In 1919, eight men—some stars, some role players, all wearing the same crisp white uniform—made a decision that would rewrite the rules of American sports forever. In this episode of The Adrian Moment, Ocean Murff and Jim Pullen sit down with John Sayles’ 1988 film Eight Men Out, a dramatization of the Black Sox scandal, and find themselves caught in a dense web of baseball, economics, betrayal, and mythmaking.
But what if Shoeless Joe Jackson wasn’t the folk hero we make him out to be? What if these players weren’t victims of greedy owners and shady gamblers, but instead just a group of men who made a deeply human, deeply flawed choice? What if the real tragedy wasn’t that they were punished too harshly—but that they weren’t nearly clever enough in their deceit?
This is an episode about history, yes—but more than that, it’s about how we choose to remember. Ocean plays the skeptic, peeling away the mythos of Shoeless Joe and the halo around Buck Weaver. Jim plays the historian, a lover of the game trying to reconcile his boyhood baseball heroes with the adult realities of systemic corruption and personal failure. Along the way, they debate D.B. Sweeney’s acting choices, the legality of sports betting in 1919, and why Michael Rooker might be the perfect sleaze.
There’s a fight about Kevin Costner. A surprisingly heated discussion about catcher’s mitts. And a brilliantly meandering detour into whether White Men Can’t Jump qualifies as a sports gambling movie. This isn’t just about a film. It’s about what we talk about when we talk about baseball—and who we choose to forgive.
Because sometimes, the game isn’t just about wins and losses. Sometimes, the real story is the one we tell after the final inning.
Links & Notes
- Become a Member to get bonus episodes, deeper dives, and support the show.
- Join our Discord community to talk sports, movies, and the ones that got away.
Like, rate, review, and—most of all—share with someone who knows the difference between a real underdog and a Hollywood rewrite. See you on the court.
