The World Series is one of North America’s most anticipated sporting events, crowning an MLB champion each year. It has been contested since 1903 between the champions of the National League and the American League.
In a game of such high stakes, the 1919 Black Sox scandal is seen as a watershed moment for the sport. It involved a huge betting scandal between the Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago White Sox, with players from the Sox taking bribes to lose the game intentionally.
A brief history of the scandal:
The 1919 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds was sullied by a betting scheme referred to as the Black Sox Scandal. The two teams were facing off in a best-of-nine series, but the games contained a lot of unusual occurrences, which led to a court case and conviction of eight players for conspiring to throw these games.
A group of players on the White Sox, angry at team management for their low pay and poor treatment, had taken substantial bribes from crooked gamblers to ensure a Cincinnati victory.
The aftermath:
After it was revealed that the players did indeed fix these games, the Baseball Commissioner who was appointed after the scandal banned all of these players. The league then put up strict rules for anyone involved in match-fixing, which continues to this day.
Since the infamous “Black Sox” scandal, baseball has only had a few similar gambling controversies, but nothing on that scale. The game also saw a brief dip in popularity after the incident, before resurging a few years later to reclaim its place as “America’s National pastime.”