Happy Felsch
|
|
OscarHappyFelsch55.jpg
1919 photograph of Oscar "Happy" Felsch
Oscar Emil "Happy" Felsch (August 22, 1891 – August 17, 1964) was an American center fielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Chicago White Sox from 1915 to 1920. He is probably best known for his involvement in the 1919 Black Sox scandal.
Happy Felsch was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and began his major league career on April 14, 1915 with the White Sox.
In 1919, Felsch agreed to join a group of White Sox players that planned to intentionally lose the World Series in exchange for monetary payments from a network of gamblers. Felsch received $5,000 for his role in the fix.
For his part in the fix, Felsch was banned for life from Major League Baseball, along with seven other players, by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis.
Happy Felsch would spend the next 15 years touring the country with various amateur teams. He died of liver disease in Milwaukee in 1964, just five days before his 73rd birthday.