This lot is closed. Bidding ended on 12/10/2001.
How does a baseball owner shoot down the aspirations of a future Hall of Famer who's pushing to become his manager? Phil Wrigley, owner of the Chicago Cubs, handled it with a tactful letter to Max Carey, the great Pirate centerfielder of the 1910s and 1920s. Apparently Carey believed, or wanted Wrigley to believe, he had been promised the job by Cub GM Charlie Grimm, but in this two-page typewritten letter on Cubs stationery dated January 26, 1950, Wrigley told Carey there had been a "misunderstanding" and refuted criticism by Carey in a previous letter that the team wasn't procuring good players. Wrigley signed in blue fountain pen, with the signature rating a 9. The letter, an intriguing vignette of front office gamesmanship, is in excellent condition with slight yellowing and a paper clip marking on page one.