History Film / EightMenOut

It's the early Golden Age of professional baseball, and one of the best teams of the era is the Chicago White Sox led by a great young home run hitter [[KnownOnlyByTheirNickname known as Shoeless Joe]]. However, all is not well: the players are treated horribly by their spendthrift team owners and paid meager salaries while they see millions of dollars being generated - not just by the owners but also the gamblers betting on their games - off of their work.

* TheDreaded: Rothstein. For good reason. In RealLife Rothstein was a major player in early 20th century organized crime, and mentored the likes of Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lanksy (who would go on to shape the Mafia as we know it today).

* HeelFaceDoorSlam: A sympathetic example occurs when Lefty s prepared to stop throwing the games until his wife is threatened.

->''Say it ain't so, Joe.''

%%* NumberOfObjectsTitle: Also a reference to baseball.

* NumberOfObjectsTitle: Also a reference to baseball.

* NotSoDifferent: The owners and the gamblers are both abusing the ball players to earn obscene amounts of money. There is almost no difference between a mob boss like Rothstein and a team owner like Comiskey.

** The scene with the flat champagne really happened, but it occurred during the celebration for the 1918 World Series the White Sox won the previous year.

* AffablyEvil: Most of the gamblers dealing with the players are like this, especially Burns, the former player who comes up with the idea, Sport Sullivan who is on friendly terms with UsefulNotes/ChickGandil.

** In the film, UsefulNotes/CharlesComiskey is shown holding out pitcher UsefulNotes/EddieCicotte from his last scheduled start so that he will miss out on an incentive clause in his contract. This never happened, and Cicotte was promised no such bonus. Cicotte in fact went for his 30th win in his last start of the 1919 season but lost the game, being yanked after pitching badly.
** Some players are shown batting from the wrong side of the plate, such as UsefulNotes/EddieCollins and UsefulNotes/BuckWeaver. Pitcher UsefulNotes/DickeyKerr, a southpaw, is portrayed as a right-handed pitcher.
** Shoeless Joe is shown being recruited into the fix by UsefulNotes/SwedeRisburg. It was in fact Chick Gandil who did so.

** Pitcher UsefulNotes/LeftyWilliams is shown being threatened before the final game of the World Series by a hitman working for UsefulNotes/ArnoldRothstein. The character, "Harry F.," was fabricated by the author of the book the film is based on, per advice from the book's publisher to avoid copyright infringement. "Harry F." was simply carried over into the film version. In fact, the source for Williams being threatened came decades later from a questionable source, and is considered unlikely.
** Manager UsefulNotes/KidGleason is shown removing starting pitcher Eddie Cicotte from the game after he gave up a triple to rival pitcher UsefulNotes/DutchRuether in the first game of the Series. Cicotte was in fact left in the game for several more batters after that.
** UsefulNotes/BanJohnson and UsefulNotes/JohnHeydler are listed in the closing cast credits list as team owners. In fact, they were respectively the Presidents of the American and National Leagues.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Along with the film ''Film/FieldOfDreams'', this movie and the book that inspired it have been instrumental in sparking attempts to rehabilitate the reputation of UsefulNotes/ShoelessJoeJackson. The film presents Jackson as a misunderstood and tortured soul with regard to the 1919 Black Sox scandal. This whitewashing ignores several facts, which get conveniently ignored. First, Jackson admitted via grand jury testimony (dated September 29, 1920) under oath that he accepted money to throw the Series, something court transcripts delineate plainly; he also changed his story regarding level of involvement with some frequency. Some observers point to Jackson's glowingly good stats in that World Series as proof that he wasn't actually participating in throwing games -- but this ignores that he only played well in games that were "on the level" (not every game in the 1919 Series was fixed) or in fixed games after a loss was assured. Inning-by-inning analysis of thrown games and perusal of "clean" games shows this clearly. [[https://sabr.org/journal/article/an-ever-changing-story-exposition-and-analysis-of-shoeless-joe-jacksons-public-statements-on-the-black-sox-scandal/ See this link for details]].

* ThoseTwoGuys: Lardener and Fullerton the sports reporters. Also gamblers Sleepy Bill Burns and Bill Maharg (who may count as ThoseTwoBadGUys).

* IdiotBall: When the players suddenly think they can win the World Series and not get any retaliation from the gamblers they had made deals with. RealityEnsues when Rothstein sends a gunman to threaten Lefty Williams' wife before the eighth game.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Along with the film ''Film/FieldOfDreams'', this film and the book that inspired it have been instrumental in sparking attempts to rehabilitate the reputation of UsefulNotes/ShoelessJoeJackson. The film presents Jackson as a misunderstood and tortured soul with regard to the 1919 Black Sox scandal. This whitewashing ignores several facts, which get conveniently ignored. First, Jackson admitted via grand jury testimony (dated September 29, 1920) under oath that he accepted money to throw the Series, something court transcripts delineate plainly; he also changed his story regarding level of involvement with some frequency. Some observers point to Jackson's glowingly good stats in that World Series as proof that he wasn't actually participating in throwing games -- but this ignores that he only played well in games that were "on the level" (not every game in the 1919 Series was fixed) or in fixed games after a loss was assured. Inning-by-inning analysis of thrown games and perusal of "clean" games shows this clearly. [[https://sabr.org/journal/article/an-ever-changing-story-exposition-and-analysis-of-shoeless-joe-jacksons-public-statements-on-the-black-sox-scandal/ See this link for details]].

* TheSouthpaw: "Lefty" Williams, who did pitch left-handed (but batted right). For the scheme to work given pitching rotations, the players needed a left-handed thrower to balance against Cicotte (who threw right-handed).

* AffablyEvil: Most of the gamblers dealing with the players are like this, especially Sport Sullivan who is on friendly terms with UsefulNotes/ChickGandil.
** Subverted with Rothstein, who is aloof and strictly business.