Nearly 33,000 fans showed up to watch the final game of the 1919 World Series. At a time when ticket stubs weren’t considered much of a keepsake by most fans, few survived the trip back home. Even fewer survived the decades to come, when spring cleaning probably claimed more than a few.
Those who were inside Comiskey Park on October 9, 1919 saw the end of a tainted eight game set between the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox. The fix was in and although some suspected things weren’t quite right with the Sox, it would take some time for the entire sordid affair to play out. Now, one of a miniscule number of surviving stubs from the World Series’ darkest day is on the auction block.
Heritage Auctions is offering one of only two PSA-authenticated stubs from Game 8 in its newly-launched Fall Auction. It’s expected to sell for $15,000 or more.
In the early days of professional baseball, gamblers were constantly attempting to gain influence but the ’19 series was the apex of a problem that would have to be addressed to keep public confidence. While the plot to throw the series had its twists and turns, Sox pitcher Lefty Williams is believed to have faced pressure to perform poorly heading into the pivotal game with one individual threatening violence against Williams and his wife. Williams gave up four straight hits and three runs in the first inning and despite a Joe Jackson homer in the bottom of the inning, the Reds coasted to a 10-5 win. The ticket’s original owner wrote the score of the game on the front of the stub.
According to Heritage, it’s not only one of two graded by PSA, it may the first one ever offered at auction. Heritage sold the other Game 8 ticket in May of last year for $22,800.
Bidding is underway now and concludes December 12.
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Notes: Topps Series 1 Design; Signed Mays Catch Stub; Hat Trick Pucks; Upper Deck Conference; Steel City’s Big Donation
