
The 1917 Chicago White Sox World Series Championship team - eight of whom were later implicated in the 1919 Black Sox game-throwing scandal - has been brought back to life in colorized images.

Vivid color pictures show the team in action wearing their black and white jerseys, as well as special red, white and blue uniforms worn to commemorate the United States entering World War I in 1917.

The photos from 1917 show Shoeless Joe Jackson, who was the star outfielder and one of the best hitters in the game, third baseman George 'Buck' Weaver and pitcher Eddie Cicotte as they took the field in 1917.

Jackson, Weaver and Cicotte were three of eight White Sox players to be banned for life from baseball after being accused of intentionally losing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for money from gamblers.

‹ Slide me › Vivid color images show the 1917 Chicago White Sox World Series Championship team in action wearing their black and white jerseys, as well as special red, white and blue uniforms worn to commemorate the United States entering World War I 1917. Pictured above, from left, are outfielders Eddie Murphy, John Shano Collins, 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson, Oscar 'Happy Felsh, and Nemo Leibold

Shoeless Joe Jackson was the White Sox's star outfielder and one of the best hitters in the game when the team won the World Series in 1917. He would be banned from the game just four years later

Many members of the 1917 team, including Charles 'Swede' Risberg (pictured above), were banned from baseball after being accused of intentionally losing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for money from gamblers

The men were banned for life in 1921 by newly appointed baseball commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis.

Facing the New York Giants in the 1917 World Series, the team, which featured many of the players who would later be banned, clinched the series in six games, thanks in large part to the workhorse efforts of pitcher Eddie Cicotte and Red Faber.

The win was the team's last world championship until almost 100 years later in 2005 when the White Sox took on the Houston Astros.

The 1917 Chicago White Sox dominated the American League with a record of 100-54, which still stands as a club wins record.

Two years later, the White Sox lost the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds, in an MLB fixing incident now dubbed the Black Sox scandal, which saw eight White Sox players accused of intentionally throwing the game in exchange for money from gamblers.

The fallout from the scandal led to Landis's appointment as the first commissioner of baseball.

‹ Slide me › Facing the New York Giants in 1917, the White Sox clinched the series in six games, thanks in large part to the workhorse efforts of pitcher Eddie Cicotte and Red Faber. Pictured above, pitcher Ewell 'Reb' Russell

The 1917 World Series win was the team's last world championship until almost 100 years later in 2005 when the White Sox took on the Houston Astros. At the time, the team was led by manager Clarence 'Pants' Rowland. He managed the team from 1915 through 1918 and had left by the time the Black Sox scandal occurred

‹ Slide me › Red Faber is credited for having a key role in helping the 1917 team clinch the World Series win against the New York Giants. Faber is now in the Baseball Hall of Fame

Despite acquittals in a public trial in 1921, Judge Landis permanently banned eight men from professional baseball - a ban that still stands today.

The ban does not allow the men to receive post-career honors such as consideration for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

In all, eight White Sox players were banned: first baseman Arnold 'Chick' Gandil, pitcher Eddie Cicotte, centerfielder Oscar 'Happy' Felsch, star outfielder 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson, utility infielder Fred McMullin, shortstop Charles 'Swede' Risberg, third baseman George 'Buck' Weaver and pitcher Claude 'Lefty' Williams.

All eight men were also on the 1917 World Series Championship winning team.

Also banned was Joe Gedeon of the St Louis Browns, who placed a bet because he learned of the fix from Risberg, who was a close friend.

Gandil was seen to be the leader of the players involved in the fix, while Risberg was his assistant and the 'muscle' of the group.

White Sox pitcher Joe Benz is seen above walking with New York Giants manager John McGraw during the 1917 World Series championship

John Shano Collins was an outfielder for the Chicago White Sox from 1910 to 1920. It is not believed he was part of the game-fixing scandal that saw eight White Sox banned from baseball for life

Jackson, one of the best hitters in the game, confessed in sworn grand jury testimony that he had accepted $5,000 from gamblers, but later recanted his confession.

He protested his innocence until his death in 1951.

Though there were several requests for reinstatement over the decades that followed, the ban remains in place to this day.

Following the ban in 1921, the White Sox plummeted into seventh place in the leage and didn't see a pennant race again until 1936.

Their next American League championship didn't come until 1959, and the team didn't win another World Series until 2005.

Striking snaps of the 1917 team - which also featured the eight players involved in the 1919 scandal - were restored and colorized by Chris Whitehouse of ManCave Pictured.

Eddie Cicotte, who helped lead the 1917 team to victory in the World Series, admitted to being part of the Black Sox game fixing scandal of 1919. He confessed in front of a grand jury in 192o

Ted Jourdan was a first baseman for the White Sox between 1916 and 1918, and he returned to the team in 1920, handily missing the season which saw his team embroiled in the Black Sox scandal of 1919

'In the original images, I see people who should look normal, but instead look like dusty old ghosts,' he said. 'I am especially offended to see their colourful uniforms recorded only in shades of grey.'

Whitehouse accessed the black and white photos through the American Library of Congress, which he says has an 'immense treasure trove' of baseball photos.

He used Photoshop and a Wacom tablet and pen to colourise the pictures and bring them back to life.

'But basically, it involves the restored greyscale base image on top of which I paint dozens upon dozens of layers of colours which allow the light and dark shades to show through,' he said.

He added: 'Those colours are in turn controlled by various types of filters that affect their appearance in different ways.

'I should also mention the research that goes into getting the colours correct. I can't claim to be always correct, but I do as well as I can.

'A normal person might have the problem of the patience required to do this work. But I've never been accused of being normal.'