Eddie Cicotte Single Signed Baseball 1919 Black Sox JSA COA

MacGregor “Ridgewood Sports Shop” baseball signed in blue fountain pen on a side panel by former star pitcher Eddie Cicotte, one of the main conspirators in the infamous 1919 “Black Sox” scandal. The year “1954” is noted on the panel above his signature. Both Cicotte and teammate “Lefty” Williams played major roles in the infamous 1919 “Black Sox” scandal, during which eight members of the White Sox conspired to throw the World Series. Although Cicotte was not the ringleader of the conspiracy (that role went to Chick Gandil), he was one of the first conspirators to join the group, and, as the team’s mound ace, the most important. It was Cicotte who opened the Series for the White Sox by hitting Reds leadoff batter Morrie Rath, which was the signal to the gamblers that the fix was on. Cicotte lost his first two starts in the Series, and it wasn’t until he found out that some of the other conspirators had not yet been paid that he returned to form and won Game 8 (the Series was a best of nine). Under threat of physical harm, fellow conspirator Lefty Williams ended the Series the next day by losing 10-5, which marked his third loss in the Fall Classic. Cicotte and Williams were the only two White Sox pitchers on the take in the Series, and, not surprisingly, they suffered all five losses for Chicago. Full LOA from James Spence/JSA.

D#A9