The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-02-14
OWNER OF RED S0X
SUFFERS Big LOSS
IN FOOLISH TRADES
BY, FRANK G. MENKE


It's probably true that Figures
never lie"-but figures surely can be
used to obscure and gum up the
truth.
Not SO long ago a sportive person,
most friendly to Harry FraZee, boss
of the Red Sox, concocted a yarn in
tended to show that Frazee has made
profit of over .S450,000 on his vari-
Gus PLAYER deals. Which, he added,
made Frazee "the shrewdest man in
baseball"
The contrary is nearer the truth.
Frazee's pop-oyed trading seems to
have lost $4OO,Oo0 to 100000 for him
land the end amt yet
FraZee, through the years of his
baseball connection, has proved to be
the champion penny wise, pound foot
ish" hero.
It's true that Frazee, through the
sales and trades he has made, has
added $450,0D0 or trifle more 10 his
Golfers. But while he's been doing
that very thing, his sales and trades
i have deprecated the value of his club
! to the extent of $3.50, 000-and FraZee
has lost countless tens of thousands
through shrinkage in attendance.
| Possessed Stars
FraZee bought the Boston club in
| 1916 at a price reported to be in the
neighborhood of S1,000,000. The club
then possessed upon it's roster the
names of Ruth. Mays, Leonard, Scott,
} Shore, Lewis, Hooper, Wood and other
! truly greats of the baseball world.
! In the time since then Frazee picked
up few new ones in the persons OF
McInnis, Jones and husband sold or
J traded every one of them. The gross
revenue was $450,000.
| Practically every deal Frazee-"the
shrewdest man in basebalP'-has en-
gineered has turned out unhappily for
him. He's sold a lot of players at
huge prices, but time has shown that
no matter how big a figure he got he
didn't get enough. He was 'outshrewd-
ed" in most of his undertakings.
Didn't Get Enough
Frazee disposed of Babe Ruth for
$4,000 and year later Ruth was
worth 0,000-perhaps 100000 to
any ball club in the land. If Frazee
hadn't sold Ruth when he did, he IN
doubleday could get anywhere from
from S250,000 to 100000 for him now
If Frazee had been able to gather in
, good team left-then he could be
termed shrewd, but the Red Sox of to-
|; day are a terrible sight to behold. It's
minor club league in its calibre: wholly
colorless, unatractive and regarded as
not worth while by Boston fandom
t It's club destined to tail-end cham
, pionship battling-nothing else.
Attendance Sluraps
While FraZee was adding S450,00C
i cash to his assets, he was losing al
! least s450,000 in player value-and nc
. one knows exactly how many tens OF
, thousands of dollars through loss in
receipts.
, For two full seasons the Red SoS
have been just about the poorest draw
ing cards in baseball. It's estimated
that the total home attendance in 1921
was little more than SOC, 000-and thai
1920 didn't got much beyond 425,000
If Frazee had retained his stars the
!, Sox would have been in both pennant
, fights. And in each of those banner
baseball years they would have drawn
at least 100000 cash customers. So il
, can be seen that Frazee, by wreckins
, his club, lost approximately 100000
patrons in two seasons. This figured
at 81 a head, means a gross intake loss
, of SS00,000, of which about one-hali
would have gone to the visiting clubs
And there's 1922 still to be reckoned
with-1922, which strolls around and
. finds the Red Sox Invested of every
, great player that ever wore the Grim
, son hose.
, The statement involving Frazee's
ownership of the Red Sox during the
, past two seasons could read like this
Net loss of 'shrewdest man in base
ball" 100000.
Copyright 1921 BY King Features
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