Two stunning images of the 1919 Chicago “Black Sox” taken by legendary baseball photographer Charles Conlon are on the auction block.
RMY Auctions is featuring the two 6 ½” x 8 ½” photos as part of its annual Holiday Auction. Captured by Conlon just before the start of the World Series in which eight Sox players were found to have conspired with gamblers to accept bribes, the photos show five of the “eight men out” as they’ve become known in the lore of baseball’s biggest scandal.
One image pictures members of the Sox outfield: Shoeless Joe Jackson and Oscar “Hap” Felsch, both banned from the game at the end of the 1920 season, are shown along with Neimo Leibold and Shano Collins.
The second photo shows four members of the Sox infield, including the banned trio of Chick Gandil, Swede Risberg and Buck Weaver, along with Hall of Famer Eddie Collins, who didn’t play along with the scheme.
The backs contain Conlon’s hand-written identifications and notes including his quaint reference to the scandal on the infielders photo that reads, “all but Collins fired from baseball.”
Images taken at the time of the 1919 World Series are rare and the two photos have never before been offered at public auction. The auction also includes a photo of Sox pitcher Dickie Kerr.
The photos are in generally good condition with some handling from use by a newspaper decades ago.
The auction continues through December 16 at RMYAuctions.com.
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