Page 17 - AT

A17
Friday 25 OctOber 2019

A century

after SEEING STRAS

Black Sox,

baseball

cheating

goes

high-tech

By BEN NUCKOLS
AP Sports Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — A
century after the Black Sox
scandal that tarnished the
World Series and ushered
in major changes in base-
ball, the notion that million-
aire ballplayers would take
money to throw a game —
much less the World Series
— is all but unthinkable.
But that doesn’t mean
cheating in baseball is a
thing of the past, and there
are still concerns about
gambling affecting the in-
tegrity of the sport.
Today’s scandals revolve
around technology — from
teams using Apple Watch-
es or high-definition cam-
eras to steal signs to rogue
“data scouts” giving book-
makers real-time informa-
tion from ballparks. It’s hard
to gauge how widespread
these practices are, but
players and managers are
paranoid about tech-driv-
en cheating, with teams
hurling accusations at one
another as recently as this
year’s American League
Championship Series.
MLB is doing its best to
adapt its rulebook to the
tech, hoping to keep the
sport honest as it failed to
do 100 years ago.
HISTORY LESSON
The 1919 World Series, in
which several Chicago
White Sox players were
paid by gamblers to lose
intentionally to the Cincin-
nati Reds, was the most
egregious game-fixing
scandal in baseball histo-
ry, but it didn’t occur in a
vacuum. Washington Nationals starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg throws against the Houston Astros during the first inning of Game 2 of the
baseball World Series Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019, in Houston.
Associated Press
Continued on Page 21 Page 20