This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/5/2010
Outstanding pair of signed letters on Chicago White Sox letterhead from two prominent figures involved in the notorious 1919 Black Sox scandal - White Sox team owner Charles A. Comiskey and longtime White Sox executive Harry Grabiner. Both letters are in great shape with large, perfect looking, black ink signatures. The Comiskey also has the original Chicago White Sox letterhead return envelope. Both were written to the same Chicago White Sox scout.
1) January 8, 1927 letter from Comiskey to White Sox scout offering $350 per month from May 1st to September 1st 1927. Interesting to note that the letterhead has the name Edward T. Collins blacked out as manager with the name Ray W. Schalk printed below, showing the tightfisted Comiskey was not one to waste expensive stationary.
2) November 12, 1928 letter to the same scout from Chicago White Soc Team Secretary Harry Grabiner asking him to "advise your opinion on catcher Farrell, last year with Columbus, as a major league prospect. Grabiner is also well known as keeping a diary. In it he tells how both he and owner Charles Comiskey reported to NL President John Heydler after Game 2 of the 1919 World Series that there might be a "fix" going on. Neither Heydler nor his AL counterpart, Ban Johnson, ever followed up on the information. Our consignor, the son of the scout in the letters, also mentioned that his father told him Grabiner was the man who went down to South Carolina each year to get Joe Jackson's contract signed.
Full LOA from PSA/DNA.