Black Sox (1919 Chicago White Sox) Documents To Be Auctioned Off...: The Words of Torii Hunter...

A interesting piece of baseball history might be opened even further as a box containing thousands of rare documents, letters and memos that detail events surrounding the so-called Black Sox scandal of the 1919 World Series will be up for auction starting Monday.

If you need some background, the 1919 World Series ended in a scandal the rocked the world of baseball. Well, eight players from the Chicago White Sox allegedly threw the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. The players were acquitted of the charges; however, they were banned from professional baseball for life. The Chicago players included the great "Shoeless" Joe Jackson; pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Claude "Lefty" Williams; infielders Buck Weaver, Arnold "Chick" Gandil, Fred McMullin, and Charles "Swede" Risberg; and outfielder Oscar "Happy" Felsch.

From the New York Times: Experts say the material may offer more insight about the White Sox, whose actions during the Series against the Cincinnati Reds became one of the darkest events in baseball history.

“This could be a treasure trove,” the baseball author Gene Carney said.

It is unclear how the documents, whose existence were previously unknown, ended up together or where they have been for more than eight decades. Mastro Auctions in Burr Ridge declined to reveal the identity of the two sellers and said that they probably purchased the box without knowing exactly what was inside.

The papers, examined by The Chicago Tribune, appear to contain documents from the 1921 criminal trial against eight White Sox players accused of throwing the 1919 World Series as part of a gambling scandal. The papers also include documents from a 1924 lawsuit in which some of the players sued the team for back pay.

It well be known soon enough if the documents reveal anything new about one of the most infamous sports scandals in history.

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Well, as we all know Torii Hunter signed with the Los Angeles Angels last week. Right now he seems to be more than happy joining the organization, as they are a perennial contender, and more importantly, they gave him the contract he wanted.

Right now, that's more than he can say for Minnesota.

Here's what he said to the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: Torii Hunter said he wouldn't have returned to the Twins even if the money was there because he doesn't believe they can compete with the more talented teams in the division.

As for his decision to sign with the Angels he said: "It was like a 24-hour decision. I could not leave Anaheim -- that's a nice place, a nice ballpark, they play the game right, they've got a chance to win every year. Because Arte Moreno is that type of owner, he wants to win."

Had the Twins' three-year offer for $45 million been five years for $75 million, he might have considered it, Hunter said, but on the other hand, he wanted to play with a winner. He said he doesn't think the Twins are going to have the talent to win in the future.

"Sometimes you're going to ask for a raise or whatever. And it just so happened that in major league baseball the market is up, it's way up." he said. "So, I was going to get what I was going to get. I just wanted to make sure that I was with a team that wants to win, that's going to try to win day in and day out. Whatever pieces to the puzzle that they need, they were going to go out and get it. I just didn't feel the Twins were that ballclub."

With Hunter gone, and Johan Santans possibly leaving the organization, the Twins may be set to rebuild and have to consider life without two of their most bankable stars.