Harry Frazee
History has not been kind of Harry Frazee, former owner of the Boston Red Sox. He was a self-made theater magnate in the early 20th century, and bought the Red Sox in 1916. But he fell on hard times and began making financially motivated trades, sending away productive players such as Harry Hooper, Everett Scott, Waite Hoyt, Carl Mays, Dutch Leonard, Joe Dugan, Joe Bush and, of course, Babe Ruth. That final deal—a sale—has secured Frazee’s place as one of the great demons in Boston sports. Though he surely does deserve some blame for what happened to the Red Sox during his tenure, the extent of his pariah-hood has been overdone.
Hooper told interviewer Lawrence Ritter of the trades, “I was disgusted. The Yankees dynasty of the twenties was three-quarters the Red Sox of a few years before. … He was short of cash and he sold the whole team down the river to keep his dirty nose above water.”
In 1918, though, fans in Boston surely could not have foreseen Frazee selling off players just to have enough cash to stay above water. That year, Frazee was a buyer, not a seller. He had a decent club in 1917, winning 90 games and for a second-place finish in the A.L. But the war had taken the bulk of that team’s talent, and Frazee wanted to replace it. So he paid out $60,000 and players to acquire four stars from Connie Mack’s A’s—first baseman Stuffy McInnis, pitcher Bullet Joe Bush, catcher Wally Schang and outfielder Amos Strunk. That gave Frazee’s club a strong core behind its already strong pitching.
Frazee was outspoken about his team’s chances in 1918, and, really, he was outspoken about everything. Part of the reason for that was alcohol—as the composer Irving Caesar said, “Harry Frazee never drew a sober breath in his life, but he was a hell of a producer. He made more sense drunk than most men do sober.” In a Baseball Magazine article, Frazee was described as, “a sizzling, scintillating live wire.” The article pointed out
Harry Frazee talking with former manager Jack Barry at spring training in 1917. (Photo courtesy of the Boston Public Library.) Frazee’s tendency to be confrontational. After Frazee took over the Red Sox, officials for Western Union asked for their usual allotment of season passes. When Frazee asked them why they should get free passes, he was told that they were always given them.
“Is that any reason?” Frazee asked. “Because, perhaps, my predecessors were crazy, should I be crazy, too?”
Generally, Frazee saved his best confrontations for American League president Ban Johnson. The two had a mutual distaste. Johnson ruled the A.L. like a benevolent dictator and was not accustomed to dissent from his owners. Frazee, though, was young (38) and brash, and frequently challenged Johnson—their big to-do in 1918 was over Johnson’s call to close the ballparks for the duration of the war after the government ruled baseball a non-essential occupation. They would scuffle, too, over the World Series schedule. In later years, their distaste would later blossom into full-blown hatred, but in 1918, the problem was still merely simmering.
In buying up players, Frazee was gambling that the Great War was not going to last long and that Americans would return to ballparks in droves. In fact, The Sporting News reported that Frazee had a bet of $2,000 against $12,000 that the war would be over by baseball’s Opening Day in mid-April. He did not win that bet. The war dragged on and baseball attendance (as well as attendance at his theaters) suffered. Frazee, it seems, would never really recover from the financial hit caused by the war.
Frazee sold the Red Sox in 1923, and he died six years later of Bright’s disease, which was likely brought on by his alcohol problem. In his obituary, the Times reported, “For years, he seemed to possess the golden touch, but recently, it was reported among his associates that his fortune had dwindled. His more recent ventures were less fortunate and he always was a generous spender.”
But his 1918 preseason spending spree did ensure him enough personnel to win the American League and get the Red Sox into the World Series. Of course, they won the series, and for 86 years, the 1918 championship was the last for Boston. As much flak as Frazee takes for selling Ruth, he almost never gets credit for spending the big money required to win in ’18.
