Accused and Excused
Major League Baseball is currently in the midst of its playoffs. Having lived in Minnesota most of my life, I’m rooting for the Twins who (at the time of this writing) need to make a miraculous comeback to finally get past the New York Yankees and possibly play in their first World Series since 1991. Baseball has been called America’s National Pastime. However, the sport became tainted 100 years ago due to the infamous Black Sox Scandal. The Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds faced each other in the 1919 World Series. The White Sox were heavily favored to win but lost the best-of-nine series five games to three. It was discovered some White Sox players intentionally played poorly to receive money from gamblers. The “Black Sox” moniker reportedly came from the dirty White Sox uniforms. Tight-fisted owner Charles Comiskey refused to pay for having his players’ uniforms cleaned. Despite being acquitted in a public trial, eight of the White Sox were banned from pro...