eginning from his early youth, Chick Gandil seemed to be on a collision course with disaster. "There was a bad streak in him that ran from his toes to his crown" military historian, author and Copper League President, Samuel Marshall once said about Gandil.

Describing himself as a "roughhouse character," Chick made use of his well built stature along with a mean and callous expression to display his toughness. Other times, he would use his sheer strength to get his point across. It was in August 1919 for example, that Chick served a five game suspension for punching out the home plate umpire over a disputed strike call.

Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Charles Arnold Gandil became the proud son of Swiss immigrants, Christian and Louise Gandil on Janurary 19,1887. The Gandil's moved to California when Charles was four years old, only to return to Minnesota some 15 years later. It was during his time in Oakland,California that Chick began showing an interest in playing baseball. As a 14 year old, he joined his High School baseball team and played all positions, except first base.

At the age of 17, Chick dropped out of school and ran away from home. He took a train to Amarillo,Texas where he played as a catcher in the Semi-Pro leagues. The following year, he earned $15 a game pitching in Cananea, Mexico. It was during this period that Chick also fought in the boxing ring where he earned $150 per fight and worked part time as a boilermaker in the nearby copper mines.

After playing in Shreveport in 1908 and Sacramento in 1909, Chick was purchased by the Chicago White Sox and made his Major League debut on April 14,1910. Chick spent the 1911 season playing minor league ball in Montreal and returned to the Major Leagues for good in 1912.

It was during Chick's first season with the Washington Senators in 1912 that he met bookie and gambler, Joseph "Sport" Sullivan. Sullivan would later become a key

figure in the fixing of the 1919 World Series. Gandil remained with the Senators through the 1915 season and played the 1916 season for Cleveland.

On Feburary 25,1917, Chick was reacquired by the White Sox for $3,500. That season, the White Sox defeated the New York Giants in the World Series. It would later be revealed that Chick and his teammate, Swede Risberg, had allegedly collected $45 from each member of the White Sox and paid off the Detroit Tigers in two crucial doubleheaders late in the season. When Tigers pitcher Bill James agreed that his team would go easy, the Tigers lost all four games, allowing the White Sox to win the American League pennant. This incident was officially investigated by Comissioner Landis in 1927, but due to contradictions, no action was taken.

After being acquitted in the 1921 criminal trial, Chick played outlaw baseball on the West Coast for several years. Then, while presiding over the Douglas,Arizona team in 1927, Chick banned his team manager, Buck Weaver from the league. It was believed that Gandil did this as he felt betrayed by Weaver's lack of support during the White Sox/Tigers investigation two months earlier.

It was in the late 1930's when Chick's playing days were finally over that he became a plumber and lived in Los Angeles and Oakland. In 1952 Chick retired and moved to Calistoga in Northern California. Four year later, Chick's tell-all interview entitled "Blackest Secret" was published by Melvin Durslag and printed in Sports Illustrated. In the interview, Chick admitted to being the ringleader of the World Series fix and also stated "I feel we got what we had coming!"

For the 50th anniversary of the 1919 World Series, Chick Gandil gave a newspaper interview and admitted "I have taken an awful beating in this thing, but I never confessed. And five of the eight players who were accused of throwing the Series didn't either."

Chick Gandil suffered from heart disease and emphysema and died of cardiac failure on December 13,1970.