Why Jack Brickhouse's personal items were sold
Memories of late Cubs broadcaster Jack Brickhouse filled a nondescript Highland Park storefront Saturday - and were available at a price.
About 1,000 mementos from Brickhouse's Chicago home were available in the tag sale. Photographs, awards, caricatures, baseball score cards and invitations were in the treasure trove of items that became a miniature Chicago sports museum for a few hours through Koy-Krupp Conducted Sales.
Brickhouse's widow, Pat, decided to part with the memorabilia because she has moved from the couple's Chicago apartment to Arizona, said company co-owner Chris Koy. Brickhouse was 82 when he died of cardiac arrest in 1998.
"This is just what their apartment looked like," Koy said. "A big apartment. It was floor to ceiling with all his awards and trophies and letters and autographs. That was their whole life, it seems."
An unidentified man purchased a game-used Billy Williams road Cubs jersey signed by the baseball Hall-of-Famer, which was listed at $25,000. Other items included:
• An invitation to Brickhouse for dinner from St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famer Stan Musial. The 1968 invitation listed the late Musial's address and telephone number. It was priced at $110.
• A picture of Brickhouse, deceased New York Yankees Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio and legendary Chicago newspaper columnist Irv Kupcinet. The late Kup was Brickhouse's Bears partner in the radio booth. The photo was priced at $75.
• A caricature of Brickhouse and the late Harry Caray, who announced for the Cubs, White Sox, Cardinals and Oakland Athletics. That cost $1,200. Both men are in the broadcasters wing of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
• An album narrated by Brickhouse called "Great Moments in Cubs Baseball!" The asking price was $100.
On display but not for sale was a drawing of Brickhouse and his wife.
Sean Gill of Chicago was among the steady flow of sports fans who visited the sale in the Highland Park storefront on Old Skokie Road. He said he was on the hunt for Hall of Fame autographs.
"Even the stuff I wouldn't particularly buy or have the budget to buy, it's pretty cool to check out," Gill said. "It's been pretty awesome, like his date calendar book and all the different pins and awards he got. It's kind of like a mini museum. It's been pretty fun. Even if you were to buy nothing, it would be pretty fun to look around."
Brickhouse began his broadcasting career at a Peoria radio station and landed in WGN-Channel 9's Cubs booth in 1941. The man who became known for "Hey! Hey!" and "Wheee!" retired as the Cubs' lead telecaster in 1981.
In addition, he was the longtime Bears radio announcer with Kupcinet on WGN 720-AM, handled White Sox TV play-by-play from 1940 to 1967, covered wrestling matches and reported on political conventions.