When folks talk about putting Joe Jackson and the other 1919 conspirators into Cooperstown, I like to answer: How about we kick Comiskey out? This grasping old sinner makes modern owner-vermin like Steinbrenner and Schott look like paragons of virtue. He created an environment on the White Sox of deceit and despair which led directly to motivating the players to cheat.

A grinding, wrenching, foul old thief, he knew about the fix from the first game, but did nothing, and only starting pretending virtue when journalist Hughie Fullerton blew the lid off the story.

Probably belongs in the Hall of Fame of hypocritical sports figures. Comiskey, as a player, was a good fielding first baseman with a fair bat that played primarily with a good, colorful club in the old American Association St. Louis squad in the 1880's. An average to slightly above average player, he'd be forgotten or almost forgotten today and nowhere near the Hall. He was instrumental in forming the Player's League, an attempt to escape a salary cap, that only lasted for a year. He was probably, after Ban Johnson, the second most important figure in getting the AL of the ground, and certainly knew how to develop a franchise- the White Sox were usually contenders and along with the A's and Red Sox, and to a lesser extent Detroit comprised the 'haves' of the AL for the first 2 decades of its existence.

Comiskey is a hypocrite because he was a notorious tightwad. Comiskey grew up in Chicago and was poor at a time when the Irish were generally despised, was a noted player in the drive for better pay and conditions for ballplayers at a time when they were thought of as rogues and shiftless vagrants, yet later made his players pay for their own laundry despite the fact that the White Sox led all of baseball in attendance many times. Plus, he knew about the scandal in advance, forced league president Johnson out of power, was one of those responsible for installing Landis, who did some good things but was a mixed bag of a commisioner,and formed a powerful trio (opposed to Johnson and the more moderate owners in other AL cities)with the owners of Boston and New York that frankly engaged in a near monopoly. Perhaps he deserves to be in the Hall for his admitted contributions, but not exactly a noble fellow.

He was extremely rough on his players and didn't pay them nearly as much as even the worst teams. He was the main reason why the Sox decided to throw the series.