On this day in 1919, the Chicago White Sox, who had been leading the American League standings for most of the baseball season, saw their lead begin to dwindle as they were swept in a doubleheader at Comiskey Park by the Philadelphia Athletics. By the end of the 1919 season the White Sox would be tied for first with the Detroit Tigers and American League president Benjamin Bancroft 'Ban' Johnson would order a one-game playoff to resolve the deadlock; the aftermath of the game would lead to one of the worst urban fires in US history.

On this day in 1919, White Sox first baseman Arnold "Chick" Gandil suspended by American League president Ban Johnson for assaulting an umpire during an argument over a strike call. Two days later the Detroit Tigers pulled into a first-place tie with Chicago after Detroit beat the New York Yankees 4-2 and the White Sox were thrashed by the Boston Red Sox 13-7.

On this day in 1919, the White Sox fell two games behind Detroit in the American League standings after a 9-0 loss to the Red Sox during which Chicago infielders Eddie Collins and Charles 'Swede' Risberg collided with each other while diving for the same ground ball.

On this day in 1919, former pitcher-turned-gambler "Sleepy" Bill Burns and one of his associates, ex-featherweight boxing champion Abe Attell, approached Detroit Tigers slugger Ty Cobb about the possibility of his participating in a scheme by Burns, Attell, and New York bookmaking kingpin Arnold Rothstein to fix the 1919 World Series. Cobb's reaction was quick, blunt, and emphatically negative: he ripped into Burns and Attell with an obscenity-laden tirade, then pulled a gun and threatened to kill both men if they ever approached him again.

On this day in 1919, American League president Ban Johnson announced that if the White Sox and Tigers were still tied for first in the AL standings at the end of the regular season, a special one-game playoff would be held in Chicago on October 2nd to break the tie.

Chicago's mayor, anticipating a White Sox victory, declared October 3rd a civic holiday; Detroit's mayor did likewise in expectation of a Tigers win.

On this day in 1919, the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers finished the regular season still tied for first place; for the tiebreaker game being played the next day, Chicago elected to start ace Claude "Lefty" Williams while Detroit countered with 21-game winner Hooks Dauss.

On this day in 1919, the Detroit Tigers beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-3 to complete a sweep of the 1919 World Series. Ty Cobb's performance in the best-of-nine contest affirmed his reputation as one of the greatest hitters of his era; he finished the Series with a .507 batting average, fifteen RBIs, and nine home runs(including two grand slams).

Cobb's teammates were no slouches at the plate either, batting a collective .423 in the Series

On this day in 1920, former White Sox infielder Arnold "Chick" Gandil, by then a utility player with the Cleveland Indians, was fatally injured during a game against the New York Yankees when a fastball by Yankees pitcher Carl Mays slammed into his temple and fractured his skull; Gandil died that evening at Columbia University Hospital.

At the time of the deadly accident Gandil had been pinch-hitting for Cleveland's regular shortstop Ray Chapman; less than a month after Gandil's death, a severely traumatized Chapman committed suicide.

On this day in 1921, the Chicago White Sox released Ray Schalk from their roster; Schalk would spend most of the next 18 months on the semi-pro circuit before returning to the American League in 1923 as a reserve catcher with the St. Louis Browns.