Fastball Fans

A interesting piece of baseball history might be opened even further as a box containing thousands of rare documents, letters and memos that detail events surrounding the so-called Black Sox scandal of the 1919 World Series will be up for auction starting Monday.

If you need some background, the 1919 World Series ended in a scandal the rocked the world of baseball. Well, eight players from the Chicago White Sox allegedly threw the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. The players were acquitted of the charges; however, they were banned from professional baseball for life. The Chicago players included the great “Shoeless” Joe Jackson; pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Claude “Lefty” Williams; infielders Buck Weaver, Arnold “Chick” Gandil, Fred McMullin, and Charles “Swede” Risberg; and outfielder Oscar “Happy” Felsch.

From the New York Times: Experts say the material may offer more insight about the White Sox, whose actions during the Series against the Cincinnati Reds became one of the darkest events in baseball history.

“This could be a treasure trove,� the baseball author Gene Carney said.

It is unclear how the documents, whose existence were previously unknown, ended up together or where they have been for more than eight decades. Mastro Auctions in Burr Ridge declined to reveal the identity of the two sellers and said that they probably purchased the box without knowing exactly what was inside.

The papers, examined by The Chicago Tribune, appear to contain documents from the 1921 criminal trial against eight White Sox players accused of throwing the 1919 World Series as part of a gambling scandal. The papers also include documents from a 1924 lawsuit in which some of the players sued the team for back pay.

It well be known soon enough if the documents reveal anything new about one of the most infamous sports scandals in history.