90 years ago, Black Sox scandal was baseball's darkest hour

For nearly 90 years, the Black Sox scandal has been baseball's darkest hour.

Shoeless Joe Jackson and seven others on the 1919 White Sox were charged with conspiring to throw the World Series against Cincinnati. They later became known as the "Black Sox" and were banned from baseball for life by the game's first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis.

Led by Jackson, pitcher Eddie Cicotte and Hall of Fame second baseman Eddie Collins, the White Sox were considered one of baseball's greatest teams to that point. They were a divided bunch, however, with many players angry at tightfisted owner Charles Comiskey. That made them ripe targets for opportunistic gamblers looking for a Series lock - or so the story goes.

Professional gamblers Arnold Rothstein and Joe "Sport" Sullivan headed a group of shady characters that hatched the scheme to fix the Series. First baseman Chick Gandil took charge for the White Sox, asking for money up front and recruiting teammates - including Cicotte and another star pitcher, Lefty Williams.

When Cicotte hit Reds leadoff batter Morrie Rath with his second pitch in Game 1, it was a signal to bettors: The fix was in.

The White Sox opened as heavy favorites before the odds shifted dramatically. With rumors swirling, they lost the best-of-nine Series in eight games. In the press box, sports writers such as Hugh Fullerton circled suspicious plays on their scorecards.

The plot was soon exposed and, within a year, a grand jury was investigating. Jackson, Cicotte, Gandil and Williams were among the eight players indicted, then suspended by Comiskey. In June 1921 the players were found innocent in court - but not by baseball. Landis, hired to clean up the game, barred all eight for life.

As he left the courthouse one day, Jackson encountered a youngster. According to the Chicago Herald and Examiner, the boy tugged at Jackson's sleeve and uttered a famous phrase.

"Say it ain't so, Joe," the boy pleaded. "Say it ain't so."

The Black Sox scandal left a permanent scar and inspired Eliot Asinof's 1963 book "Eight Men Out" that was made into a 1988 movie. Since Landis' ruling, baseball has consistently taken a hard line against gambling - most notably the lifetime ban of career hits leader Pete Rose. Jackson, with a .356 career batting average that ranks third in baseball history, is not in the Hall of Fame.

The White Sox, who had won the 1917 World Series, didn't win another championship until 2005.