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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The document that "cursed" the Boston Red Sox for 86 years is about to become a $1 million-plus blessing for a Rhode Island homeless shelter.
The original 1919 contract selling Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $100,000 is being auctioned by a Rhode Island philanthropist, Alan Shawn Feinstein, on the eBay auction site. As of 7:25 p.m. ET Sunday, bidding on the contract stood at $1,001,000.
In addition to the contract, the successful bidder will receive a 4-page feature story about the curse that kept the Red Sox from winning the World Series, and a letter from Hall of Famer Ty Cobb describing Ruth as baseball's greatest player.
Some 220 bids have been received in the auction, which ends at 12:08 p.m. ET Tuesday.
According to the eBay page describing the auction, proceeds from the sale will go to the House of Hope, a homeless shelter in Warwick, R.I.
The 73-year-old Feinstein told the New York Times that he has raised another $2 million for charity by selling copies of the contract, which he bought in 1993 for $99,000, for $30.
The Feinstein Foundation's Web site says Feinstein, who made his fortune as a financial newsletter publisher, wants to name the shelter for a late Sister of Mercy nun, Fran Conway, who was a die-hard Sox fan.
The item description says that right after Feinstein donated the contract for the auction last month, the Red Sox won the eight straight games that gave them their first World Series title since 1918. That, of course, was the year before Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold Ruth to the Yankees, which some fans believe led to Boston's baseball curse.
"Maybe all the good that came from the sale of these contracts made the gods smile," Feinstein told the Times. "From good comes good. Maybe someday, these kids will tell their grandkids, 'We helped break the jinx on the Red Sox.'"
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2004-11-08, 12:43 AM
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