In 1917 the Chicago White Sox won their first World Series.  In 1919 they had reached the championship again, but this time they saw an opportunity to make some money.  Contrary to popular belief, starting pitcher Eddie Cicotte and first baseman Chick Gandil approached gamblers about throwing the series for money.

The price would have to be high and after eight players were recruited it was agreed by one gambler that the series would be thrown for $100,000.  Deals were made with several sets of gamblers and not all the players were clear on how much or when they would be paid.  Some players got some of the money, but others had to wait.  Some players agreed to not play their best and others simply went along, took the cash, but still played to win.  

Cicotte pitched poorly in Game 1 and the Sox lost.  Lefty Williams, usually a control pitcher, was wild in Game 2 and the Sox went down 0-2 in the Best of 9 series to the Cincinnati Reds. The scandal was an open secret.  "Everyone knew it was going on."  Some of the clean Sox claimed they didn't know anything about it.  Reds Hall of Famer Edd Roush was told of the fix after Game 2.  However, the players weren't being paid.  Now things start to get murky.  The Sox won Game 3 by a hit from none other than one of initiators, Gandil.  The fix was off.  It is unclear which games were thrown after Games 1 & 2 and which players were still on the take.

When the series was 4-3 Reds (In 1919 The World Series was a best of 9 game series), Lefty Williams was allegedly threatened to lose Game 8.  He pitched poorly, sealing the win for the Reds.  Eliot Asinof, author of Eight Men Out, claims he made this threat up.  Some of the Reds were even bribed for some of the middle games as well.  

Rumors circulated in the off season.  Owner of the White Sox, Charles Comiskey did an internal investigation which found the fix was true, but instead of losing most of his best players, he paid them more than the previous year to keep quiet.  

In 1920, The White Sox were again in the playoff hunt for the pennant when in the last month, the scandal broke to the public.  Cicotte and Joe Jackson confessed to Comiskey and a grand jury in Chicago that they had been part of the fix.  All eight players were suspended.  Buck Weaver who was part of the eight and knew of the fix, says he never took any money and protested the suspension.  

At the trial, the jurors were White Sox fans and after the eight were acquitted, they all went out to lunch together.  Newly appointed Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis would have none of it.  He suspended the eight players from baseball for life.  To this day, none have ever been reinstated nor admitted into the Hall of Fame.  

Where did that leave the Reds?  The team they had never returned to the World Series.  Even now it is said that the White Sox were the better team and they would've won had they played fully.  

Joe Jackson, who finished with a career .356 batting avg, and once hit .408, is not in the Hall of Fame.  Many believe he should be even though he took money as part of the fix and admitted it in court.  He played to win and was the White Sox best batter during the series.  Should an admitted fixer be allowed in the Hall of Fame?  Is what he did as bad as the steroid era or what Pete Rose did?

Buck Weaver knew of the fix, but never agreed to take money or participate.  When Comiskey suspended the eight players, Weaver protested he had nothing to do with it.  Comiskey assured him the suspension would be lifted once the trial was over.  Weaver even requested a separate trial from the other seven players.  Once the eight were acquitted, Landis banned them all from baseball.  Weaver tried many times to be reinstated, but was denied. 

Part of the sadness of the Black Sox Scandal is that good players like Weaver and Jackson had their careers cut short.  Jackson could've been a Hall of Famer.  However, Landis spoke about them when he said that any player who knows about a fix and doesn't do anything about it will also be banned.  They were the sacrificial lambs that really cleaned up baseball.  Did their crime deserve such a harsh penalty? One thing is for sure, it has been effective in cleaning up the sport.  

It is interesting to note that MLB is currently partnering with companies in Las Vegas to allow gambling on games.  Will this just be a money generator or will this corrupt some players and create a new Black Sox Scandal?  We want to interview sports gambling experts that cover sports other than baseball.