Frazee has been described as everything from a simple fool and selfish buffoon to a con man and the devil incarnate. Yet this version of history, like a third rate melodrama that supplies an obvious villain, is spurious on its face and virtually unsupported by any factual evidence apart from a series of misconceptions and distortions. The truth is a more complicated story. Significantly, in light of the events of the next few months and the way history has judged Harry Frazee, at the time of the sale there was no mention anywhere that Frazee was in any kind of financial trouble whatsoever. That s because he wasn t.
All evidence indicates otherwise.
Stories that put him in the poorhouse were created out of whole cloth years later by Boston writers who hated him from the very beginning because of his background and alleged Jewish genealogy. The authors are skeptical about Fred Lieb s brief reported conversations with Frazee. If we put ourselves back in 1919 for a moment, and forget what we know about Babe s subsequent career, we can perhaps imagine the sale of Ruth as the equivalent of Mo Vaughn s leaving the Red Sox. Controversial, overweight, outspoken slugger wants too much money, front office gets fed up with him. It was reportedly Ed Barrow who, while opposing the deal, advised Frazee to make it for cash instead of mediocre players.