On September 25, 1919, Boland was the Tigers' starting pitcher in a game against Cleveland that created a scandal in 1926 after Dutch Leonard testified that Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Leonard and another player had met under the grandstand and agreed to "fix" the game in favor of Detroit. It was also alleged that the players had further agreed to allow players to boost their batting averages. Detroit batters had 19 hits and scored nine runs, and Cleveland batters had 13 hits and five runs off Boland. Boland gave up two triples to Speaker, and Speaker later misplayed a fly ball, giving Boland his only triple of the 1919 season. Boland denied any involvement in fixing the game and claimed in December 1926 to be the most surprised man in the world at the revelation. However, he acknowledged that there were a lot of "friendship games" at the end of a season. Boland went on to say: "The way I figure it, about one in every 300 games is crooked."