On September 28, 1920, a Chicago grand jury indicts eight members of the Chicago White Sox on charges of fixing the 1919 World Series. White Sox owner Charles Comiskey immediately suspends Chick Gandil, Buck Weaver, Happy Felsch, Swede Risberg, Fred McMullin, Eddie Cicotte, "Lefty" Williams and "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, who are notorious for their involvement in the "Black Sox Scandal."
At the time of the grand jury indictment, Chicago was finishing up a 96-win season. The White Sox eventually lost a heated pennant race to the Cleveland Indians, who went on to win the World Series.
None of the eight players, who were all brought to trial, played for the first four months of the 1921 season. All were acquitted on August 2 that year. But there would be no long-term celebration for any of them: A day after their acquittal, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the Major League Baseball commissioner, suspended all eight from organized baseball for life.
Evidence pointed to the players' guilt, and many have debated the involvement of Jackson, one of the greatest players in MLB history.
But there's no doubt the banishment of the eight White Sox's players left a black mark on baseball. In an open letter to Comiskey, published in an Oklahoma newspaper, a fan wrote:
"Don't let those suspended ballplayers return to the White Sox fold, tho [sic] a jury declared them free and a judge deemed justice accomplished. The Black Sox can never be washed white."
In 2025, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced that deceased players—including all eight of the players named in the Black Sox Scandal—would be removed from the sport's ineligible list. "In my view,” Manfred wrote, “once an individual has passed away, the purposes of Rule 21 [which bans betting] have been served. Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game."
As a result of this decision, formerly banned players such as "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and Pete Rose might now be eligible for induction into the MLB Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Did Shoeless Joe Jackson Conspire to Throw the 1919 World Series?
A close look at an infamous baseball scandal.
A close look at an infamous baseball scandal.
