Synopsis: An adaption of the true story about the infamous Chicago White Sox scandal of 1919, which involved a labor dispute between players and the then all-powerful team over the rights to prevent human tragedy for players like "Shoeless" Joe Jackson. As a result, a mobster took advantage over the dispute and the underpaid Chicago White Sox accepted bribes to deliberately throwing the World Series. Eight players are indicted but are later acquited of all charges. The players concerned were barred from the major leagues and the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Cast:
John Cusack .... Buck Weaver
Gordon Clapp .... Ray Schalk
Don Harvey .... Swede Risberg
Bill Irwin .... Eddie Collins
Perry Lang .... Fred McMullin
John Mahoney .... Kid Gleason
James Read .... Lefty Williams
Michael Rooker .... Chick Gandil
Charlie Sheen .... Hap Felsch
David Strathairn .... Eddie Cicotte
D.B. Sweeney .... "Shoeless" Joe Jackson
Jim Desmond .... Smitty
John Sayles .... Ring Lardner
Studs Terkel .... Hugh Fullerton
Richard Edson .... Billy Maharg
Michael Lerner .... Arnold Rothstein
Christopher Lloyd .... Bill Burns
Michael Mantell .... Abe Attell
Kevin Tighe .... Sport Sullivan
Eliot Asinof .... Heydler
Clyde Bassett .... Ban Johnson
Clifton James .... Charles Comiskey
Brad Garrett .... PeeWee
Tay Strathairn .... Bucky

Favorite Quotes:
• "We're going to see the Socks!" - Bucky

• Eddie Cicotte: "What's the scoop, Harry?"
Harry: "Mr. Comiskey sent these down for you. A congratulations for a successful pennant race."
Eddie Cicotte: "That's awfully white of him. He didn't happen to mention when we can expect that bonus he promised us in return for taking the flag, did he?"
Harry: "This is your bonus."
Swede Risberg: "Cheap bastard."
Kid Gleason: "Look, fellas, if it was up to me--"
Eddie Cicotte: "Kid, we got no beef with you." [opens one of the champagne bottles and nothing happens] "It's flat."

• "Everybody's got their own way of letting off steam, Ring. It's what you do on the field that counts." - Eddie Cicotte

• [to the tune of "Chasing Rainbows"] "I'm forever blowing ballgames / Pretty ballgames in the air / I come from Chi / I hardly try / Just go to bat and fade and die / Fortune's coming my way / That's why I don't care / I'm forever blowing ballgames / And the gamblers treat us fair." - Ring Lardner

• "I always figured it was talent made a man big, you know, if I was the best at something. I mean, we're the guys they come to see. Without us, there ain't a ballgame. Yeah, but look at who's holding the money and look at who's facing a jail cell. Talent don't mean nothing. And where's Comiskey and Sullivan, Attell, Rothstein? Out in the back room cutting up profits, that's where. That's the damn conspiracy." - Eddie Cicotte

Notes:
• In an early scene, Eddie Cicotte (David's character) walks by a Chicago storefront with the name Oppenheimer's in the window. In the TV movie Day One, David played Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, leader of the Manhattan project to develop the atomic bomb.
• The scroll of names in the opening credits follows the path of a fly ball.
• The "Black Sox" got their nickname because Comisky was so cheap that he wouldn't pay to wash the uniforms. The players revolted by not washing the uniforms either until they were black. The nickname didn't come from the gambling scandal.
• Eight Men Out reteamed David with college buddies John Sayles, Maggie Renzi and Gordon Clapp, all of whom he has worked with several times. Eight Men Out was David's fourth Sayles picture.
• Director John Sayles was contractually obligated to a running time under two hours. To inspire the cast to talk fast, he showed them the film City for Conquest (1940). The final cut of the film is 12 seconds under two hours.
• David's eldest son, Tay, has a small part as Bucky, a fan of the White Sox and famed player Buck Weaver. Tay also has another small part as the younger version of Chris Cooper's character in John Sayles' Lonestar (1995).
• David did all his own pitching in Eight Men Out. By the end of filming, according to co-star D.B. Sweeney, he had successfully pitched plenty of knuckle balls.

Critical Praise & Commentary:
• "David Strathairn aches as Eddie Cicotte, the pitcher with a stunning knuckleball and a big weight on his shoulders. His face is especially touching to read." -David Lofus, Roseburg News-Review

• "David Strathairn is an exception, an older, darker actor who has a meatier part as the pitcher Eddie Cicotte." -Rita Kempley, Washington Post

• "Though Cicotte was clearly in the wrong, Strathairn's tortured performance as the pitcher makes him a sympathetic personality; he seems so innocent and honestly mislead that you can't help but hope for the best, even though you know it's not going to come." -Colin Jacobson, DVD Movie Guide

• "Eight Men Out contains many such small marvels, particularly from John Cusack and David Strathairn as the film's closest approximation of tragic heroes... Mr. Strathairn, as the once-honest pitcher Eddie Cicotte who suffers the story's most painful crisis of conscience, captures the full helplessness and misery of a man who sees no choice but to do what he knows is wrong." -Janet Maslin, The New York Times

• "The sympathy role is that of pitcher Eddie Cicotte, a combination of tragedy and pride as only David Strathairn can deliver." -Norm Schrager, FilmCritic.com

(David On His Role:)
• "...I'm not a very objective judge of my own work. I mean, for me, if I managed to depict somebody [Eight Men Out] who could throw a convincing 80-mile-per-hour knuckleball, then that's a great performance." -David Strathairn, 2002

• [regarding favorite roles] "Eight Men Out was close." -David Strathairn, 2006

• "Right now, Murrow [Good Night, And Good Luck] ranks pretty high up there, although I loved playing baseball in Eight Men Out." -David Strathairn, 2006

(D.B. Sweeney On David:)
• "David Strathairn is one of those incredible athletes. He actually, by the end of filming, was throwing a knuckle ball, which is kind of astonishing." -D.B. Sweeney, co-star ("Shoeless" Joe Jackson)

• "David Strathairn, god bless him, had developed a little of a knuckleball by the end of filming." -D.B. Sweeney, co-star ("Shoeless" Joe Jackson)

(John Sayles On David:)
• "David turned out to be a good pitcher and he'd never pitched before." -John Sayles, co-star (Ring Lardner) & director

• "So whether it was the mud boat guy he played in Passion Fish or Eddie Cicotte, who had to throw a real curve ball, or the crazy street guy in City of Hope, physicality is an important part of his acting." -John Sayles, co-star (Ring Lardner) & director

Related Links:
Official U.S. Site (off site)
The TFL-Approved Eight Men Out Fanlisting (off site)
1919 Black Sox Scandal (off site)