Ken Burns - Baseball: Episode 3 - The Faith of Fifty Million People (1900-1910) | Ken Burns Documentary The third episode of the series covers the period 1910-20. In this decade, the game went from it's zenith in popularity to the depths of betrayal and fan disillusionment. Ty Cobb dominated the game but was hated by virtually everyone in baseball, including his own teammates. He was racist and brutal, once beating up a handicapped fan who was heckling him. After another similar incident, American League President Bam Johnson suspended him indefinitely. He also became baseball's richest player thanks to a wise investment in a company called Coca Cola. The first Latin Americans, Cubans, were signed to play ball but African Americans were still barred. It was also a time when some of the great baseball fields were built, including Fenway Park in 1912 and Ebbets Field in Brooklyn in 1913. Players were concerned about their own situation vis-a-vis the owners - the reserve clause and the lack of pensions or other benefits led them to create a players fraternity. It was the new Federal League however, with 8 teams that lured 81 players from the established leagues, that provided an alternative. Salaries for the stars of the National and American Leagues went up but when the Federal League collapsed after two seasons, baseball salaries dropped almost immediately. Then came what is still the greatest scandal in the history of baseball: the Black Sox. In 1919, eight members of the Chicago White Sox accepted bribes from gambler Arnold Rothstein to throw the World Series. When the news came out the following year, the scandal led to the creation of the Commissioner and the appointment of Federal Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis. All eight of the Black Sox were banned from baseball for life. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108700/?ref_=tt_ov_inf

• published: 14 Oct 2014
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