World Series Mayhem

Thousands of baseball fans gathered outside the The Times building to witness the latest results of the World Series in October 1919. They were drawn by the arrival of a new electronic scoreboard known as the Star Ball Player, which quickly became the talk of Times Square.

“There is no play possible on the ball field that cannot be shown on this board,” The Times reported that the remarkable device was so speedy and exact that “within fifteen seconds after the ball has passed on its course over the actual diamond, it will travel over a like course on the green background in the Times Square scoreboard.” These fans would eventually hear the Cincinnati Reds defeat the Chicago White Sox.

In 1920, eight players from the White Sox would be accused of colluding with gamblers to throw the Series, which would be known as the Black Sox Scandal. That controversy did not deter New Yorkers from the scoreboard in 1920 when The Times rolled it out for a second appearance. “The crowd easily excelled any that had previously witnessed,” it was later reported. It would be retired for good during the 1921 World Series when the traffic disruption became too difficult to manage.