501 Critical Reading Questions

Critical Reading Questions
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2 2 5
ers that were allegedly involved in the scheme were Eddie Cicotte,
Happy Felsch, Joe Jackson, Fred McMullin, Charles “Swede” Ris-
berg, Buck Weaver, and Claude Williams.
They were successful. The Chicago White Sox, heavily favored to
beat an inferior Cincinnati Reds team, lost the nine-game World Series
in eight games, due in most part to the inferior play of the eight con-
spiring players. When the scandal made headlines the following year
the press began to refer to them as the Black Sox, and the ignominious
label would be used to describe them forever.
When the eight players stood before an Illinois grand jury, it was
determined that that there was not enough substantial evidence for
any convictions, and the players were all eventually acquitted of any
criminal wrongdoing. Interestingly enough, Charles Comiskey paid
for the players’ high-priced defense lawyers. Unfortunately for
Comiskey, there was to be no similar reprieve from major league base-
ball: Every single one of the accused players was banned from the
game for life. Comiskey’s once mighty team was decimated by the loss
of its most talented players, and the 1921 White Sox finished the sea-
son in seventh place.
431.
According to the passage, who was the supposed ringleader of the
Black Sox scandal?
a. Charles Comiskey
b. “Shoeless” Joe Jackson
c. Eddie Ciccotte
d. Eddie Collins
e. Chick Gandil
432.
In line 29, the word parsimonious most nearly means
a. generous.
b. stingy.
c. powerful.
d. friendly.