Two years before the scandal Jackson center and the White Sox beat the New York Giants in the 1917 World Series Eight Chicago players were accused of taking money from gamblers to intentionally lose the World Series Three Chicago players admitted they had cheated Jackson said he took the money but did not change the way he played His 375 Series batting average was the highest of the regular players on either team Though none of the eight players were arrested all were banned from baseball for life in 1921 The controversy became known as the Black Sox Scandal
KENESAW MOUNTAIN LANDIS In response to the cheating that was taking place Major League Baseball MLB owners named Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis the game’s first commissioner in 1920 One of his first jobs as commissioner was to place a lifetime ban on the eight players involved in the Black Sox Scandal Landis eventually banned 10 more players from other teams for cheating and gambling Kenesaw Mountain Landis was the MLB commissioner until his death in 1944
2 CHAPTER SHAVING SHAME New York City was the center of the college basketball world in 1950 mainly because of the City College of New York CCNY Beavers Many players on the team were the children of immigrants making the team as diverse as the city it played in By the end of the 1949 50 season the Beavers ranked seventh in the country and had made it to two national championships At the National Invitation Tournament the Beavers trounced defending champion San Francisco and favored Kentucky to win the title The Beavers also won the National Collegiate Athletic Association NCAA tournament beating Bradley by three points Less than a year later these victories were forever tarnished by the arrests of seven of the team’s stars for point shaving The players admitted to accepting money in exchange for manipulating the score winning or losing games by a prearranged number of points Al Roth center was one of the CCNY players charged with fixing games
