1919 | Boston

Yankee Swap

The Red Sox get rid of Babe Ruth.

Uniform agreement for transfer of a player to or by a major league club.

This agreement, made and entered into this twenty-sixth day of December 1919 by and between Boston American League Baseball Club and American League Baseball Club of New York.

Witnesseth: The party of the first part does hereby release to the party of the second part the services of player George H. Ruth under the following conditions:

By herewith assigning to the party of the second part the contract of said player George H. Ruth for the seasons of 1919, 1920, and 1921, in consideration of the sum of twenty-five thousand ($25,000) dollars cash and other good and valuable considerations paid by the party of the second part, receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged.

About This Text

A Major League Baseball uniform player’s contract. Though Babe Ruth had been a winning pitcher and power hitter for the Red Sox, Boston announced the trade of its star player to the Yankees by claiming the price “was an amount the club could not afford to refuse.” Losing Ruth to New York, where he helped establish the Yankees as the winningest team in baseball, brought on the bally­hooed “Curse of the Bambino”: Boston would not win a World Series for eighty-six years.