Say It Ain't So, Joe!

The 1919 World Series pitted the heavily favored Chicago White Sox against the underdog Cincinnati Reds. Defying the baseball experts and the oddsmakers alike, the Reds won the series, 5-3. However, because key players on the White Sox – including pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Lefty Williams – performed well below expectations, rumors started circulating that “the fix was in.”

A year later, a grand jury handed down 13 indictments, naming eight players and five professional gamblers as co-conspirators. A trial ensued from June 27 to July 28, 1921, with the jury acquitting all eight “Black Sox”, as they were now known. Undaunted, Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis placed the disgraced players on baseball’s “ineligibility list”, effectively banning them from the game for life.

The most popular to be barred was outfielder “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, a surefire future Hall of Famer who was one of baseball’s most prolific hitters. Swinging from the left side, Jackson averaged .356 over his 12-year Major League career, the third highest in baseball history. Illiterate, Jackson was said to have been duped by several of his more erudite – and devious – teammates into participating in the game-fixing scandal.

Although the myth continues that the words “Say it ain’t so, Joe” were spoken to Jackson by a disillusioned child on the courthouse steps, most baseball historians attribute the phrase to sportswriter Charley Owens of the Chicago Daily News. Regardless, those sad words still echo through the ages as the tragic epitaph to a once stellar career.

Which brings us to Joltin’ Joe Biden…

Joe Biden never played professional baseball, and no one has ever accused him of consorting with gamblers. However, similarities remain between “Delaware Joe” and his shoeless predecessor. Whereas Joe Jackson allegedly accepted a $5,000 bribe to throw baseball games, Joe Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees to Ukraine (and later bragged about it) unless the prosecutor investigating Burisma Holdings was fired. Yes, THAT Burisma Holdings… the one with a board member named Hunter Biden.

Apparently, Hunter’s input – or political connections – were so valuable to Burisma that they were willing to pay him up to $50,000 per month despite the fact that he had absolutely no previous Ukrainian business dealings or experience in energy production. Not surprisingly, Papa Joe, with the mainstream media serving as his unofficial apologists, has repeatedly denied any connection between his strong-arming the Ukrainian government and Hunter Biden’s sweetheart deal.

Speaking of sweetheart deals, Hunter Biden – again with dear old dad’s help – managed to secure an even more lucrative contract in excess of $1 billion with the Bank of China, the official state bank of the Communist Chinese government, compliments of a ride on Air Force Two. Once again, the MSM carried Joe’s water on this shady deal, too.

As the old saying goes, “Where’s there’s smoke, there’s fire.” That’s why, despite hitting .375 in the 1919 World Series with 12 hits, two doubles, and a homer, Joe Jackson was still banned from baseball for life. And it’s also why Joe Biden should be barred from ever sitting behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.

Harry S. Truman supposedly said, “You can’t get rich in politics unless you’re a crook.” I guess someone forget to tell Joe and Hunter Biden.