A 1919 World Series ticket stub hidden in a Bible surfaces for auction
A Bible purchased by a longtime Texas antique dealer turned out to contain a remarkable piece of baseball history. Inside the pages of an 1880s-era family Bible, used as a bookmark, was a ticket stub from Game 2 of the 1919 World Series.
The ticket, graded PSA 4, is slated to appear in Heritage Auctions' Fall Sports Catalog Sale, which runs Oct. 23-25. The discovery adds an unusual backstory to one of the most infamous games in major league history, a series forever linked to the Black Sox scandal.
How the ticket was found
James Weaver, 84, who has owned August Antiques in Houston's Heights neighborhood since 1993, said he bought the Bible about 18 months ago from a Houston doctor whose family had ties to Cincinnati. Weaver said the Bible looked like a large family Bible from the 1880s, and he did not initially think to inspect it closely.
After the seller left, Weaver checked inside the book and found the ticket stub tucked between the pages.
He said he immediately recognized that it might be connected to the 1919 World Series and asked friend Nanci Thompson, a former auctioneer, to help research it. Thompson, who jokingly calls herself Weaver's texting secretary, helped confirm what he had found.
Why the 1919 World Series matters
The stub comes from Game 2 of the 1919 World Series, played at Redland Field in Cincinnati on Oct. 2, 1919. The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago White Sox 4-2 to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-nine series.
The 1919 Series is remembered for the White Sox players' conspiracy to throw the championship at the behest of gamblers, a scandal that became known as baseball's original sin. That history has made surviving tickets and stubs from the series highly sought after by collectors.
Heritage noted that the game was played in 1 hour, 41 minutes and drew 29,690 fans.
Details on the ticket stub
The ticket Weaver found was for a bleacher seat. According to the article, the left side of the stub is torn where it was handled by a ticket taker. The ticket cost $1, with an additional 10 cents for War Tax, making the total price $1.10.
The stub also shows the entry point at Findlay Street and offered the holder a choice between a bleacher seat or standing-room-only access on the field in front of the bleachers.
Weaver said the doctor who sold him the Bible did not know the ticket was inside it, and Weaver believes it had been there for an unknown amount of time.
PSA grade and population context
After the discovery, Weaver enlisted the help of a friend, Jay Kasper, to have the ticket evaluated at the National Sports Collectors Convention in suburban Chicago. The stub was graded PSA 4.
According to the source, none of the 32 ticket stubs from Game 2 have graded higher than a 4. Heritage also described the ticket as a pop three, with none higher.
Jack Spooner, a memorabilia and research expert for Heritage Auctions, called the find remarkable. He said the combination of survival, condition and discovery story makes the piece especially notable, pointing to the rarity of tickets from outside hobby circles and the added layer of its Bible provenance.
How it compares with other 1919 World Series tickets
The article notes that other 1919 World Series tickets have already drawn strong interest at Heritage. A Game 1 ticket graded PSA 1.5 sold for $32,400 including buyer's premium in August 2022. Another Game 1 ticket is currently being offered in Heritage's Summer Platinum Night Auction, where bidding has reached the five-figure range. A Game 2 stub in a PSA Authentic holder sold for $3,270 through Heritage in 2024.
Those examples were box seat tickets, while Weaver's discovery is a bleacher seat stub, which makes the condition and survival story even more unusual.
Weaver's habit of checking books closely
Weaver said the find came from a simple habit he has developed over years of buying and selling books and Bibles. He said he often looks through books carefully because people sometimes hide money or other items inside them.
He estimated that over the years he has looked through thousands and thousands of books and found only a few small items of value. Among the other things he has discovered in Bibles were a ribbon-type item from George Washington's inauguration and a letter written by a woman before the Civil War.
Weaver also recalled finding a rare dictionary in a box of books he bought for $10 at an auction in New York State. The box contained what looked like junk books, but at the bottom he found a 1515 dictionary written in Greek, Latin and English.
Heritage Auctions adds the ticket to its fall sale
Heritage Auctions said the ticket was recently consigned and highlighted its discovery in a Bible on social media. The auction house described the piece as a 1919 World Series Game Two ticket recently discovered in a Bible being used as a bookmark.
The Fall Sports Catalog Sale, scheduled for Oct. 23-25, will give collectors a chance to pursue a ticket stub tied to one of baseball's most important and controversial events. With its PSA 4 grade, strong historical significance and unusual provenance, the stub stands out as a rare surviving artifact from the 1919 World Series.
For collectors of vintage baseball tickets, Black Sox-era memorabilia and items with unusual discovery stories, the piece brings together condition, context and history in a way that is rarely seen in the hobby.
Weaver, who moved to Houston in 1970 and later settled into the antiques business after working in real estate, said the trade remains rewarding because of the people he meets and the unexpected items that sometimes turn up. In this case, the unexpected item was a baseball ticket that spent decades hidden inside a family Bible.
Source: Original source (www.sportscollectorsdaily.com)
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