to want information to the contrary--if there be any.  I would give $20,000 to anyone unearthing information to that effect.

Despite his initial statement of confidence in his players, Charles Comiskey's actions prove otherwise. According to Douglas Linder, author of an article entitled "The Black Sox Trial: An Account," on the Famous American Trials  website, Comiskey employed a private detective to investigate the finances of seven of the eight players who were considered part of the original conspiracy."  Infielder Buck Weaver was the only one of the eight not under investigated.

In December of 2007, the Chicago History Museum purchased a collection  of documents relating to the Black Sox scandal.  The documents, all came came from the same source - the offices of Charles Comiskey's attorney.  Among the documents were reports from the detectives Comiskey hired through his lawyer, Alfred Austrian,  These included letters from J.R, Hunter of Hunter's Secret service of Illinois.

So, the Chicago White Sox played the 1920 season under a cloud of suspicion, even from their owner. Shoeless Joe batted .385 and led the American league in triples for the third time in his career, but his team failed to win the pennant.  Although the White Sox were in contention until the final week of the season, they quickly fell out of the race in the autumn of 1920, when the infamous "Black Sox" scandal broke wide open. News of the affair was made known to the public on September 26th. Shoeless Joe and seven of his teammates (Eddie Cicotte, George "Buck" Weaver, Oscar "Happy" Fetsch, Arnold "Chick" Gandil, Charles August "Swede" Risberg, Fred McMullin and Claude "Lefty" Williams) were accused of accepting $5,000 each as part of a conspiracy with gamblers (including former boxer Abe Attell) to throw the 1919 World Series.  Newspaper headlines screamed "WHITE SOX INDICTED.".

Charles Comiskey suspended the seven players who were still active.  The eighth player was first baseman Chick Gandil, the self-admitted ringleader of the conspiracy.  Gandil,who opted to leave major league baseball after the 1919 season, had associated with a bookie and gambler, Joseph "Sport" Sullivan, who would later become a key figure in conspiring with Gandil to fix the 1919 World Series.

After the 1920 season, Major League Baseball's first commissioner, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, banned Shoeless Joe Jackson from playing professional baseball.  Jackson's last major league appearance occurred on September 27. 1920 for the Chicago White Sox.  He was in his early 30s and in the prime of his career.

The next day, September 28, 1920, Joe testified under oath before a County Cook, Illinois grand jury. In his testimony, he admitted to agreeing to throw the 1919 World Series for the sum of $20,000. However, he stated that he received $5,000.

Q: Did anybody pay you any money to help throw that series in favor of Cincinnati?
A: They did.
Q: How much did they pay?
A: They promised me $20,000, and paid me $5,000.
Q: Who promised you the twenty thousand?
A: "Chick Gandil.
Q: Who is Chick Gandil?
A. He was their first baseman on the White Sox Club.
Q: Who paid you the $5,000?
A: Left Williams brought it in my room and threw it down.
Q: Who is Lefty Williams?
A: The pitcher on the White Sox Club.
Q: Where did he bring it, where is your room?
A: At that time I was staying at the Lexington Hotel, I believe it is.

So, according to Jackson's own testimony, he agreed to fix the series and he also accepted a bribe. Shoeless Joe was guilty as sin!  Case closed!  Well, it's not quite as simple as that.  Joe's biographer, Donald Gropman, author of Say it Ain't So, Joe!," portrays Joe as more of a victim than a villain.  At the time of the grand jury hearings, Joe did not have his  own legal counsel.  In what was clearly a conflict of interest, he was represented by Charles Comiskey's lawyer, Alfred S. Austrian (Comiskey paid Austrian's legal fee).

Gropman claims that Austrian advised Jackson to admit to the judge that he was guilty and to apologize.  It was this lawyer, Gropman says, who persuaded Joe to sign a waiver of immunity, which Joe couldn't read.  As for the presiding judge, his name was Charles McDonald and he was a close friend of none other than (you guessed it) Charles Comiskey.

In 1949, Joe Jackson told his side of the story to Furman Bisher of Sport Magazine.  Bisher was young journalist at the time and his interview with Shoeless Joe was a real coup for him.  Joe told Bisher that he was aware of the talk about fixing the World Series and that he went to see Charles Comiskey about it.

When the talk got so bad just before the World Series with Cincinnati, I went to Mr. Charles Comiskey's room the night before the Series started and asked him to keep me out of the line-up. Mr Comiskey was the owner of the White Sox. He refused, and I begged him: "Tell the newspapers you just suspended me for being drunk, or anything, but leave me out of the Series and then there can be no question." 

As for the famous legend about the young boy who tugged at Joe's sleeve as he left the courthouse and urged him to "Say it ain't so, Joe," it's a great story, but it's likely a fabrication of the press. Here's what Shoeless Joe had to say about the alleged incident to Sports Magazine.

I guess the biggest joke of all was that story that got out about "Say it ain't so, Joe." Charley Owens of the Chicago Daily News was responsible for that, but there wasn't a bit of truth in it. It was supposed to have happened the day I was arrested in September of 1920, when I came out of the courtroom. 

There weren't any words passed between anybody except me and a deputy sheriff. When I came out of the building this deputy asked me where I was going, and I told him to the Southside. He asked me for a ride and we got in the car together and left. There was a big crowd hanging around the front of the building, but nobody else said anything to me. It just didn't happen, that's all. Charley Owens just made up a good story and wrote it. Oh, I would have said it ain't so, all right, just like I'm saying it now. 

On August 2, 1921, a Chicago jury acquitted Joe Jackson and his teammates of helping to fix the 1919 World Series.  Kenesaw Landis, however, chose to take a hard line on the matter, arguing that it was necessary in order for Major League Baseball to clean up its tainted image. Landis acted against the court ruling and he claimed that baseball was perfectly capable of governing itself.  As a result, Shoeless Joe and the seven other Chicago players were prohibited from ever playing professional baseball again.

Joe leaving the courthouse in 1921

On the day after the jury's verdict,  Landis released the following statement to the press:

Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player who throws a ballgame, no player that undertakes or promises to throw a ballgame, no player that sits in conference with a bunch of crooked players and gamblers where the ways and means of throwing a game are discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball.

Kenesaw Mountain Landis

The Chicago players who threw the 1919 World Series were not satisfied with their salaries. While that does not justify their actions, by any means, it explains their motivations.  Charles Comiskey certainly had a reputation for being a tightwad who failed to follow through on promised bonuses to his players. He apparently tried to save expenses by reducing the number of player uniforms laundered.  Two of his biggest stars, Shoeless Joe and third baseman Buck Weaver, received $6,000 a year, far less than their value.  At the time, of course, there was no free agency. Due to baseball's reserve clause, any player who turned down a contract was forbidden from playing for another team.

To be fair, most owners during that era were no better than Comiskey.  In fact, the 1919 Chicago White Sox actually had one of the highest team payrolls in the majors leagues at $93,000 ($20,000 more than their National League opponents, the Cincinnati Reds).  These facts did not come to light until 2003 when Major League Baseball allowed the archives of the Baseball Hall of Fame to have access to index cards containing information about players' payments and contract modifications.

There is no doubt that Comiskey was  unpopular with his players and that he was intensely disliked by Chick Gandil.  In the September 17, 1956 issue of Sports Illustrated, Gandil provided his view of the scandal to journalist Melvin Dursag in an article entitled "This is My Story of the Black Sox Series!" Here is what Gandil thought of Comiskey.

There was Charles Comiskey, the White Sox owner.  He was a sarcastic, belittling man who was the tightest owner in baseball.  If a player objected to his miserly terms, Comiskey told him.  'You can take it or leave it.'  Under baseball's slave laws, what could a fellow do but take it?  I recall only one act of generosity on Comiskey's part.  After we won the World Series in 1917, he splurged with a case of champagne.

The major issue regarding Comiskey is not, however, whether he was a skinflint and a tyrant.  The major issue is that he was aware of the conspiracy to some degree and that he played a part in covering up the scandal.  Shoeless Joe claimed to have warned him about it, and there is evidence that the White Sox front office had knowledge of what was going on, including Harry Grabiner, the team's secretary and Comiskey's top aide (a position similar to a general manager in today's baseball).

In the mid-1960s, baseball owner and promoter Bill Veek (1914-1986), a Chicago native, discovered Grabiner's diary hidden away in a remote area of Comiskey Park.  Veek published parts of the diary in a 1966 book entitled The Hustler's Handbook.  Grabiner's journal contained pages of handwritten notes about contract negotiations with players and the White Sox's investigation into the World Series fix.  Here is what Veek wrote in The Hustler's Handbook.
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Beyond any doubt, the White Sox front office had more than some inkling of what was going on from the very first game of the 1919 World Series.  Some accounts state that Grabiner warned Comiskey, American League President Ban Johnson and National League John Heydler of a possible scandal after Game 2 of the Series, but was ignored.

In his biography of Shoeless Joe, entitled Shoeless: The Life and Times of Joe Jackson, author David Fleitz also revealed Comiskey's cover up of the scandal.

(Charles Comiskey) could not risk the public exposure of the 1919 Series fix., since his enemies could use his own awareness of the details against him . . . The temptation to cover up the scandal proved irresistible, so Comiskey and Grabiner soon got all the crooked players, except for (Chick) Gandil, back in the fold . . .

How did Cominkey get his errant players back in the fold?  Prior to the 1920 season, Charles "Swede" Risberg and Oscar "Happy" Fetsch were given an increases in salary.  As for Shoeless Joe, he signed a three-year contract for $8,000 a year.  After the 1919 season, Chick Gandil refused Comiskey's offer of a raise and retired from the majors.  Instead, he decided to play semi-professional baseball in California, far away from Chicago and the brewing scandal.

Charles A. Comiskey died on October 26, 1931 and was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939 by the Veteran's Committee.  He was not excluded from Cooperstown despite his cover-up of the Black Sox scandal.  If one believes that Shoeless Joe should not be a member of the Hall of Fame, then by the same token, Comiskey does not deserve to be there either.  Did Judge Landis know of Comiskey's complicity in the scandal and the subsequent cover-up of the affair?

Ted Williams, legendary left fielder for the Boston Red Sox, is best known for batting 406 during the 1941 season.  Nicknamed "The Splendid Splinter," Williams was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1966, his first year of eligibility.  He made the following statement in defence of Shoeless Joe, whom he admired.

Joe shouldn't have accepted the money...and he realized his error.  He tried to give the money back.  He tried to tell Comiskey . . . about the fix.  But they wouldn't listen.  Comiskey covered it up as much as Jackson did--maybe more.  And there's Charles Albert Comiskey down the aisle from me at Cooperstown -- and Shoeless Joe still waits outside. 

Shoeless Joe's performance in that 1919 October Classic was absolutely superb.  Not only did Jackson belt the only home run of the eight games that were played, but he was responsible for 11 of Chicago's 20 runs, and he led his team in RBIs, with six.  His batting average was a robust .375 and his 12 hits set World Series record at the time (Bobby Richardson of the New York Yankees had 13 hits in the 1964 Series). In addition, Joe's defensive work in that 1919 Series was flawless.  He fielded 30 balls without committing a single error.

Nevertheless, Jackson's detractors contend that he did not perform to the best of his ability in the 1919 World Series.

In the first four games the conspirators wanted to lose, Jackson hit .250 with zero RBI.  In the fifth fixed game, Jackson was hitless until the Reds were ahead 5-0, at which point he hit a solo home run.  Later, with the Sox trailing the Reds 10-1, Jackson hit a meaningless two-run double.

- Rob Neyer
July 30, 2014, ESPN.com

In 1922, after his banishment from the majors, Joe and his wife, Katie, moved to Savannah, Georgia where they owned a dry cleaning business.  The couple returned to Greenville in 1932 and opened a barbecue restaurant on Augusta Street.  They later owned Joe Jackson's Liquor Store  on Pendleton Street, near Brandon Mill, where the two grew up.  They operated the store until Joe's death.

Joe and Katie circa 1932

Shoeless Joe at his liquor store

During the years following his expulsion from the majors, Joe played with and managed several semi-professional teams in the South, mainly in Georgia and South Carolina.  In 1941, when he was over 50 years of age, Jackson played in his first and only night game.  He put on quite a show, by the way, slugging two home runs.  Shoeless Joe Jackson died of a massive heart attack on December 5, 1951 at his home in Greenville, South Carolina.  He was 64 years old at the time of his passing.

Ted Williams once declared:  "When I was younger, the Red Sox used to stop sometimes in Greenville, South Carolina.- that's Joe Jackson's home.  And he was still alive.  Oh, how I wish I had known that and could have stopped in to talk hitting with that man.

In November of 1999 the United States House of Representatives  passed a resolution praising Joe Jackson's sporting accomplishments and urging Major League Baseball to reverse its stand on his ineligibility for the Hall of Fame.  The resolution, of course, was purely symbolic, since the government of the United States has no official authority or power over the situation.  However, MLB commissioner Bud Selig declared that Jackson's case was under review.  Almost 15 years have pass since then, and Shoeless Joe's status remains unchanged.  He is still in ineligible.  The problem will be passed on to Selig's successor, Rob Manfred.

Movies such as Field of Dreams (1989) and The Natural (1984) have portrayed Shoeless Joe Jackson as a heroic figure.  While there is something wonderfully romantic and dreamlike about Joe's film persona, it is a highly idealized image of the man.  In truth, Joe was neither an angel nor a devil.  He was merely a flawed human being, much like the rest of us - except for his ability to play baseball.

 Joseph Jackson died in 1951 but lives on as Shoeless Joe, more a myth than a man, a ghostly figure walking out of a cornfield wanting nothing more than to play the game he loved. The real Joe Jackson, the South Carolina mill hand and small-town businessman, would smile and shake his head at the legend that surrounds Shoeless Joe today. 

- David Fleitz
From: Shoeless: The Life and Times of Joe Jackson



END NOTES

* Although Joe Jackson's death certificate and his grave marker list the year of his birth as 1888,  it must be remembered that his family records were destroyed in a fire.  According to Shoeless Joe Jackson's Virtual Hall of Fame website, "Joe gave many interviews over his lifetime and in most of them he was asked his age at the time.  If one takes the age quoted, from the year it was quoted in, it always comes up to the year of birth as 1887.  All family records were lost in a fire so there is no way of proving this, however logic would lead one to believe that Joe would know his own age when asked."

Below is a photo of Joe's grave marker.  His middle initial is given as "W," although his middle name is always listed as "Jefferson."

* Shoeless Joe's father, George Elmore Jackson (born May 30, 1856) died on February 11, 1914.  He was only 57 years old at the time of his passing.  Joe's mother, Martha Ann J. Jackson (born February 14, 1864) died on August 25, 1923.

* Shoeless Joe Jackson and his wife never had any children.  According to Joe's 1949 Sports Magazine interview, he and Katie "raised one of my brother's boys from babyhood."   "He was never was interested in baseball," Joe stated, "but they used to tell me he would have been a fine football player."  Their nephew "didn't get to go to college.  The war came along and he went into the Navy as a flier."  "He was killed accidentally a couple of years ago when a gun he was cleaning went off. Katie and me felt like we'd lost our own boy," Joe added with sadness.

* Katie Wynn Jackson died on April 18, 1959 and is buried alongside her husband at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Greenville, South Carolina.  Unlike Shoeless Joe, Katie was able to read and write and she taught Joe how to sign his name by tracing a pattern.  It was Katie, however, who signed Joes's autograph all but a few times.

* Joe obtained the nickname "Shoeless" because he played a minor league game in his stockings after a new pair of spikes has caused him to have blisters.

* In 1923, Shoeless Joe launched an $18,500 lawsuit against the Chicago White Sox for breach of contract for salary.  The trial took place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in February of 1924.  Here's what he told Furman Bisher about the lawsuit in the 1949 Sports Magazine article.

 I sued Mr. Comiskey for the salary I had coming to me under the five year contract I had with the White Sox,.  When I won the verdict - I got only a little out of it -- the first one I heard from was (American League President Ban) Johnson.  He wired me congratulations on beating Mr. Comiskey and his son, Louis.

In Milwaukee, Joe denied that he took part in fixing the 1919 World Series and was arrested for perjury.   Here's an Associated Press news item from the trial.

FRIDAY, FEB. 15,1924 - New Sensation In Jackson SalarySuit JAILED FOR PERJURY WHEN JURY RETIRES Former Star Outfielder Finds Himself In Toils As Case Ends (By Associated Press) MILWAUKEE, Wis., Feb. 15.— Additional sensational developments are expected after the circuit court jury reports today in the trial of Joe Jackson’s salary suit against the Chicago, American league, baseball club. Tbat was intimated by Judge J. J. Gregory after he ordered Jackson’s arrest for perjury at the conclusion of the trial last night. The former star outfielder was released on $5,000 bail after he had been sent to jail. FelscH Also Jailed Oscar (Happy) Fblsch, former team mate of Jackson and who testified for him in the salary suit,, was arrested for perjury Wednesday and released on $2,000 cash bail. Jackson is suing for money he alleges due him after he was barred from organized baseball for alleged participation in the 1919 world’s series scandal. 

* Did you know that Joe had a favourite baseball bat, which he named "Black Betsy?"  According to his official website, "it was 36-inches (91 centimentres) long and weighed 3 pounds (1.36 kilograms)."

* None of Joe'e five brothers played in the big leagues, but his brother, Jerry, played pro ball for a significant length of time.  Jerry Jackson was a minor league pitcher and was also an umpire in the Western Carolina League.

* In 1989, the late A. Bartlett "Bart" Giamatti, then-Commission of Major League Baseball, refused to reinstate Shoeless Joe Jackson into MLB because the case was "now best given to historical analysis and debate as opposed to a present-day review with an eye to reinstatement."

- Joanne


EDITOR'S UPDATE (June 7, 2017):  In 2015, Rob Manfred, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, denied Shoeless Joe Jackson's reinstatement into MLB.  In a letter to Arlene Marcley, the president of the Joe Jackson Museum in Greenville, South Carolina, Manfred wrote the following:

I have reviewed our records concerning the responses of both Commissioner (Bart) Giamatti and (Fay) Vincent, who declined to reconsider Mr. Jackson's case.  I agree with that determination and conclude that it would not be appropriate for me to reopen the matter.