Classic No Mas - King Kong and Godzilla
(I tell you people, the year does indeed get late early when it comes to Yankee history, because without question the most important day in the storied past of the Bronx Bombers is January 3rd. Below I explain why in my post from one year ago today - L)
Today is a mother of a day in Yankee lore, a day in history when two of the giants of the franchise joined the team.
On January 3, 1920, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee completed a deal with the Yanks to send his star pitcher and slugger Babe Ruth to the Bronx in exchange for $125,000 cash and a $300,000 loan. Ruth paid Frazee back by becoming arguably the greatest baseball player who ever lived with the Yankees, leading them to four World Series titles, and, oh yeah, putting a curse on the Red Sox that would last for 86 years. In short, the deal was tremendously one-sided.
On January 3, 1973, another epoch-making deal was finalized, as a group of investors led by Cleveland shipbuilder George Steinbrenner purchased the Yankees from the CBS corporation for ten million dollars. At the time of the sale, Steinbrenner was adamant that neither he nor any of his partners had any interest in managing the day-to-day affairs of the club. "We plan absentee ownership as far as running the Yankees is concerned," he said. "We're not going to pretend we're something we aren't. I'll stick to building ships."
Of course, within a year, Big Stein had bought out most of his partners and become the team's principal owner. Evidently shipbuilding was beginning to lose its allure.
Today is a mother of a day in Yankee lore, a day in history when two of the giants of the franchise joined the team.
On January 3, 1920, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee completed a deal with the Yanks to send his star pitcher and slugger Babe Ruth to the Bronx in exchange for $125,000 cash and a $300,000 loan. Ruth paid Frazee back by becoming arguably the greatest baseball player who ever lived with the Yankees, leading them to four World Series titles, and, oh yeah, putting a curse on the Red Sox that would last for 86 years. In short, the deal was tremendously one-sided.
On January 3, 1973, another epoch-making deal was finalized, as a group of investors led by Cleveland shipbuilder George Steinbrenner purchased the Yankees from the CBS corporation for ten million dollars. At the time of the sale, Steinbrenner was adamant that neither he nor any of his partners had any interest in managing the day-to-day affairs of the club. "We plan absentee ownership as far as running the Yankees is concerned," he said. "We're not going to pretend we're something we aren't. I'll stick to building ships."
Of course, within a year, Big Stein had bought out most of his partners and become the team's principal owner. Evidently shipbuilding was beginning to lose its allure.
posted by Large at 10:16 AM
2 Comments:
The talent exodus from Boston to New York didn't end with Ruth. As wikipedia states:
"Robert W. Creamer, in Babe: The Legend Comes to Life (Simon & Schuster, 1974, p.209), reports that, 'The loan was made and relations between the two clubs continued to be cordial, with Frazee sending player after player to the Yankees over the next few seasons for more and more cash. The Red Sox soon became a baseball disaster area, finishing dead last nine times in eleven seasons.' Among others, Wally Schang, Everett Scott, Carl Mays, Waite Hoyt, Joe Bush and Sam Jones went from the Sox to the Yanks in the next one to three years... along with Ed Barrow, former Red Sox manager who became the Yankees' General Manager and empire-builder for the first quarter-century of the Yankees' dynasty."
If Hank Steinbrenner had any sense of history, he'd send Hughes, Kennedy and Austin Jackson to the Twins for Santana today. I'm guessing he doesn't.
Also, I look forward to another year of great posts both here and over at the Sporting Blog. Always top-notch reading, and congratulations on extending the No Mas brand.
Really? You like a Santana deal to the Yanks for Hughes & others? I see Santana possibly becoming the Yank's version of Dice-K-- an excellent pitcher who was ridiculously overpaid (when counting the Sox payment to his Japanese team). Like Dice K who won a respectable 15 games or so, Santana will win his 20-23 games, but it's iffy if he will win a Cy Young again. And Hughes has a whole future ahead of him, one with possible Cy Youngs and no $140 Million extensions.
In a perfect world, I'd like the Mets to deal Gomez, Fernandez and whatever other prospects the Twins want while retaining Reyes, and ship Santana to the NL. But thats just my hope, and I root for the Yanks.
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