The outcome of the trial may have been sealed when Judge Friend charged the jury.  He told them that to return a guilty verdict they must find the players conspired "to defraud the public and others， and not merely throw ballgames."  （The New York Times editorialized that the judge's instruction was like saying the "state must prove the defendant intended to murder his victim， not merely cut his head off."）

　　The jury deliberated only two hours.  When the Chief Clerk read the jury's first verdict， finding Claude Williams not guilty， a huge roar went up in the courtroom.  As the string of not guilty verdicts continued， the cheers increased.  Soon hats and confetti were flying in the air and players and spectators pounding the backs of jurors in approval.  Several jurors lifted players to their shoulders and paraded them around the courtroom.

　　The Epilogue

　　The players joy was short-lived.  The day after the jury's verdict， the new Commissioner of Baseball， Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis， released a statement to the press：

　　"Regardless of the verdict of juries， no player who throws a ballgame， no player that undertakes or promises to throw a ballgame， no player that sits in conference with a bunch of crooked players and gamblers where the ways and means of throwing a game are discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it， will ever play professional baseball."

　　Landis was true to his word.  Despite the best efforts of some of the players， especially Buck Weaver， to gain reinstatement， none of the Eight Men Out would ever again put on a major league uniform.

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