Rube Benton

A National League left-hander whose September 1920 grand-jury testimony became a vital link in exposing the 1919 World Series fix. Called before the Cook County jury, Benton first described an earlier bribe offer involving Hal Chase; pressed further, he admitted knowing the Series was fixed, said Chase had been tipped (and had won heavily betting the Reds), and named White Sox players involved. Benton was not one of the eight men banned. His role is the witness's role: the teammate-of-Chase who put the gambling grapevine on the record when baseball could no longer ignore it. He continued pitching in the majors into the mid-1920s.