Buck Weaver - Legacy

Legacy

Many parts of the story portrayed in the 1988 movie Eight Men Out are told from Buck Weaver's point of view, with Weaver being played by John Cusack. Harry Stein also used Weaver as a co-narrator in his critically acclaimed Black Sox novel Hoopla (1983), where Stein's Weaver reiterates that his loyalty to his teammates compelled him not to inform baseball authorities about the Series fix.

With the 2005 World Series set to begin and the White Sox about to capture their first championship since 1917, Chicago Tribune columnist Mike Downey implored commissioner Bud Selig to rescind Weaver's ban. His column of October 20, 2005 cited catcher Ray Schalk's condemnation of "the seven" Sox in on the fix, not eight. Weaver's niece, Pat Anderson, told Downey: "You can't understand why someone else would be so obtuse. Some of these commissioners, it's like they put a brown paper bag over their heads."

Another niece, Marge Follett, came to the 2003 All-Star Game at the White Sox park to personally appeal to the commissioner for her uncle's reinstatement. The Tribune reported a quote from Weaver before his death: "There are murderers who serve a sentence and then get out. I got life."

Weaver is buried at Mt. Hope Cemetery near 115th Street on Chicago's South Side. His grave marker reads, simply: "HUSBAND George D. Weaver 1890–1956."