Swede Risberg

Charles August "Swede" Risberg (October 13, 1894 – October 13, 1975) was an American Major League Baseball shortstop. He played for the Chicago White Sox from 1917 to 1920 and is best known for his involvement in the 1919 Black Sox scandal.

Background Charles Risberg was born and raised in San Francisco, California. He had very little education growing up and withdrew from school in the third grade. However, he soon developed a reputation as a good semipro pitcher and began his professional baseball career in 1912.

Risberg soon converted to shortstop. In 1914, he hit .366 in the Class D Union Association and was acquired by the Venice Tigers of the Pacific Coast League. He was the club's utility infielder in 1915 and 1916, gaining acclaim for his defensive skills. He was then bought by the American League's Chicago White Sox in early 1917.

Major League Baseball

Risberg made his debut on April 11, 1917 for the White Sox. He was a below-average hitter, but because of his superb defensive abilities, he won the full-time job at shortstop. Late in the season, Risberg experienced a terrible slump, and he only had two plate appearances, both as a pinch hitter, when the White Sox beat the New York Giants in the 1917 World Series.

Risberg was reinstated by Commissioner Rob Manfred on May 13, 2025 along with other deceased players who were on the ineligible list.

Later years Risberg continued to play semipro baseball for a decade after his banishment. According to one source, "he came to Minnesota in 1922 with a traveling team called the Mesaba Range Black Sox, which featured two other members of the 1919 Black Sox team: Happy Felsch and Lefty Williams."

He played throughout the midwestern United States and Canada. Columbus, North Dakota newspaper reports claimed Risberg played part of the 1927 season with a traveling team called Dellage's Cubans based in Lignite, North Dakota.

In 1926, Risberg was called to testify about a 1919 gambling scandal involving Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker. Although he presented no evidence regarding the 1919 scandal, he claimed that in 1917 he had collected money from other White Sox players to give to the Detroit Tigers for which the Tigers would intentionally lose some games. However, his story was contradicted by more than 30 other men and it was disregarded.

Risberg also worked on a dairy farm.

After his baseball career ended, he eventually ran a tavern and lumber business in the Northwest.

During his playing days, he had been spiked by an opposing player where the injury never properly healed, causing an eventual leg amputation later in his life. The amputation became necessary due to the severe spike wound near his knee sustained which never completely healed properly and eventually turned severely infected.

At the end of his life, he lived with his son and remained an avid baseball fan.

Risberg died in Red Bluff, California in 1975, on his 81st birthday.

He was the last living Black Sox player.

Risberg was portrayed by actor Don Harvey in the 1988 film Eight Men Out.