Eight Men Out

Eight Men Out (1988)

8 corrected entries

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Corrected entry: During an interrogation prior to the trial, Buck Weaver asks a lawyer who the Babe Ruth of the group is. In 1919, Babe Ruth was a good player, but did not have the star power he gained later. Ruth had not even become a Yankee yet. The question relates to how Ruth is viewed today, not how he was in 1919.

Correction: The trial takes place in 1921, not 1919. That was two years after The Babe was traded to the Yankees and one year after he hit .376 for them. He had been a consistent .300 hitter since his professional career began in 1914 and a dominating pitcher as well. Therefore, the question to the lawyer is not illogical.

Corrected entry: When the ball players are walking into court a fan sticks a ball in front of Shoeless Joe Jackson to sign and he does. It is common knowledge and is talked about in the film that he cannot read or write. He signs court documents with an "X". Who would want that autograph?

Correction: Although Jackson couldn't read or write, he was able to sign his name. There are about 100 example of his signature known.

Corrected entry: In the film, the two sports writers (Ring Lardner and Hugh Fullerton) are noticing the poor play of the Black Sox. In reality, ailing Hall-of-Fame pitcher Christy Mathewson pointed out their pathetic play. In fact, Mathewson, who played a key role in discovering the perpetrators, wasn't even mentioned in the film.

Correction: Not a mistake, but discrepancies between life and the movie's events.

Corrected entry: During the film White Sox pitcher Ed Cicotte's last name is pronounced Sih-Coat-ee. In reality it was pronounced Sy-Cott.

Correction: Eddie Cicotte's name was mispronounced (Sih-Coat-ee) in Field of Dreams not EMO. It was pronounced correctly (Sy-Cott) throughout all of this film.

Corrected entry: Shoeless Joe Jackson is shown batting righthanded and throwing lefthanded. In reality, it was the opposite. He threw righthanded and batted lefthanded.

Correction: In the film, Shoeless Joe is shown batting left-handed and throwing right-handed, not the other way around.

Corrected entry: When Shoeless Joe Jackson makes a diving catch towards the end of the film, you can hear a ball hit his glove but you never see a ball come into the screen.

Correction: When you slow down the DVD frame by frame you can see they digitally enhanced the film with a light white streak that looks like a flying baseball going into the glove. At full speed you can barely see it but it is there. Joe then proceeds to throw the ball back in play and if slowed down again you can see some digitally enhanced white streaks in there.

Corrected entry: At one point in the second game, as Lefty gets set to pitch, we see he's facing a left-handed hitter in the batter's box. Lefty delivers, and the batter swings - from the right-hand batters box.

Correction: The left handed batter is in the correct box. We see him facing the pitcher (batting left handed) then Lefty is seen in the shot getting ready to throw the pitch. When he does we see a shot of the left handed batter from behind home plate. There is no right handed batter.

Corrected entry: The Chicago White Sox throughout the movie were refered as 'The Black Sox'. The name was not given to them because of the scandal, but due to their uniforms. Owner Charles Comiskey, would not pay for the uniforms to be cleaned, so the players never laundered them.

Correction: The 1919 TEAM was never referred to as the Black Sox. It was the 8 individual players who were referred to as the Black Sox and it was absolutely due to their throwing of the World Series, not because their uniforms were dirty.

Factual error: The movie takes place during the year 1919. Yet before one of the World Series games the stadium announcer requests that everyone stand up to sing "the national anthem". The US did not have a national anthem until the 1930's when Frankin D. Rosevelt signed into law the Star Spangled Banner as the nation anthem.

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Suggested correction: According to Ken Burn's "Baseball", Burns and Ward verify that "The Star Spangled Banner" was sung at a baseball game in 1918 to support the efforts of American Troops in WWI- in which players like Ty Cobb, George Sistler, and Christy Mathewson all fought.

The mistake is saying the announcer called it the national anthem, not that they sung "The Star Spangled Banner."

Bishop73

More mistakes in Eight Men Out

Kid Gleason: People are human.

More quotes from Eight Men Out

Trivia: The film is based on the real-life events of the 1919 Black Sox scandal, in which members of the Chicago White Sox were charged with "throwing" the World Series (i.e. losing on purpose). Even though many people believe he wasn't involved, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson was banned from baseball and hasn't been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame because of that.

More trivia for Eight Men Out

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