October marks the centennial of what remains by far the greatest scandal in American sports history. When eight members of the Chicago White Sox—known forever after as the Black Sox—threw the 1919 World Series, the betrayal reverberated far beyond the burgeoning sports industry. Occurring as it did in a moment of dizzying social change in America, it jolted the nation’s idea of itself. Indeed, in retrospect, the affair stands as one of those signal events that define an era.
