Charles August "Swede" Risberg (13 October 1894 - 13 October 1975) was an American baseball player. He is probably best known for his involvement in the 1919 Black Sox scandal. Risberg was the assistant to the ringleader of the fix, Chick Gandil.
Risberg debuted on 11 April 1917 at shortstop for the Chicago White Sox. He was only an average hitter, but due to his superb defensive abilities he won the full-time job at shortstop, and Buck Weaver was forced to move to third base.
In 1919, Risberg agreed to join a group of White Sox players that planned to intentionally lose the World Series in exchange for monetary payments from a network of gamblers. Risberg received $15,000 for his role in the fix.
For his part in the fix, Risberg was made permanently ineligible from Major League Baseball, along with seven other players, by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis.
Swede Risberg died in Red Bluff, California in 1975, on the day of his 81st birthday. He was the last of the 8 suspended "Black Sox" players to die.
External links[]
- Baseball-Reference.com - Major league career statistics