Sold To New York
On December 26, 1919, Frazee sold Ruth's contract to the New York Yankees. The transaction is still clouded in mystery. The popular legend of its day was that Frazee sold Ruth and several other of his best players to finance a play, No, No, Nanette, which did not premiere in Broadway until 1925. Another speculation concerns Ruth's demand for a $20,000 raise ($230,000 raise in current dollar terms), double his previous salary. Frazee refused, and Ruth let it be known he would not play until he got his raise, suggesting that he might retire to undertake other profitable ventures. A third explanation involved a debt Frazee had with former Red Sox owner Joseph Lannin in regards to Frazee's purchase of the club in 1916. He owed Lannin $125,000 and after the sale, the two businessmen settled the debt out of court.
Whatever the reason, Frazee had made his decision to trade Ruth. However, he was effectively limited to two trading partners—the Chicago White Sox and the then-moribund Yankees. The other five clubs rejected his overtures out of hand under pressure from American League president Ban Johnson, who had never liked Frazee and was actively trying to remove him from ownership of the Red Sox. The White Sox offered Shoeless Joe Jackson and $60,000 ($690,000 in current dollar terms), but Yankees owners Jacob Ruppert and Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston offered an all-cash deal—$100,000 ($1,150,000 in current dollar terms), a record at the time for any ballplayer. The trio agreed to a deal. In exchange for Ruth, the Red Sox would get $125,000 ($1,432,516.61 million in current dollar terms) in cash and three $25,000 ($290,000 in current dollar terms) notes payable every year at 6 percent interest. Ruppert and Huston also loaned Frazee $300,000 ($3,438,039.87 million in current dollar terms), with the mortgage on Fenway Park as collateral. The deal was contingent on Ruth signing a new contract, which was quickly accomplished, and Ruth officially became a member of the Yankees on December 26. The deal was announced ten days later.
In the January 6, 1920, edition of The Boston Globe, Frazee described the transaction:
I should have preferred to take players in exchange for Ruth, but no club could have given me the equivalent in men without wrecking itself, and so the deal had to be made on a cash basis. No other club could afford to give me the amount the Yankees have paid for him, and I don't mind saying I think they are taking a gamble. With this money the Boston club can now go into the market and buy other players and have a stronger and better team in all respects than we would have had if Ruth had remained with us.However, the January 6, 1920, The New York Times was more prescient:
The short right field wall at the Polo Grounds should prove an easy target for Ruth next season and, playing seventy-seven games at home, it would not be surprising if Ruth surpassed his home run record of twenty-nine circuit clouts next Summer.Read more about this topic: The Great Bambino, Major League Career
Famous quotes containing the words sold to, sold and/or york:
“The reading public is intellectually adolescent at best, and it is obvious that what is called “significant literature” will only be sold to this public by exactly the same methods as are used to sell it toothpaste, cathartics and automobiles.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)
“If there were one who lived wholly without the use of money, the State itself would hesitate to demand it of him. But the rich man—not to make any invidious comparison—is always sold to the institution which makes him rich.... Thus his moral ground is taken from under his feet.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Then I discovered that my son had learned something new. For the first time, he was able to give a proper kiss, puckering up his lips and enfolding my face in his arms. “Kees Dada,” he said as he bussed me on the nose and cheeks. No amount of gratification at work could have compensated for that moment.”
—Donald H. Bell. “Conflicting Interests,” New York Times Magazine (July 31, 1983)