NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN
                                           Observations from Outside the Lines
                                     By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)
 

#411                                                                                                                  AUGUST 26, 2007
                                      LAST LOOKS AT THE EYE
 

            I begin again with a recap of this series of NOTES devoted to Collyer’s Eye.
 

            406 — Eye-balling Collyer’s Eye. 1918 thru October 18, 1919. It sets the stage for the Eye’s investigation of the Fix.
 

            407 — The Eye, Wide Open. Oct. 18, 1919, thru the end of December. These pieces by Frank O. Klein named most of the players who were eventually indicted, but were ignored by MLB.
 

            408 — Eye of the Storm. The 1920 coverage, right up until the scandal broke on September 28.
 

            409 — Seeing Eye Watchdog. Starting with the “Vindicated!” issue of October 2, 1920, thru the end of the B-Sox trial in August 1921.
 

            410 — The Eye, After the Fall. The Eye in the Reign of Landis. Coverage of the preparations for the lawsuits against the White Sox by Jackson & others; the Bohne-Duncan affair, thru September 8, 1923.
 

            411 — Last Looks at the Eye. Duncan-Bohne stirs things up; the Cozy Dolan scandal caps a tumultuous 1924 season for baseball and charges by the Eye.
 

            To recap briefly, on August 18, 1923, Frank Klein, the Eye’s investigative reporter, broke a story that two or three Cincinnati Reds players — Sammy Bohne and Pat Duncan were named — had been approached by gamblers. It looked like a re-run of October 1919 is some ways: those players performed poorly in a five-game series swept by the Giants over the favored home team; lots of money was wagered. It looked like the trail might even lead back to Arnold Rothstein. Collyer’s Eye offered to show Landis their evidence. The Commish’s first reaction was to assure the public that baseball was doing fine. Bert Collyer smelled another cover-up was afoot.
 

            September 15, 1923. SHAKE-UP IN NATIONAL LEAGUE. The case of Bohne and Duncan had become secondary, what mattered most now was the charges by Collyer’s Eye that gambling was alive and well in the country of baseball. This was tantamount to accusing Judge Landis of not doing the job he had been hired to do — namely, clean up the sport — not just its public image. The item that blares loudest on page on is a large sketch of the fair young maiden, baseball, being hung, crucified, on the cross of gambling. Blood drips from the nails in her hands.
 

            Fist Fights, Night Parties and Gambling heads Joe LeBlanc’s story. He is firing point blank at NL president John Heydler, and provides a long list of “exposures of fist fights, of gay parties lasting long into the early hours of the morning and of gambling on an unprecedented scale” [emphasis mine]. McGraw has fined pitcher John Watson $500 and suspended him for the duration of the season for violating training rules. Branch Rickey has released catcher Eddie Ainsmith for missing a train. Rickey was believed to have had a fist-fight with his star Rogers Hornsby. (The Eye seemed to follow Hornsby closely, probably because their staff saw him so often, at the race tracks.) There has been more, and LeBlanc faults Heydler and the papers that fail to report it.
 

            Klein Unearths Startling Facts. Klein has been authorized by Bert Collyer to do a “sweeping inquiry into baseball,” since baseball itself (Landis) chooses to do nothing. Klein has been to St Louis and saw lots of $1,000 bets go down when the Reds were in town. In Chicago, Klein knows a house where the daily “play” on baseball is $20,000 to $30,000, and he gives the addresses of both the St Louis and Chicago sites. He then repeats the LeBlanc reports about “midnight parties, secret visits to breweries, carousals and occasional fist-fights.”
 

            The Eye also includes a story that has their hero Ban Johnson Frowning on New York Tactics — the Yankees played an exhibition game in Toronto, but Huggins and some of the stars of the team didn’t make the trip. Ruth did, and hit a homer, so it wasn’t a total loss for the Toronto fans who were made “goats.”
 

            September 22, 1923. LANDIS UPHOLDS COLLYER blares the lead story — but this is wishful thinking on the part of the Eye. Landis, speaking to a Chicago crowd as a new monument to Cap Anson is unveiled [we can guess that few blacks attended], did say that baseball “is now fighting for its very life.” And he admitted that gamblers were still offering bribes and conducting those “diabolical baseball pools” — but Landis was a long way from publicly supporting Collyer. The Eye noted that John Heydler was forced to listen to Landis; earlier, Chicago fans had demonstrated (apparently at the Cubs’ game) their displeasure, many gathering around Heydler’s box. The Eye thought Heydler was “enraged.” In Boston, there was a call for a grand jury probe of baseball.
            September 29, 1923. $1,000,000 Bribery! shouts the Eye. Frank Klein says a New Expose Threatens Cincy Reds. Klein has learned from a “usually trustworthy” source that the Reds have started their own investigations. Unless their findings are suppressed, the baseball world will be startled. The Giants were in town for a final crucial series with the Reds; Klein notes that Bohne and Duncan were not in the lineup for the opener.
 

            The million dollar bribe refers to a story by LeBlanc. Investigators of the Eye have learned that gamblers have been paying off minor league ball players all season. The evidence has been “referred to one high in the baseball world” — probably to Ban Johnson, whom the Eye trusted. The Eye has been asked to withhold the names, places and dates that it has collected, in order to not interfere with other inquiries.
 

            Rattle Skeletons in McGraw Probe. The Eye has been kind to John McGraw so far, I think, but now they report that the “ill-fated Lamb-McGraw Oil Company is about to be dragged into the courts.” They have been covering the bucket-shop problems involving Charles Stoneham, now it’s Muggsy’s turn. The prestige of McGraw’s name drew investors, but the company failed.
 

            October 6, 1923. ‘REDS’ IN BREWERY ORGY. Bert Collyer has taken off his gloves, now that the season is over. (It will be the third straight NY Giants-NY Yankees World Series, the first played in the new Stadium, and the first won by the pinstripers.) Collyer himself takes the lead story: UNMASK HEYDLER. The Eye has turned up some ugly stuff — why doesn’t Heydler do something? A box on the front page: Asks What Landis Does for Baseball. The Eye cites another strong Turf Light editorial — stating that Landis must know what’s going on, but they have not seen him doing anything about it.
 

            Frank Klein Charges Manager Knew of Midnight Revels. Edd Roush, “able player and sportsman,” is “incensed at the deplorable condition of several of” his teammates, and has been reported to have said to manager Pat Moran, “If you would stay away from the brewery and keep some of your players away we would all play better ball and perhaps win a few games.”  This remark is apparently related to that now infamous five-game sweep by the Giants last August. The Reds finished 4.5 games behind McGraw. Pat Moran’s nickname was, of course, “Whiskey Face.” Anyway, Klein has learned that Roush’s remarks were sparked by “no less than five” players getting sloshed in a brewery, in a “beer guzzling orgy” that switched the odds to 8-5 Giants. Klein has the names of an operator who won $30,000 on this, and a Covington crap shooter who won $14,540. Klein now is “in position to say that more than $500,000 changed hands on the series.” But he does not single out Cincinnati — the next biggest betting house is in Pittsburgh, and the real “front office” is in New York.
 

            Collyer editorializes at length, arguing that Heydler must go. Nothing personal here, he doesn’t know Heydler, but his record suggests that “he is a bust. He rattles in his job like a pea in a barrel.” In one sentence, Collyer links Heydler, McGraw and Stoneham, with Fuller and McGee and Rothstein, names in the news for crookedness outside baseball. Arnie, Collyer thinks, has shown as much interest in baseball in 1923 than he did in 1919, and reports Fuller owed The Big Bankroll $385,000 for bets on sports and other events. Fuller was now in jail; Stoneham was not, as he was shown to be only a silent partner. Heydler had rushed to Stoneham’s defense in the NY press. Collyer quotes Heydler calling Stoneham a good sportsman, “standing for progressive and constructive policies” — then points out that Stoneham (with McGraw, I believe) owned a casino in Cuba.
 

            For fans looking for actual baseball news — hey, the World Series is being played! — the Eye think the Series will be a bust, and reports fans are not happy with paying $6 for the best tickets, and being forced to buy at least three at a time. The Yanks were 7-5 favorites.
 

            October 13, 1923. The Eye keeps the Duncan-Bohne case alive, quoting “Sport” Feeney (he was the Covington gambler) as saying Bohne Friend of Mine. But Feeney denied betting on the Giants in that August massacre, and offers $1,000 if anyone can prove he did.
            The Eye now names the Reds who were in that drunken orgy: Bohne and Duncan, Keck, Hargrave, Benton, Pinelli, and manager Moran. Also former Red Greasy Neale — after one party, the players petitioned the Reds to hire Greasy as a coach. Dolph Luque, the Cuban pitcher, passed up the brewery but was seen with a blonde at a road-house; apparently he was there when a murder was committed, at 4 AM. Klein writes that one of Hamilton, Ohio’s favorite boot-leggers entertained the Reds at his place “up the river.” One player got so drunk he had to be carted back. The boot-legger made some money the next day betting against the Reds. Klein names “Boots” Meeks of Covington, who won $14,000 betting on the Giants-Reds series, “knowing the Reds’ high jinks about town.”
           
            Sticking out among these stories, the Eye has a 3-column wide box, An Open Letter to Landis and Heydler. They ask them to read what the Eye has printed. What are you going to do about it, Mr Landis?  Mr Heydler? The next move is up to you.
 

            November 3, 1924. Bohne and Luque are said to have fought at the brewery after the Reds-Giants series (Luque had lost a game in which Bohne did not play well). The Eye is not sure if the fighting was “inyense” or just a sham. They also report that Sammy Bohne was formerly Sammy Cohan, of the Pacific Coast League; he changed to Bohne after being nicknamed “Sheenie.”
 

            December 15, 1923. AL to Take Drastic Action vs Gambling. Ban Johnson is dissatisfied with Landis’ inaction, when he was presented with evidence.
 

            January 5, 1924. Players in Salary Revolt. The Eye reports that other teams were asked to help re-stock Comiskey’s depleted White Sox team after the banishments in 1920, but refused.
 

            January 12, 1924. A new (third) major league will soon be a reality, says the Eye. I think the Eye is basically helping the players do some lobbying for the raises they think they deserve.
 

            February 2, 1924. Possibly because the Duncan-Bohne case is in the courts — what Landis and Heydler did was to sue the Eye for libel — the Eye gives it a rest. The next opportunity they will have to fire away come early in 1924, when the Joe Jackson case goes to trial. Jackson is suing the Sox for back pay, saying that his contract ran two more years, and the Sox had no good reason to let him go. It’s more complicated — the contract contained a “ten days clause” which meant that the team didn’t need a good reason; but Jackson argued that he signed it, after being told that that clause was removed.
 

            BOMB HITS COMISKEY is the headline from Milwaukee, where the trial is underway (the Sox were incorporated in Wisconsin). The first of the Revelations by Joe Jackson is that Commy had signed him and given him a raise after Commy knew the details of the scandal. And after his “now famous off of $10,000 reward” for evidence of the Fix. The Eye recaps its 1919 expose, and notes that Bert Collyer wanted to donate that $10,000 to charity, but Commy never made good on his offer. Ray Cannon, Jackson’s lawyer, repeatedly referred to Landis as “an employee of Mr Comiskey.” Cannon explained: “Well, if it hadn’t been for Comiskey and his attorneys, Landis wouldn’t have landed the job as commissioner, would he?”
 

            February 9, 1924. BARE SECRETS OF COMISKEY. Klein reports “amazing revelations, not included in the [Milwaukee trial] court records.”  Gossip among the baseball leaders gathered for the trial are saying that Comiskey avoided going to Ban Johnson with the what he knew about the 1919 Series, not because he “had no faith” in him — as he had testified again; this was believable, as Commy and Ban were publicly feuding — but because “he feared Johnson would suspend all the suspected players even in the midst of the series” — as he had suspended Ducky Holmes and Carl Mays (before the 1919 Series), “and ultimately the accused White Sox when they had a chance to win the pennant” (in 1920).
 

            The Eye may have forgotten that Comiskey was also busy after the 1919 Series, trying to oust Johnson from power. What Commy did was confide in John Heydler, the NL prez — and of course, in the view of the Eye, this was like doing nothing. Heydler was so sure there was nothing amiss in the 1919 series, Klein writes, that the attorneys for the prosecution decided not to call on him in the B-Sox trial. Klein traces the Comiskey-Johnson feud back to the Holmes suspension (Ducky had insulted an umpire), and the Carl Mays case, which caused the owners of NY and Boston to join with Commy, ultimately resulting in the elevation of Landis. He traces the Lasker Plan to Barney Dreyfuss and Alfred Austrian, Commy’s lawyer — whom, Klein recalls, was paid a visit by Arnold Rothstein in 1920. Landis had made the owners agree not to indulge in public criticism of his office, so little real info about all this had leaked out at the time.
 

            February 16, 1924. Player Salaries Reported to be Exaggerated. The Eye charges that the magnates, to offset the movement to lower prices for fans, play up their expenses, and the “baseball writers faithfully print” what they are told. But not Collyer’s Eye!
 

            March 8, 1924. NEW WHITE SOX SCANDAL is the headline. Good grief, what now? Well, the Joe Jackson trial is over — he “won” but the judge tossed out the verdict, because Jackson’s testimony in Milwaukee did not square with his statements to the grand jury of Cook County in 1920. The latter turned up quite unexpectedly at the Milwaukee trial, in the briefcase of one of Commy’s lawyers, and was admitted — too late for Jackson’s lawyer to see it or take it into account in preparing his client’s case.
 

            Big Mystery in Grand Jury Findings is the sub-head. Milwaukee District Attorney Shaughnessey, “a leading figure in Canadian railroad circles for years,” has fielded a complaint about those grand jury statements. The Eye reports that there apparently were discrepancies between the testimony offered in the Milwaukee trial, and before the two grand juries in Chicago. (The reference is to the September 1920 grand jury, and the grand jury that had to hand up new indictments in spring, 1921.) The Eye notes that the records from 1920 had disappeared, and the records from 1921 had been suppressed. And the Eye smells another cover-up.
 

            Meanwhile, Joe Jackson is back in Georgia, and Ray Cannon is taking a rest in Florida. Former DA Winfrid C. Zabel is looking after their interests, and is probably the one who is trying to get Shaughnesy to follow up. The Eye notes that of the banned Sox players, only Buck Weaver had a multi-year contract that extended beyond the 1920 season.
 

            March 15, 1924. Reveals “Inside” of Sox Management goes the Ides of March headline. Harry Grabiner and Tip O’Neill are said to be the “real powers back of the throne” — and Kid Gleason has quit in disgust. Lou Comiskey has little to say. Grabiner has gone about signing players without consulting the new manager, who is not Eddie Collins or Ray Schalk, but that peerless leader, Frank Chance — who, it turns out, is headed to Boston to manage the other Sox. (Johnny Evers takes the ChiSox helm.) The Eye comments that it was Harry G. who suggested signing up the Sox before the 1920 season, offering them raises “so it would appear the Sox were paying living salaries” — and then the Eye quips, “although it didn’t cost the club much, as their playing tenure afterward was short.” The Eye wonders out loud about why the team would give the players raises after the expose — as if Commy and company was paying any heed at all to the Eye.
 

            Grabiner Usurps Comiskey’s Crown. Has Harry ordered manager Evers to make Bibb Falk a pitcher? Gleason is said to have quit because of interference — and it wasn’t coming from Commy.
 

            March 29, 1924. COLLYER STRIKES! OK, baseball, no more Mr Nice Guy for Bert Collyer. J. Ashley Stevens writes that the Eye’s editor has responded to the libel suit (Bohne-Duncan) by filing his own answer in the federal court in Chicago. This assures that this case will “be the means of opening up the entire nasty mess of gambling and carousing that, it is alleged, threatened the very existence of baseball during the 1923 season.” The Eye is certain that baseball will be forced into court now — Landis, Heydler, Herrmann, and Johnson shall all take the stand as star witnesses. The Eye then prints the full statement, Collyer’s answer to the libel charges.
 

            The statement is full of legalese, thanks to Bert’s lawyers. He basically says gambling was rampant in baseball, especially in Cincinnati, in the 1923 season. It took place openly and was a matter of common knowledge. The Eye merely brought it to the attention of Herrmann, Heydler and Landis — who apparently did nothing to curb the activities. Reds players had been offered “gifts, money and favors”; the players visited breweries and roadhouses and accepted the hospitality of gamblers. Duncan and Bohne, Collyer states, were offered $15,000 — but did not accept the bribe, and the gamblers were not successful in rendering them unable to play baseball. All this was commonly talked about at the time. Collyer mentions that the Eye was not alone, investigating the gambling ties — Ban Johnson was, too.
 

            April 26, 1924. The Duncan-Bohne case will slumber in the courts for years. Life goes on. Frank O. Klein has a good spring story: Eddie Collins to Quit! Captain Eddie has had it with Johnny Evers, and the two would clash all summer, as Evers will manage just 21 games, then turn the team over briefly to Big Ed Walsh, then to Collins (for 27 games), before returning for the last 102 games. The Sox will finish 66-87 in 1924, in last. The Eye reports that the Old Roman has taken “a violent dislike to Collins,” who is already considered the greatest 2B in baseball history. The Eye thinks it goes back to the 1919 Series mess. Commy has blocked all deals that would let Eddie play elsewhere. Collins was said to have liked Frank Chance as the man to succeed Kid Gleason — but the pick of Evers has ticked him off. Eddie would not quit, but play with the Sox thru 1926, managing his last three years; then finish his long career playing four more seasons with Connie Mack’s A’s, hanging up his cleats in 1930.
 

            May 3, 1924. GREAT VICTORY FOR COLLYER, the Eye announces. The Cincinnati Times-Star, on April 23, ran a bold headline that went To Bar Gamblers at Redland Field. The Eye reproduces it, in a collage surrounded by their own headlines, chronicling their latest campaign, which peaked in September 1923. The Eye says it has been flooded with supportive telegrams since the vindicating Cincy headline appeared. In a story, Saving the National Game, the Eye thanks its friends, and celebrates. Shucks, all they are doing is what they did back in 1919, expose “nefarious crookedness.” Their campaign made them “powerful and relentless enemies” then, and this time around it was no different.
 

            Collyer notes that the Eye only reported what they saw — Reds players consorting with known gamblers. The Eye had admitted that the players were honest, but the situation was dangerous. Any DISINTERESTED person [emphasis his] would have taken action. Collyer then applauds the Cincinnati club for admitting that gambling not only was going on, but right in their ballpark — and that they were putting that, at least, to a quick halt. This, Collyer says, is “a crushing answer” to those (like Heydler and Landis) who have been slow to admit that the Eye was onto something when it blew the latest whistle.
 

            Collyer then shifts gears, and applauds Walter Johnson, “the premiere pitcher of today,” for the way he “met attempts to influence his work on the diamond and the frank way in which he gave publicity to the [bribe] attempt. There was no beating about the bush with him, no hiding behind secrecy … no wish other than to strangle the ‘fixer’ before his touch even reached out.” Walter need never fear the hint of scandals — “he is above them.”  A side article says Johnson was asked to make his first pitch a ball, etc.
 

            Net Closes on Baseball Pools. This story is out of Albany, NY, near Troy, where the Eye has found a headquarters for the “fake pools” in the news.
 

            May 10, 1924. The Eye attacks those baseball pools in Albany, which are raking in $1-5 million. It looks like they are using the U.S. mail, so the feds are looking into this, too.
 

            May 31, 1924. REVIVE BASEBALL BRIBERY CHARGES. Charges made by the owner of the Phillies against the Giants have revived those made by Phils catcher Dooin, who said he was offered $10,000 to throw a series with NY, back in 1908. The Eye asks “why no official action was taken on his accusation.” John McGraw’s name does not appear in the story. The Eye also recalls an instance in 1912 when the National League did do something. Phils’ president Fogel accused certain NL umpires of taking bribes to see that the Giants won over the Phils, and when Fogel could not substantiate his charges, he was expelled. Now it is President Baker making charges against NY, and the Eye can’t wait to see what happens next.
 

            July 26, 1924. SCANDAL HITS GIANTS. The Eye asks if Boston and Brooklyn have been laying down for McGraw’s team. There have been some “queer” games between those teams this summer.
 

            August 2, 1924. The Giants are running away with the NL flag, and the Eye says it’s because they have and spend the most money — buying the best minor league players available.
 

            October 11, 1924. The Cozy Dolan scandal was big news all over the country, and for Collyer’s Eye, it is a fastball right in their wheelhouse. FULL EXPOSURE OF BASEBALL CORRUPTION is the banner on page 1. I can probably fill several pages of NOTES with the Eye’s treatment of this event, just in their October 11 issue, but instead I’ll just run down the various stories:
 

            First Publication Anywhere of Suppressed Scandal.
            Big Gambling Ring Put Up Bribe Money. Sand was allegedly the Phillie who was offered a $500 bribe; the Eye says it was $5,000. The syndicate had a working fund of $100,000 to use as they wished. OF Jimmy O’Connell is the smallest of the “puppets” involved in this mess. Ban Johnson is piling up facts. There is a report that congress is getting involved (so the steroid scandal was not a first for that); President Coolidge may not veto a bill that would oust Landis, and the readers of the Eye are advised to get in their requests now for a copy of the congressional record for the debate that is shaping up.
            Johnson Hints at Epidemic of Bribery. Ban is recovering from an illness in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, where he tells reporters that Landis had “quit” when he (Johnson) was working hard to bring the White Sox to trial in 1921, and he expects no help from the Judge in the present scandal. He criticizes Landis for banning two players and hushing up everything else — thus protecting the real culprits. Johnson believes O’Connell.
            Baseball’s Black Page. In a box between the two stories just above, the Eye lists nine examples of bribery, leading off with the B-Sox. In this list, Dooin was offered $40,000.
            Collyer Directs Nation-wide Fight From Sickbed. Bert has telegraphed this message to Landis: “I respectfully urge the ordering by you of an immediate and thorough inquiry, assuring you of my sincere and tireless cooperation in every possible way. In my inability because of illness I have requested my personal attorney to confer with you at your convenience as to ways in which I may be helpful.” Actually, he sent that message at the end of last August!  Collyer’s envoy met with Landis, who began by denying that he had given interviews that had appeared in the press, in which Landis appeared to have pre-judged the evidence Collyer had. The envoy (Major Barrett O’Hara) told Landis that Collyer had instructed him to surrender the evidence to him, but asked that the others leave the room first. Landis refused to do that, and the meeting ended with no exchange of evidence. The Eye then excerpts Collyer’s September 8 editorial, where he despairs about Landis. Frank Klein’s September 8 piece on Heydler is excerpted, the part where he declared Heydler useless.
            Hands Landis Grueling of His Life. This is page 4, but hot stuff. A box containing photos of Heydler, Landis and McGraw notes that the two NL men had a big hand in giving the Judge his $50,000 a year job. Is that why Landis is whitewashing the Giants?  Ban Johnson, in contrast, wants the Giants disqualified and if the series must go on, Brooklyn should be the NL entry.
            O’Connell Sticks to Tale Others Are Involved. “I came clean,” says O’Connell, the scapegoat, “but nobody believes me.” Frisch, Kelly and Young knew about the bribe, he insists.
            Famous “Go to Hell” Interview. United Press sportswriter Henry Farrell had asked Landis about the evidence he had that implicated the others O’Connell mentioned. “Are you trying to scare me?” Landis asked. “No, Judge, I am not trying to scare you, but you can’t scare me, either.” Farrell insisted that the public had a right to know what was going on. Landis’ reply: “What you gentlemen write, or wish to write, is a matter of utter indifference to me,”
            Fear of Yet Another Collyer Scoop Grips Press. The Eye thinks that the press has learned something over the last five years, and will not be caught snoozing again. So the newsmen in Washington for the Series gave Landis his most severe grueling yet. (I’m thinking that’s a 1924 version of “grilling.”)
            Smashing Vindication for Collyer. They recap the Eye’s crusade that has stretched now over fourteen months. “Only a small part of the Eye’s findings were printed. Ban Johnson is calling for a sweeping probe, “let the chips fall where they may.” There is a strong echo in this issue of the Vindicated! issue of October 2, 1920.
 

            October 18, 1924. SCANDAL ROCKS BASEBALL PROBE. The Eye reports that Landis’ eyes have gradually been opened to the extent of this latest scandal. The magnates are leaning on him to “come clean” with what he’s found out. There’s a meeting of the sixteen owners in December, and the Eye has calculated that it will be 9 to 7 — against Landis, for the first time.
 

            October 25, 1924. The Eye has one more issue full of baseball scandal stuff. They keep Duncan-Bohne alive by noting that Ban Johnson Protests “Pat” Duncan Deal. Duncan was just a rookie when he shined for the Reds in the 1919 Series (8 RBI), after hitting just .244 in 90 at bats during the season. Pat then put together four sparkling summers in Cincinnati, playing F/T, hitting .295, .308, .328, and .327 in 1923 — the summer that he and Bohne were accused to being approached by (or consorting with) gamblers. In 1924, Duncan slumped to .270 in 96 games, was sent to the minors, and never returned to the bigs.
 

            But on his way down, Washington claimed Duncan after all other clubs in the NL and AL had waived on him. Enter Ban Johnson, who did not want the tainted player in his league. So he asked the Nationals to cancel their claim. Clark Griffith was a friend of Johnson. (The Duncan-Bohne case would take several more years to be settled, and the cloud over the duo to be removed. Bohne continued playing for the Reds until 1926, when he was traded to Brooklyn; that was his final summer in the majors.
 

            Baseball’s Biggest Probe On, Trail Will Go Back to 1915. So says E. G. Brands in another Eye column. Ban Johnson had turned a flock of investigators loose, Barney Dreyfuss launched something of his own in Pittsburgh, and even Judge Landis, “stung by taunts” that he was doing nothing, started looking busy. Brands says this will either clean up baseball or mark its demise. He notes that Allan Pinkerton was asked in 1915 to help rid the sport of gamblers’ influence; he said he needed the cooperation of both leagues, but got only the AL’s support; Heydler balked.
 

            Milne Reveals “Inside” Story of Yde Denials. This may be what Dreyfuss was going after. The Pittsburgh owner’s rookie pitcher sensation Emil Yde went 16-3 in 1924. Then the youngster said something to the press, possibly “repeating the gossip of his teammates,” that got to Landis, and when the Judge reacted, Yde became panicky. Harry Milne was the local reporter in Rockford, Ill, who wrote the story, and he was standing pat. The gossip involved bribery; Milne thought Yde knew nothing about it. Dreyfuss — not on the best of terms with Landis — wired Yde and told him to be quiet. His story got attention because it involved the Giants, who had been “caught” bribing the Phillies.
 

            Claim McGraw Backs Dolan. Speaking of that other scandal in the news, it appeared that Cozy Dolan was preparing to sue Judge Landis for his share of the 1924 World Series money. He had the services of The Great Mouthpiece — William J. Fallon — a lawyer who had regularly bailed out Giant manager John McGraw and Charles Stoneham, and who was closely associated with Arnold Rothstein. The Eye reported that McGraw met with Dolan for two hours, before boarding a boat to Europe, and Dolan told friends that he “saw a way out.” Fallon, the Eye recalls, helped Abe Attell avoid the courts in the B-Sox scandal; he also may have had a hand in bringing the missing grand jury records to New York. So the word is that Fallon has lots of ammunition.
 

            Ghosts Walk in Baseball. Bert Collyer himself takes an at bat in the Eye. The Johnson protest of Duncan gives Bert the chance to recall that NL Prez John Heydler had “stoutly and vehemently denied” any wrong-doing in the 1919 series — just as he disclaimed that Lee Magee and Hal Chase had done anything wrong. Cozy Dolan — “a ‘Yes Man’ for John McGraw — had talked to Heydler with McGraw and Landis when the Judge made his now famous ruling, barring Dolan and O’Connell. Collyer refers to the Judge as “Lookout Mountain” Landis, and I don’t think it’s a typo.
            “It doesn’t look like a very pleasant winter for Messers. Heydler, McGraw and Landis,” Collyer observes. He guesses (hopes) that their days in baseball are numbered.
 

            November 1, 1924. The Senators are reportedly sending Pat Duncan to Sacramento in the Pacific Coast League. Had Duncan joined Washington, he would have been in the outfield with Nemo Leibold, and imagine all the stories they could have shared about October 1919.
 

            Baseball Gamblers Fearing Summons Begin to Hibernate. E.G. Brands notes that Cozy Dolan’s case (to recover the Series share he thinks he is owed) will be looked at again by baseball’s advisory council. Some claim he should be suing his teammates, who divvied up the pot. “Opposition is growing against a federal investigation.”  Those pushing the probe want a full airing of every scandal, to restore public confidence. Brands report that many gamblers have gone to Cuba and other points, and are really avoiding Illinois and New York, where the heat is highest. O’Connell seems ready to give out new revelations, “if assured a thorough investigation of his charges will be made.”  The Eye wonders if the Dolan-O’Connell bribe scandal will robe Frankie Frisch of the NL MVP award. (His only MVP came in 1931.)
 

            February 14, 1925. Frank Klein sends the Eye readers a Valentine from San Francisco. While out on the coast, Klein has asked about Chick Gandil, and was told that Chick “is generally recognized out here as the chief lieutenant of ‘Nick the Greek’” … their association apparently went back to Chick’s playing days. Nick had a good year in 1924, winning $500,000 on baseball. Klein did not say if that earned him any MVP awards.
 

THAT’S ALL FOR NOW  
 

            I have two more things to look up in the Eye. I want to see how they handled the Cobb-Speaker affair and “Risbergate” which both got national attention in January 1927. And then I want to see what the Eye published early in 1928, which nearly cancelled the settlement (finally!) reached in the Duncan-Bohne case. In case you’re wondering, Duncan and Bohne would both receive $50, instead of the $50,000 they (thru the Reds’ lawyers) were asking for. Judge Landis would still claim vindication — but I’m betting 7-5 that the Eye had a slightly different take.
 

            It could be months before I see those issues of the Eye. I encourage others to check out Collyer’s Eye — again, it is available via inter-library loan from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) — and if you find stuff I missed, let me know and I’ll share it here in Notes.
 

            Was Collyer’s Eye really just a scandal sheet?  Sometimes it seems that way. But I don’t think so. The Eye was kind of like the Sixty Minutes of its day — they thrived on exposing fraud, fakery, swindles, and scandals. Again, baseball was not their main focus in its early years. After they scooped the world wit their investigation of the rumors after the 1919 Series, their reputation in baseball circles rose. Not so high that they could not be dismissed by Landis when they blew the whistle on the gambling menace again, in 1923. But by then, other newspapers were noticing that scandals sell papers, and they really did not want to be embarrassed by the Eye again.
 

            I have formed the impression over my last five years “on the B-Sox trail” that Landis was a master of spin-control and PR. And as far as the mainstream media (the major newspapers) were concerned, I think he was. But the small, independent Eye gave him problems. They would even print his “Go to Hell” reply when reporters pressed him on Cozy Dolan — what’s the world coming to, when a federal judge is treated in such a way?  Collyer’s Eye was just doing its job. Ban Johnson and others were right, baseball owed Bert Collyer a huge debt. I would like to see Bert Collyer on a plaque on Cooperstown. In the main gallery.