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Edward Victor Cicotte (; SBNation South Side Sox – Eddie Cicotte: From the Hall of Fame Library player files"Cicotte Calls Life Sentence Too Rough". Charleston Gazette, p. 13. June 19, 1884 – May 5, 1969), nicknamed " Knuckles", was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball best known for his time with the Chicago White Sox. He was one of eight players permanently ineligible for professional baseball for his alleged participation in the Black Sox scandal in the 1919 World Series, in which the favored White Sox lost to the Cincinnati Reds in eight games.Pegler, Westbrook (September 24, 1956) The "fixing" of the 1919 World Series is the only recognized gambling scandal to tarnish a World Series.Pennington, Bill (May 14, 2011) "Whiff of Scandal Wafts Over 1918 World Series" New York Times. Retrieved 2011-10-14.
A Detroit native, Cicotte played minor league baseball for the Augusta Tourists in Georgia in 1905, where he was a teammate of Ty Cobb. Both players were purchased by the Tigers, and Cicotte made his big-league debut on September 3, 1905. Pitching in three games for Detroit, Cicotte compiled a 1–1 record with a 3.50 earned run average.
Cicotte did not return to the major leagues again until 1908, when he resurfaced with the Red Sox. After he compiled a 41–48 record in a Boston uniform, the Red Sox sold him to the White Sox on July 22, 1912.
Cicotte celebrated a breakout year in 1913, going 18–11 on the season with an ERA of 1.58. He led the league in winning percentage in 1916, but his best year was 1917, when he won 28 games and led the league in wins, ERA, and innings pitched. On April 14 he threw a no hitter against the St. Louis Browns. From September 15, 1916, to July 25, 1917, Cicotte pitched 25 straight starts in which he allowed three earned runs or less with at least six innings pitched, which retroactively became known as the quality start. Cicotte's 25 game streak was the most for a half-century until Bob Gibson passed him. That year, the White Sox went to the World Series, defeating the New York Giants 4 games to 2. Cicotte won Game 1, lost Game 3, and pitched six innings of relief in Game 5 for a no-decision.
Injuries reduced Cicotte to a 12–19 record in 1918, but in 1919, he rebounded to win 29 games and once again led the league in wins, winning percentage, and innings pitched, as well as in . His 1919 salary was $6,000, but he had a provision for a $10,000 bonus if he won 30 games. Legend has it that as the season drew to a close, owner Charles Comiskey ordered manager Kid Gleason to bench Cicotte for 5 games, denying him a chance at a 30-win season and the bonus money.
In the 1919 World Series against the Reds, Cicotte pitched in three games, winning one but pitching ineffectively and losing the other two.
Cicotte was the first of the eight players to come forward, signing a confession and a waiver of immunity. He later recanted this confession and was acquitted of all charges at trial by jury. Despite this, Cicotte and his alleged co-conspirators were subsequently made permanently ineligible for baseball by Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Major League Baseball's new commissioner, recently hired to restore the integrity of the game in the wake of the 1919 scandal.
Cicotte was reinstated by Commissioner Rob Manfred on May 13, 2025 along with other deceased players who were on the ineligible list.
In the 1988 film Eight Men Out, about the Black Sox scandal, Cicotte is portrayed by actor David Strathairn.
He was portrayed by actor Steve Eastin in the 1989 film Field of Dreams.
Cicotte's grandnephew Al Cicotte (1929–1982) later pitched in the major leagues, compiling a lifetime 10–13 record with six teams between 1957 and 1962.
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