to intentionally lose a game for $500, equal to $ today. He was never reinstated. Jim Devlin, George Hall, Al Nichols and Bill Craver of the Louisville Grays were banned in 1877 for conspiring to throw two games in the Louisville Grays scandal. No evidence was ever found to suggest that Craver actually had anything to do with the conspiracy, but he refused to cooperate with the investigators. The four banned players were never reinstated. Oscar Walker was banned in 1877 for "contract jumping" by signing a contract to play for another team while still under contract to the team he left. This was 98 years prior to the advent of free agency in sports; Walker was reinstated in 1879. Lip Pike's play for Worcester in 1881 was so poor as to arouse suspicions, and Pike found himself the first professional player banned from the National League that September. He was added to the National League blacklist in 1881, and reinstated in 1883. Umpire and former outfielder Richard "Dick" Higham was banned in 1882 for conspiring to help throw a Detroit Wolverines game after Detroit's owner hired a private investigator to check out Higham's background and found that he was an associate of a known gambler. To date, Higham is the only umpire banned for life. Joseph Marie Creamer III, New York Giants team physician, was banned in 1908 for attempting to bribe umpire Bill Klem $2,500 (equal to $ today) to conspire against the Chicago Cubs during a playoff game against the Giants. Jack O'Connor and Harry Howell, manager and coach of the St. Louis Browns, were banned in 1910 for attempting to fix the outcome of the 1910 American League batting title for Cleveland Indians player Nap Lajoie against Ty Cobb. Horace Fogel, Philadelphia Phillies owner, was banned in 1912 for publicly asserting that the umpires favored the New York Giants and were making unfair calls against his team. Unofficial-turned-official bans These players were unofficially banned from baseball before the creation of the office of Commissioner of Baseball. They later had their bans made official by baseball's first Commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis. Joe Harris of the Cleveland Indians was banned in 1920 after he chose to play for an independent team rather than the Indians. Harris was reinstated by Landis in 1922 due to, in part, his service during World War I. Hal Chase of the New York