Colors

The Chicago Black Sox

"The Chicago Black Sox" is a nickname given to the Chicago White Sox baseball team that became enveloped in a scandal around the 1919 World Series, the championship for Major League Baseball in the United States. Eight members of the team were accused of intentionally losing games because of payments that they had received from gangsters who were betting on the outcome.  While they were found not guilty at trial, all eight were banned for life from professional baseball.

The nickname uses the negative sense of "black" indicating something secret, bad, or nefarious, as in "black market" or "black sites." This usage of "black" stands in particular contrast to the "white" in the team's real name.

How It's Used

“Now they'll [the Chicago White Sox] play for the World Series title for the first time since 1959. (The team hasn't won it all since 1917, two years before the Black Sox scandal.)”

“Although it might not generate the instant buzz of the latest Pete Rose speculation, baseball's ultimate gambling scandal has researchers and aficionados reinvigorated as it approaches its 90th anniversary.

“Forty-six years after the publication of Eight Men Out, the 'Black Sox' story continues its hold on history lovers as more details of the complex case are revealed in bits and pieces. A Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) committee on the Black Sox holds its first meeting this week at the organization's annual convention in Washington, D.C. The committee, which has about 95 members, was formed last fall in anticipation of this year's opening of newly revealed documents in the case at the Chicago History Museum.”

Also Known As (AKA)

The Black Sox Scandal

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