Papers detailing Black Sox scandal sold for $100,000
Published December 14th, 2007
The Chicago History Museum won a collection of rare documents, letters and memos detailing the Black Sox scandal at an auction that ended Thursday.
The museum offered about $100,000 for the collection, topping 35 other bids, said suburban Chicago auctioneer Mastro Auctions. Experts say the papers offer insights about the Chicago White Sox and their notorious alleged actions in a betting scandal.
Mastro Auctions declined to reveal the identity of the two sellers and said they likely purchased the box without knowing exactly what was inside.
The papers include documents from the 1921 criminal trial against eight White Sox players accused of throwing the series as part of a gambling scandal. They also include documents from a 1924 lawsuit in which some of the players sued the Chicago franchise for back pay.
The White Sox players, including Shoeless Joe Jackson, were acquitted, but all were permanently banned from the game by the first commissioner of baseball, Kenesaw Mountain Landis.
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