Winter Auction 2015 closing February 7
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/8/2015
America was looking to the 1919 World Series as the final piece of normalcy to help forget the horrors of World War One. The visiting White Sox were greeted in Cincinnati by thousands of loyal Reds fans whose excitement sometimes bordered on mob violence. 30,511 fans packed into Redlands Field hours before the 3pm start. On the field marching bands dueled with the roar of the expectant fans as the clock ticked towards 3. Outside Redland Field pandemonium reigned and scalpers were doing a brisk business extracting a high premium for a prized ticket. The lucky fan who shelled out $2.20 for this pavilion seat could have re-sold this prized piece of cardboard for $50 had he chose to - but this was Game 1 of the World Series - who in their right mind would sell that! The White Sox, that's who.
After the Sox failed to score in the top of the first knuckleballer Eddie Cicotte took the mound for Chicago. Facing Morrie Rath, Cicotte drilled the Reds lead off man with his first pitch. That seeming innocent errant pitch alerted gamblers from coast to coast that the fix was in. The White Sox were doing the unthinkable: throwing the World Series.
This grayish-white pavilion ticket is a silent piece of that infamous game. Torn on both ends, the ticket measures roughly 2" x 3 1/2" and exhibits the kind of wear you would expect from a ticket nine decades old. Since precious few tickets from Game 1 of the '19 Series survive, the historical significance of this piece more than compensates for its well-used appearance. The ticket has been encapsulated by PSA/DNA and graded AUTHENTIC.