The 30 Greatest Sports Conspiracy Theories of All-Time - Elliott Kalb [86]
Leron told the story of his attempt at the Triple Crown in Fitts’ book. “My first year in Japan, I was in line to win the Triple Crown,” he said. “The guy who beat me in batting average was my teammate Michiyo Arito. During the second half of the season, I saw him get about thirty hits that shouldn’t have been scored hits.”
Lee swears that one of the Japanese papers that year carried a story saying that it would be a disgrace to Japanese baseball if a foreigner won the Triple Crown. Lee wound up leading the League in homers and RBI.
EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT A CONSPIRACY
It seems obvious that the Japanese players had a sense of pride about their baseball, and didn’t want their cherished records broken by foreigners. Obviously, Japanese-American baseball relations have gotten better in the last thirty years. Before that, there were conspiracies that were barely disguised.
Sometimes, it’s good that our most cherished records are broken by athletes that the public (or other competitors) openly root against. It means that not everything is orchestrated and scripted.
CONCLUSION:
#20
Was NFL legend Sammy Baugh involved in a gambling scandal?
Well before several New York Giants were approached by gamblers to fix the 1946 NFL Championship Game, there were rumors and accounts of previous attempts by gamblers to fix NFL games. One of the most well-known stories concerned the 1946 Washington Redskins. NFL Commissioner Elmer Layden investigated the possibility that Washington players were consorting with gamblers and betting on games. Here’s some background.
On July 8, 1932, a syndicate headed by George Preston Marshall bought the NFL′s Boston franchise, the Boston Braves. By 1933, the franchise became known as the Redskins. In February of 1937, Marshall moved the franchise to Washington. That 1937 season was important for other reasons, as it was the first of sixteen years in a Redskins uniform for “Slingin’” Sammy Baugh, the Redskins first round pick from TCU, who some consider the greatest football player of all time. That year, the Redskins won their first-ever NFL title, defeating the Chicago Bears.
The Redskins became an early glamour team of the NFL, playing in the Championship Game four times between 1937 and 1943. They faced the Chicago Bears all four times, beating them in 1937 and 1942, and losing to them in 1940 (by a score of 73-0, an NFL record for margin of victory that stands to this day) and 1943. In the 1943 title game, Baugh suffered a concussion early in the game when he tackled Sid Luckman on a punt return, and the Bears went on to win the title, 41-21.
Baugh came into the league as a single-wing tailback and quickly established himself as not only the league’s best and most accurate passer (by far) but also as an outstanding runner, a terrific defensive back, and the best punter in the game. If gamblers did want to fix a game, they could have not done better than to influence Slingin’ Sammy.
It’s honestly difficult to measure how great a quarterback he was. In 1945, the NFL average for pass completions was 47%. Baugh completed better than 70% of his passes that season. Beginning in 1940, he led the NFL in punting for four straight seasons. He intercepted thirty-one passes as a defensive back. In 1943, Baugh was at the peak of his career, leading the NFL in passing while picking off more than one pass per game and averaging nearly forty-six yards per punt. Then there’s the oft-told story of Baugh’s passing accuracy: The coach would say to him, “When the receiver breaks, Sam, hit him in the eye with the ball,” and Sammy would reply, “Which eye?” He’s basically the first quarterback able to spot the ball exactly where he wanted.
He was also tough. His teammate (and roommate) and fellow Hall of Famer Wayne Millner described what Baugh was like.
Naturally, Sam was a prime target for the tough guys. But one day he showed he could handle himself. It was early in the