Digital Extra: The Journal's 175th Anniversary

07.21.2004

1920. 'Ruth was sold for the good of the Red Sox'

The Jan. 6, 1920, issue of The Journal broke the news to New England sports fans with this headline:

NEW YORK AMERICANS

PURCHASE BABE RUTH

That first story had few details, other than background about Ruth's career as a pitcher and home-run hitter with baseball's Boston Red Sox and confirmation that Ruth had joined the New York Yankees, then a club decidedly in the American League's second tier.

In the next day's paper, Red Sox president Harry H. Frazee explained to The Journal why the Babe had to go.

Journal files

Despite his pitching, fielding and home-run records, Babe Ruth is ushered toward New York in this cartoon, published in The Journalšs sports section on Jan. 7, 1920.

"I sold Ruth for the best interests of the Boston club," Frazee said. "The Babe was not an influence for good or for team play. He thought only of himself, whether the question was one of breaking contracts or of making long hits. . . . Ruth was sold for the good of the Red Sox."

The Journal reported: "The Red Sox President said he felt certain the team never could have won a championship with Ruth as a member, but that he felt the team as it stood today without him and with certain prospective additions would be 25 per cent stronger."