20 Biggest Cheaters In Sports How They Did It

1919 The Black Sox

In 1919, eight members of the Chicago White Sox team were accused of throwing the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds as part of a gambling ring headed up by racketeer and gambling kingpin, Arnold Rothstein. The “Black Sox Scandal” is where the famous quote “Say it aint so, Joe?” comes from, when a child pleaded with “Shoeless” Joe Jackson that he and his teammates hadn't thrown the game, although Jackson later confirmed that the exchange never happened. The players were banned for life and illegible for future honours, such as Hall of Fame consideration.

Despite acquittals in a public trial in 1921, Judge Landis permanently banned all eight men from professional baseball. The punishment was eventually defined by the Baseball Hall of Fame to include banishment from consideration for the Hall. Despite requests for reinstatement in the decades that followed (particularly in the case of Shoeless Joe Jackson), the ban remains.