Eddie Cicotte's Career Wins Record for Reds

Lore & Background

Cicotte was one of eight players permanently ineligible for baseball for his alleged participation in the Black Sox scandal, in which the favored White Sox lost to the Cincinnati Reds in the 1919 World Series. No Black Sox player has ever been reinstated by any commissioner.

In Their Own Story

The air inside the old League Park was thick with humidity as Cicotte wiped sweat from his brow, the red clay of the mound shifting beneath his cleats. It was mid-July, and the crowd roared as he delivered a sharp curveball that snapped over the plate for a strikeout. For those three years in Cincinnati, this moment defined him: not the scandal to come, but a pure, dominant pitcher silencing a rival lineup under the summer sun.

Reader's Guide

Cicotte won 208 games and lost 149 over a 14-year career pitching for the Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox, and Chicago White Sox. He never pitched for the Cincinnati Reds.

Did You Know?

• Cicotte was a knuckleball specialist nicknamed 'Knuckles'.
• He threw a no-hitter against the St. Louis Browns on April 14, 1917.
• Cicotte was the first of the eight Black Sox players to come forward and sign a confession.
• He was portrayed by actor David Strathairn in the 1988 film Eight Men Out.