NEW YORK, Dec 13 (Reuters) - The use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball has been called one of the biggest scandals in the history of the game. But the so-called steroid era is one of several scandals in baseball history.

* 1919 - The Black Sox: After the heavily favored Chicago White Sox lost the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds, eight players were charged with being paid by gamblers to throw the championship. The scandal led to the creation of the autonomous post of commissioner of baseball, who banned the players for life including the legendary Shoeless Joe Jackson.

* 1981 - Baseball Strike: A dispute between players and owners led to a strike that canceled roughly a third of the games from a team's traditional 162-game schedule.

* 1985 - Pittsburgh Drug Trials: A grand jury in Pittsburgh called many of baseball's greatest stars -- including Keith Hernandez, Tim Raines, Vida Blue and Dave Parker -- to testify about cocaine use in baseball. Commissioner Peter Ueberroth suspended 11 players.

* 1989 - Pete Rose: Baseball's record-holder for hits, games played and at-bats accepted a lifetime ban from baseball in 1989 when, as manager of the Cincinnati Reds, he was accused of gambling on games in which his team was playing. He denied betting on baseball games for the next 15 years, then admitted doing so in his 2004 autobiography "My Prison Without Bars."

* 1994 - Baseball Strike: The Players Association and the team owners locked horns over limits on how much each team could spend on their player payrolls. When the union rejected the salary cap, the league locked out the players in August, leading to the cancellation of the 1994 World Series.

* 2002 - Ken Caminiti's steroid use: In an interview with Sports Illustrated, one-time Most Valuable Player Ken Caminiti became the first baseball player to publicly admit to using steroids, which ultimately led to congressional investigations. Caminiti died in 2004, aged 41.

* 2003 - BALCO: In September, federal officials raided the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) and said they found evidence of illegal steroids and growth hormones. Two days later, the home of Barry Bonds' trainer Greg Anderson was searched, yielding lists of players and dosage plans. Last month, Bonds was indicted on accusations of lying to a grand jury that was investigating BALCO. He pleaded not guilty.

* 2007 - Mitchell Report: Following a sharp rebuke by a U.S. congressional committee in 2005, Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig hired former Sen. George Mitchell to investigate steroid use in baseball. The investigation named Roger Clemens among other baseball players as steroid users. Clemens denied the allegation. (Reporting by Derek Caney, editing by Todd Eastham)

AlertNet news is provided by