Babe Ruth 100th Anniversary Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/19/2014
On December 26, 1919 Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee gave New York, baseball fans the greatest Christmas gift of all time. Frazee finally agreed to sell Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees. Ruth was the best player in baseball, was the best left-handed pitcher and walloped a then record 29 home runs in 1919, but also was a virtual train wreck off the field. He purposefully disobeyed orders from nearly everyone in the organization, and due to his ever increasing popularity (whenever Ruth pitched, Fenway Park was packed), was demanding an unheard of unheard of two-year contract for $10,000 from Frazee, who was already strapped for cash due to his many theatrical productions and still owing former Red Sox owner Joseph Lannin $125,000 from his purchase of the club a few years earlier. Ruth has signed a contract with Frazee but wanted to renegotiate at double what he had already signed.
Down in New York, Yankee owners Jacob Ruppert and Tillinghas Huston, wanted to build a winner in New York, and when they supposedly asked diminutive manager Miller Huggins what they needed to do to build a winning team. Huggins supposedly replied, “Get Ruth from Boston.” And with Ruppert and the New York bred Frazee moving in the same social circles, the Ruth sale transaction process began.
The "Steal of the Century" originated as follows: the Yankees agreed to pay Frazee $100,000 and to provide him with another $300,000 in the form of a loan, with the loan secured by Fenway Park. The $100,000 payment was to be distributed with $25,000 in cash at the signing, plus three promissory notes each for $25,000, payable over the next several years at a rate of 6% per annum. The $100,000 sale of Ruth was double what any other ballplayer had previously been sold. Offered here is one of the original three promissory notes given to Frazee on that day in payment for Babe Ruth’s contract, and was originally owned by famed baseball collector Barry Halper. The 7.5” x 9.5” note is dated “December 30, 1919”, and the type reads "Note of $25,000, due November 1st, 1921, made by the American League Base Ball Club of New York in favor of the Boston American League Base Ball Club." The due date of the note originally read "1920." However, Frazee changed the "0" in "1920" to "1" and initialed the change along the right border. Frazee has signed the note along the base, "H H Frazee - Pres't." On the back of the note, Frazee has written "Boston American League Baseball Club," below which he has signed his name twice with “By HH Frazee Pres’t” and the second time “HH Frazee”. All of Harry Frazee’s writing on this note was performed in bold green fountain pen. The black fountain pen signatures of both “Jacob Ruppert” and “Col. T. Huston”, appear below Frazee's on the reverse. All the signatures grade "9-10," with the Huston signature experiencing slight smudging to his last name.
The note itself is in excellent condition with light folds, two small holes near the top border (likely staple holes) with a few light pencil notations. The edges are remarkably well preserved and without major issues. The reverse features a $5 DOCUMENTARY stamp, with postmark cancellation.
Barry Halper purchased a large collection of paperwork and related documents and letters from the estate of Hall of Famer Ed Barrow, who spent most of his entire adult life in many capacities of baseball. This promissory note was one of Halper’s most prized possessions, knowing the Ruth transaction forever changed the game of baseball. Barrow was manager of the Boston Red Sox in 1919, but in 1921 he joined the Yankees as General Manager, a position he held for more than twenty years. Many cynics often state Barrow was secretly behind the Ruth sale, knowing he would move on the work for the Yankees. This document, along with one of the other promissory notes, originated from the Barrow estate documents Halper purchased. He sold most of the Barrow material during his Sotheby’s sale in 1999, but held on to this note due to its historical significance.
That significance was the instant reversal of fortunes brought to each city and baseball team immediately after the sale. Ruth agreed to fulfill the remaining two years on his contract, but was given a $20,000 bonus, payable over two seasons and help build the Yankees in to a power over the next 15 seasons, winning seven American League Championships and four World Series. Those four Yankees series wins are on top of the three Ruth won with the Red Sox. However, the Red Sox, who had won five of the first 15 World Series contests would not get back to the World Series until 1946 or win another one until 2004, where the Curse of The Bambino was finally broken. This reversal all began with this promissory note, one of the most important documents in baseball history. The 1919 sale contract of Ruth sold 9 years ago for $1 million, and would sell for many times that today (and it is NOT for sale, we tried!) With that in mind, this is the only available document that was part of the transaction that forever changed the game of baseball, and is one of the most historical documents not only related to the sale of Babe Ruth to the Yankees, but in baseball. Comes with full LOA from PSA/DNA