For more than 100 years, a sharp red line separated baseball from gambling, a nearly sacred standard that put the fear of banishment into generations of big leaguers. The 1919 Black Sox scandal nearly ruined the sport, but it was only the most visible moment in decades of sordid associations between players and gamblers.
And now, this season’s World Series is playing against a wider backdrop of betting arguably not seen since eight members of the Chicago White Sox allegedly conspired to throw the sport’s crown jewel on behalf of gamblers.
“We’re entering a very delicate and, dare I say, dangerous world here,” said Tony Clark, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association.
