The 1919 World Series was a best-of-nine series in which the heavily favored American League champions the Chicago White Sox faced the National League champions the Cincinnati Reds. As the series progressed the Reds unexpectedly gained the upper hand, which puzzled fans and raised suspicions. Rumors began to circulate that some members of the White Sox team had deliberately thrown the games in exchange for financial rewards from gamblers.

The allegations of game-fixing plagued the White Sox throughout the next season, and in 1920 a grand jury was convened to investigate. This led to the indictment of eight White Sox and a trial the following year that captivated the nation. Although the players were acquitted due to inconsistencies in the evidence, including the disappearance of their signed confessions, the players were banned from professional baseball for life.

It is likely that the conspiracy to fix the series originated with Chick Gandil of the White Sox who met with bookmaker Joe ‘Sport’ Sullivan at the Boston Hotel in Buckminster. By the time of the first game on October 1 he had recruited a number of other players to the scheme, who shared up to an estimated $100,000 between themselves.

The fallout from the scandal prompted significant changes in the sport’s governance. This included the appointment of baseball’s first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who permanently banned the eight Chicago players implicated in the Black Sox Scandal.

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