why was shoeless joe banned

Shoeless Joe Jackson was banned from Major League Baseball because he and seven of his Chicago White Sox teammates were accused of conspiring with gamblers to throw the 1919 World Series. Although a Chicago jury acquitted them of wrongdoing in 1921, MLB commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis imposed a lifetime ban on the players to protect the integrity of the game. Jackson admitted to accepting a $5,000 bribe but claimed he played to win and did not intentionally lose. This scandal, known as the Black Sox Scandal, led to Jackson's permanent exclusion from professional baseball and the Hall of Fame for over a century until his ban was lifted posthumously in 2025.