The 1919 baseball season was a dark chapter in the sport’s history. Even though Babe Ruth played some of the most impressive offensive numbers ever seen for a sixth-place Boston Red Sox, the year is remembered for something much uglier.
The Shadow of the Black Sox Scandal
The American League Champion Chicago White Sox lost the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. The loss was marred by poor defensive play from the White Sox. Whispers soon spread about a gambling fix involving Chicago players. When eight conspirators went on trial the next summer, fans lost trust in the game. The integrity of baseball was threatened.
Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis became the first commissioner to restore faith. In October 1920, he banned the eight players for life. But it was another player’s performance that truly healed the wound.
Babe Ruth’s 1920 season was unmatched. His team broke attendance records. His name was in headlines daily. He became a hero to millions. His joy for the game was infectious. This helped fans forget the scandal.
The nation was entering a time of great prosperity. Bostonians watched from afar. They saw their beloved Ruth become a star elsewhere. He was no longer a Red Sox player. He was now working for New York.
The Journey to New York
Ruth’s move to New York has an interesting backstory. The 1919 season was exciting for Boston fans for one reason only: George Herman Ruth Jr. His home runs kept people cheering after Boston’s pennant hopes were dead. He hit 29 home runs in just 130 games. This was an astronomical number at the time.
American League home run leaders from the previous decade averaged only 10 homers in their title years. Nate Seybold held the AL record with 16. Gavvy Cravath hit 24 with the Phillies in 1915. Historians found that Ned Williamson hit 27 for the Cubs in 1884. That record was helped by walks, underhand pitching, and a short fence. Ruth beat that too.
It was a crowd-pleasing performance. But not everyone in baseball was happy. Home runs were rare. Ty Cobb argued that slugging would ruin the game’s strategy. He thought swinging for the fences was a bad idea.
It seems absurd now. Scoring four runs with one swing is good strategy. But in 1919, swinging for the fences was new. It contrasted with the base-to-base style Cobb liked.
Only five major leaguers besides Ruth hit 10 or more home runs in 1919. None hit more than Cravath’s 12. Ruth’s total was higher than 10 big league teams. This included both pennant winners. But it did not help Boston reach a .500 record.
Cobb was disgusted. He said anyone with enough strength to hit a ball 40 feet farther could play big league baseball. He claimed science was out the window.
Ruth’s slugging did not cost Boston the pennant. The Red Sox finished 66-71. Two of their best pitchers from the 1918 championship team joined the Yankees. Dutch Leonard and Carl Mays left. Duffy Lewis and Ernie Shore went too.
Ruth’s teammates were weak. They hit only three home runs combined. Their ERA was 3.30. Only two teams had a worse mark, even with Ruth’s 2.97 ERA included.
The only bright spot was Ruth’s power. On a day in late September, over 31,000 fans attended Fenway. Another 5,000 were roped off in the outfield. Ruth tied Williamson’s record. The crowd went wild. They did not care that the Sox were out of contention.
Owner Harry Frazee saw Ruth’s appeal. Attendance was 417,291. But he was not making money fast enough. John Lannin still held notes on the $675,000 Frazee paid for the team in 1916. He wanted the rest paid now.
To make matters worse, Ruth had Johnny Igoe as his agent. Igoe said Ruth’s $10,000 contract for 1920 was not enough. Ruth wanted $20,000. He threatened not to play unless he got it. There was talk of boxing. Ruth also considered acting.
He traveled to Los Angeles. He played golf. He appeared in exhibition games. He talked to the press while waiting for his boss to give in.
The clock kept ticking, but the money didn’t show up. For Christy Mathewson, the romance was effectively over. Ruth’s first love wasn’t the diamond; it was the stage. He had debts to his former manager, Jack Lannin, piling up like unpaid ticket stubs, and the math wasn’t adding up. Lannin wanted paid, Ruth wanted cash, and the theater production Frazee was bankrolling? It was bleeding out. Several of his recent shows had flopped harder than a curveball in a hurricane.
Ruth’s lifestyle was a different beast entirely. The curfew violations? Ignoreable. The eating habits? A character flaw, sure. But the money? That was a hard stop. Frazee was drowning in debt and needed a lifeline, fast. He looked at his roster. He looked at his ledger. Then he looked at the biggest asset on the field.
There was only one move left on the board.
The Ultimate Trade
For Christy Mathewson, the sale of Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees wasn’t just a transaction; it was a surrender. The Red Sox had spent years building a dynasty around Ruth’s arm and his appetite, but they couldn’t pay for the star he was becoming. The Yankees, led by Jacob Ruppert and Tillinghast Ladd Huston, saw the chaos and recognized the value.
This wasn’t just about buying a player. It was about buying a phenomenon. The $100,000 loan converted to a sale price of $125,000 (plus a $300,000 loan to the Red Sox for their ballpark) changed the trajectory of baseball. Mathewson, who had originally signed Ruth as a pitcher, watched the man he developed walk out the door. He tried to keep him. He really did. But the economics of fame are colder than any winter in Fenway.
The sale marked the end of an era for Boston and the beginning of something mythic for New York. Ruth wasn’t just a hitter anymore. He was a brand. And brands cost money.
