Harry H. Frazee (1881 - June 4, 1929) was an American theatrical agent and producer and owner of the
Boston Red Sox from 1916 to 1923. He became one of the most
infamous baseball team owners in Major League Baseball, originally
from anti-semitism, and then long after his death from being blamed
for the Curse of the Bambino.
Born in Peoria, Illinois, Frazee bought the Boston Red Sox in 1916 for about $500,000. The Sox won a
World Series title in 1918. The health of the
Sox took a famous plunge after that season, however. The team finished
in sixth in 1919, and the team started selling off its players
to the New York Yankees, most notoriously Babe Ruth after the 1919
season. After the sale of Ruth,
the team would not win another World Series until
2004, the third longest drought in World Series
history. (The Chicago Cubs (1908-present) and the Chicago White Sox, (1917-present) have longer drouggts).
Frazee also backed a number of New York theatrical productions (both
before and after Ruth's sale), the best known of which is probably
No, No, Nanette.
In the early 1920s, Frazee came under attack in Henry Ford's Dearborn Independent for being a Jew and thus "degrading" the noble sport of baseball. In fact, he was a Presbyterian, but he never deigned to respond to the charge.
Frazee sold the team in 1923, getting $1.2 million for it despite its reduced fortunes.
In 1929, Frazee died after a long illness at age 48 in New York City. He was interred in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.
His reputation would continue to suffer blows after his death. He was subject to an unflattering portrait in Fred Lieb's 1940s account of the Boston Red Sox, which insinuated that he had sold Ruth to finance a Broadway musical. This alleged reason for Ruth's sale would become a central element in the lore of the alleged "Curse of the Bambino". (Eventually the lore would name No, No, Nanette as the musical for which Ruth was sold, though that musical debuted five years after Ruth's sale.)
External link
A "Curse" born of hate, by Glenn Stout, discussing and criticizing the various attacks against Frazee.
