Black Sox scandal: SF native Thom Ross paints fresh perspective of 1919 team

One hundred years after the Chicago White Sox fixed the World Series, the characters are long gone, but the 1919 Black Sox scandal remains an intrigue of history, mythology and baseball lore.

Eight White Sox players, including two raised in the Bay Area, were banned for life for their part in conspiring with gamblers, and they’ve become fixtures in American culture for how they’ve been portrayed in books and movies, albeit not always accurately.

Now a San Francisco native is giving the story a fresh coat of paint.

“This story is about men who betrayed their sport, profession, fans, owners and, more than anything else, they betrayed themselves,” said artist Thom Ross, who grew up in Sausalito. “That’s the crime.