1920 – Babe Ruth becomes the first player in MLB history to hit 30 home runs in one season. The shot off Dickey Kerr of the White Sox breaks his record of 29 from the previous year. He added a second home run later in the game, but the Yankees lost at the Polo Grounds, 8-5. Ruth finished with an astounding 54 homers in 1920, outhomering every other MLB team except the Phillies (64).
The fans are flocking to see the mighty Babe Ruth hit home runs (12 in June). A twin bill with the Browns draws a Polo Grounds record of 38,823, the third record-breaker of the year.
The photograph was taken at Comiskey Park on June 16, 1920, before the Yankees vs. White Sox game in which Ruth hit his 18th homer of the season. Ruth will go on to hit 714 homeruns and Jackson will be suspended from baseball after the season for his actions during the 1919 World Series. Sponsor…
Babe Ruth, an accomplished hurler acquired from Boston in the offseason for his hitting prowess, bats cleanup in the Yankees’ lineup, and also gets the win when he tosses four innings as the starter in the team’s 14-7 victory over Washington at the Polo Grounds. During his 15 seasons with New York, the ‘Sultan of Swat’ will take the mound just five times for the club, including a complete-game victory in 1933.
1920 – Babe Ruth reacts to his recent sale to the Yankees in the Boston Evening Standard saying, “Frazee is not good enough to own any ball club, especially one in Boston.”
On January 5, 1920, in perhaps the most famous transaction in baseball history, the New York Yankees formally announce the purchase of outfielder-pitcher Babe Ruth from the Boston Red Sox for $100,000. The trade had actually been made on December 26, 1919, but the announcement was delayed until Ruth could come to contract terms…
“I think the Yankees are taking a gamble. While Ruth is undoubtedly the greatest hitter the game has ever seen, he is likewise one of the most selfish and inconsiderate men ever to put on a baseball uniform.” – HARRY FRAZEE, owner of the Red Sox defending his trade of Babe Ruth to New York.Harry Frazee defends selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees for cash by calling his former player “one of the most selfish and inconsiderate men ever to put on a baseball uniform.” The Red Sox owner laments the popular player had become impossible to deal with, and the team could no longer put up with the Bambino’s eccentricities.
1920 – The secret deal made on December 26th to sell Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $125,000 (twice the amount ever paid previously for a player) is announced publicly. Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee also secures a $350,000 loan from the Yankees as part of the deal.
1919 – Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee makes a secret agreement to sell Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $100,000 (one-fourth cash, plus $25,000 a year at 6 percent) plus guaranteeing a $300,000 loan with Fenway Park as collateral. The transaction will be announced publicly in one week.
With a blast that clears the roof of the Polo Grounds, Red Sox outfielder Babe Ruth ties the game in the top of the ninth in an eventual 2-1 loss to the Yankees that takes 13 innings to complete. The Bambino’s round-tripper, his 28th of the season, breaks the 19th century home run record established in 1894 by Ned Williamson of the NL’s Chicago White Stockings.
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