11 of the Biggest Lies That Made History

The Black Sox Baseball Players

At the 1919 World Series, eight Chicago White Sox baseball players intentionally lost against the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for a gambling bribe of $100,000 (nearly $1.5 million today). People grew suspicious when the White Sox athletes started to play uncharacteristically bad in the best-of-nine championship Series. A grand jury investigated the scandalous allegations when the crooked players, dubbed the Black Sox for their shady sports conduct, were indicted on nine counts of conspiracy. “I don’t know why I did it,” pitcher Eddie Cicotte told the grand jury. “I needed the money. I had the wife and kids.” But the court’s records documenting their confessions mysteriously vanished, which acquitted the “Black Sox” athletes of all charges with nothing more than a permanent ban from playing Major League Baseball. Don’t miss these 18 history lessons your teacher lied to you about.

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