The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-01-07
Boston Divided On
 Sale Of Babe" Ruth
Some Critics Say Fans Were Betrayed By Owners While Others Declare Sluggers Conduct Had Made
 Other Players Sore Him.

Boston, Jan. 7.-The sale of Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees will be a tremendous blow to the army of loyal fans who have stuck to the Red Sox through thick and thin, through good seasons and bad. The average home patron cannot view with great equanimity the transfer of a star of the first magnitude, the greatest drawing card in the game. Boston fans. therefore, are bound to be disgruntled.
 The argument will doubtless be made that the huge sum of money :. secured by the sale of Ruth will be used to purchase other stars and that, therefore, his passing is a fine thing for the club, whose business it is to win pennants. not to exploit any one player, no matter how great his brilIiancy. The only trouble with this argument is that most clubs refuse to fall for the lure of money alone in exchange for great players.
 A great star today is, generally speaking, above mere purchase price. He may be- traded but except in few instances players as well as money are demanded in exchange.
 The Red Sox roster today contains very few men whose services are sufficiently in demand to warrant other club owners giving up tried and players in barter. What few players of this calibre are now num- bered among the Red Sox must, i: would surely seem,. be retained if the club, now that Ruth is gone, is to keep from crowding the Athletics for eighth place in 1920. '.
 So that unless owners other than MT. Frazee think more of a healthy check than they do of players Whe by their performances draw patrons to the parks, the immediate pros poets for. winning combination in Boston aare not exactly brilliant.
 What other motives than of Se- curing goodly sum of money were behind the sale of the home run king are not known at present The fact that he is an apparent holdout in spite of the fact that his contract has not expired, may have somethins to do. with 1t. There are probably other reasons, none of which will be wildly satisfying to Boston fandom.
 The fact remains that the biz drawing card of 1919 goes hence and there. is none even partially to fill his shoes
 This is not the first time Boston baseball has been shocked by the sale of a wonderful player - Cy 
 ways, much to the disgust of the faithful, but the club did not suffer materially.
 But Ruth is different. He is of 2 class of ball players that flashe: across the Armament once in a. grea1 while and who alone brings the crowds to the park, whether the team is winning or losing.
 During the past 20 years there have been three such super-stars- Wagner, Cobb and Ruth. Wayne, ,~stayed with Pittsburgh till he could play no more; Cobb will never pla! except for Detroit Money never could buy these two men, But Bos ton with Ruth is another story.
 Another newspaper writer says:
 While without question thousand! of fans may seize the sale of Rutf as an opportunity to criticize tht Red Sox management for apparen commerciaHsm, the fact remains tha Ruth, the biggest office attraction il the game, and the most spectacular player since the days. of Rube Wad dell, would never have been per 1nitted to leave Fenway Park had i been possible for the Boston club < handle him. But Ruth's failure t. respect the clubs training rules, hi unwillingness to submit to any forn of discipline and the bad exampl he set for other men, formed @ com bfnation that President F'razee wa able no longer to endure.
 '"The climax came when Babe, afte threatening first to abandon baseball for the movies, then to take up prize fighting career, capped it al by stating that he would not play fo the Sox again unless his present sal ary was doubled. This was the las straw that broke the camers back
 'In many quarters, however, tn sale of Ruth will be looked upon a an undisquised blessing to the club which had been drifting for the pas two seasons into nothing else taa' a one-man affair. So great was tn nublicity that Ruth attained by hi home run hits, and so completely di his personality overshadow that O other and even steadier players 0 -i the club, that most of the interest i v the clubs welfare was dlssipated, an { the less conspicuous but far nor steadier players suffered by the con trast To such an extent did thi arise that dissatisfaction entere finally the ranks where tho greates harmony prevailed and real Red So stars began to pine for a change.
 4sTt is believed that practical every man on lle pos'oh 'e"iii WI he pleased at Ruths sale to Ne work. Popular as Ruth was on ae <o,,nt of his bigheartedne>;s, the me < nevertheless realized that his faul \ oyershadowed his good qualities. Dc \nendable players, real stars. like Mc knnis. Scott, Schang and Hooper, ia harder men than Ruth to replac were forced to believe that the publ had less interest in their work an that the home run hitting of Rut was the one and only attraction :; s.-,-.v Park. In year where tt psd sox had continued in the per
 ant fight longer than they did tn feeIing would certainly have prove fatal.''
 ro+:ona1 Ath1etic