Minnie Miñoso's Baseball Memorabilia Up For Sale At Auction
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago White Sox legend Minnie Miñoso's private collection of baseball memorabilia has become the centerpiece of a live auction on Saturday at U.S. Cellular Field.
Miñoso, the first black Cuban player in the major leagues and the first black player for the White Sox, remains one of the most revered players in White Sox history.
The seven-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove winner also was one of the first Latin Americans to play in Major League Baseball.
Miñoso died last year, and his widow, Sharon Rice Miñoso, said the timing is right to share some of his treasured memories. Among the items up for auction are two of his three Gold Glove Awards, his 1959 American League Championship ring and the ring from his induction into the Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame.
After leaving the major leagues at the end of the 1964 season, Miñoso played and managed in Mexico for several years, before returning to the White Sox as a coach and making a couple returns to the field as a player in 1976 and 1980.
He was the second player to appear in the major leagues in five decades, and he became the third player in history to get a hit in the majors at age 50 or older, when he got a single against the Angels during a three-game stint in 1976.
Saturday's auction also includes items from the personal memorabilia collection of Chicago sportswriter Jerome Holtzman, who wrote for the Chicago Daily News, the Chicago Sun, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune.
The auction also includes game-worn jerseys from some current White Sox players and players from other recent Sox teams.
Hunt Auctions said a portion of the proceeds from the auctions will go to Chicago White Sox Charities.
