Autographs include: Eddie Cicotte, Arnold 'Chick' Gandil, George 'Buck' Weaver, Joe 'Shoeless Joe' Jackson (wife), Oscar 'Happy' Felsh, Charles Comiskey, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Abe Attel, and Charles “Swede” Risberg

A framed display of memorabilia from the notorious "Black Sox" baseball betting scandal that forever changed the sport, seven original cut signatures from the major principles in the affair, two printed signatures, a reprinted game program cover, and photographs.

On the eve of the 1919 World Series between the heavily-favored American League champion Chicago White Sox and the National League champion Cincinnati Reds, members of the White Sox - resentful of miserly owner Charles Comiskey - allegedly conspired to throw the series in order to reap a financial windfall from mobster Arnold Rothstein and his gambling syndicate.

A faction of the team led by first baseman Chick Gandil met ahead of the series on Sept. 21, 1919, at a hotel in New York. At the meeting were Gandil, pitcher Eddie Cicotte, outfielder Oscar "Happy" Felsch, shortstop Charles "Swede" Risberg (Gandil's assistant and the muscle of the group), third baseman George "Buck" Weaver, and pitcher Claude "Lefty" Williams.

The group reported to Rothstein - a gambler, businessman and mobster - that star outfielder "Shoeless" Joe Jackson was in on the fix to give the scheme credibility, though he never attended any meetings and never met with any gamblers.

Williams lost three games in the series and sported a 6.63 ERA. Risberg went 2-for-25 at the plate and committed four errors. Jackson, notably, hit a series-best .375 with the only home run by either team, never made an error, and threw out five baserunners.

Each player involved received $5,000 or more, with Gandil taking $35,000. When little-used utility infielder Fred McMullen overheard conversations about the plot, he demanded to be cut in, lest he tell the authorities. Weaver attended the initial meetings, and knew of the fix, but did not report it and received no money.

Jackson would swear under oath that he never met or spoke to any gamblers, and only heard about the fix from teammates. He testified that he never gave anything short of his best effort - "I tried to win all the games," he had told the grand jury - but that he received $5,000 cash after losing Game 4 in Chicago.

The White Sox lost the series five games to three. As Chicago fought for the American League pennant a year later, a grand jury was convened. Cicotte confessed on Sept. 28, and indictments against eight players and five gamblers were handed down on Oct. 22 for nine counts of conspiracy to defraud.

Before the trial began in July of 1921, evidence - including the signed confessions of Cicotte and Jackson (who was illiterate and could only mark an X for his name) - disappeared from the Cook County courthouse (only to later be found years later in the possession of Comiskey's lawyer). Despite a former White Sox player - Bill Burns - turning state's evidence, the jury returned a non-guilty verdict for all accused players.

That didn't stop the Major League Baseball owners, who empowered former federal judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis as professional baseball's first commissioner. The day after the acquittal, he placed all eight men - who participated in or knew about the plot - on the "ineligible" list, effectively banning them from any organized baseball. The bans were never lifted, and Jackson - who owns the third-highest career batting average in history and was one of the greatest hitters of all time - is still not in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, which voted in its first class in 1936.

Jackson recanted his confession, one that mysteriously resurfaced when, three years after the ban, he sued Comiskey and baseball for reinstatement. He lost the suit. He returned to his home of South Carolina and shrank from any public attention - including autograph seekers - though he publicly maintained his innocence until his death in 1951 at the age of 64.

The scandal - and the tragedy of Jackson's lifetime ban - inspired a litany of books and films, most famously W.P. Kinsella's Shoeless Joe (Houghton Mifflin, 1982), its movie adaptation Field of Dreams (Universal, 1989), Bernard Malamud's The Natural (Harcourt Brace and Company, 1952) and its film adaptation starring Robert Redford, Eliot Asinof's Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series (Holt Rinehart & Winston, 1963), and its film adaptation Eight Men Out (Orion Pictures, 1988).

At top of this piece is a print of a team photograph of the 1919 White Sox. To the left of the main photo is a photograph of shortstop Charles "Swede" Risberg, with a cutout for a signature that is not present. On the right is a photograph of center fielder Oscar "Happy" Felsch, with his cut signature below in black ink.

Next are eight tickets to 1919 World Series games - please note that it is inconclusive if these are game-issued or vintage reproductions.

Below two rows of tickets to what was then a best-of-nine series is a re-printed program from the 1919 World Series (the series was changed to a best-of-seven in the years following the scandal, so no one pitcher could lose three games, as Williams did).  

On the left of the program are photographs of third baseman George "Buck" Weaver above his signature in black ink and outfielder "Shoeless" Joe Jackson above his signature in black ink. Uneducated and illiterate, many of the signatures purported to be Jackson's were written by his wife, though he did learn to sign his name late in life.

Below Jackson is a photo of pitcher Claude "Lefty" Williams and his facsimile signature, an unidentified photograph and a space for a signature (not present), and a photo of Landis, above his signature in black ink.

To the right of the program is a photograph of Chick Gandil above his signature in blue ink, a photograph of pitcher Eddie Cicotte with an empty space for his signature (not present), a photograph of utility infielder Fred McMullin above his facsimile signature, a photograph of White Sox owner Charles Comiskey above his signature in black ink, and a photograph of boxer Abe Attel - who was charged with helping to fix the games, but whose charges were dismissed before trial - and his signature in pencil.