This is a long story, so please stick with it to the end....
On April 5th of this year, I was dropping some furniture off at a consignment shop in an area of town that I don't normally visit. After the furniture had been delivered, I had a random thought - I wonder if there's any antique stores around here. Those who know me know that I have a regular schedule of visiting local antique stores hunting for baseball memorabilia. A quick google search revealed that there was a little shop near a sandwich shop that I like, and since it was lunch time I decided to hit the antique store and grab a sandwich.
I walked into the antique store and saw that it wasn't generally "my kind" of store. Lots of artwork and glassware. No "smalls", no collectibles to note. I walked around anyway and spotted a small basket of miscellaneous paper ephemera, and low and behold there was a sandwich bag with some junky, modern baseball cards.
I "just knew" the cards would all be crap, but I had to see them all so I asked if I could open the bag. Much to my surprise, there was a nice assortment of 1950's cards there along with two HOF's!
I quickly paid their $15 asking price, and inquired as to whether there was any other sports stuff lurking about. The owner went in the back and came out with a small stack of magazines..."these just came in on consignment, if you're interested".
The stack was mostly 1970's Sports Illustrated copies. No interest there. Almost to the bottom, I nearly had a minor stroke when I spotted what appeared to be a pristine, original 1954 Sports Illustrated #1 but I when I inspected it, I found it was most certainly the reproduction copy made in 2001, I think.
Then, I saw it. At the very bottom of the stack was a larger magazine that had been placed in a clear, zippered bag. Could it be? Were my old eyes playing tricks on me? I asked if I could remove it from the bag and they said yes.....and my eyes stared in amazement at what appeared to be.....
A 1919 World Series program.
At first I noticed the tape. Someone had taped the bottom of a few pages to save it from fraying. Then I noticed the vintage handwriting...
"Oct. 1, 1919 Cinsi 9 Chic 1"
My mind raced back through its memory banks. Game 1 of the infamous 1919 World Series was on October 1, 1919 with Cincinnati beating the White Sox 9-1 as the White Sox initiated throwing the World Series. 30,511 people watched the "Black Sox" as they'd become known change baseball history forever, and one of those people bought this program, and labeled the cover with the date and score. This program was from game 1, where it all began.
Could this be real?
I flipped through the pages until I got to the scorecard. I remembered that the signal that the fix was on was if Sox pitcher Eddie Cicotte hit the first Reds batter, an infielder named Morris Rath.
and there is was....the purchaser of this program dutifully scored the scorecard and it showed that Rath was indeed hit (shown by the H) and indicated at the bottom of the scorecard.
This was the real deal.
As with any old paper item, pages become loose or lost. The center of the score contained the White Sox team photo. The pages were loose, but they were there which is all that mattered. All 48 pages were present and accounted for.
The Sox' scorecard portion had been filled in as well.
With a steady quiver in my voice, I asked "What do you want for this one?" The owner said, "Oh, I need to talk with the old lady who consigned it. We just picked that stuff up yesterday so I don't know what she wants for it."....and with that, my heart sank.
She asked if I wanted to leave my name and number and she could call me with an amount if I was interested....Was I interested!!!! Oh boy! She then asked if I had an offer in mind, just in case the old lady agreed to sell. Crap, I hadn't considered a number to make an offer. I looked it over again and gave her a number (and no, sorry I won't share that for personal reasons. I generally don't disclose what I pay for things). I then walked out of the store, happy for my 1950's cards find and hopeful for a phone call one day soon.
A few weeks went by, and I called the store. The shop owner said that no, she hadn't spoken to the old lady yet, but she still had my number. She asked again if I had an offer, and I repeated my offer.
Then yesterday, I called again. The owner said that she still hadn't spoken to the old lady but that she should be seeing her today.
I had almost forgotten about this when my phone rang on the way out to get lunch. "Hi Jim, this is so-and-so from the antique store. I've got that baseball thing and the woman said she'd accept your offer".
"I'll be right over", I said.....and the rest is history. Persistence paid off.
Based upon a few prior auction sales that I found, I believe the current value would be roughly about $1500.00. I welcome your thoughts and comments.
Jim