Seymour Conference 2004 – Curses: The Bambino and a Goat

Baseball is a sport fraught with legend and myth. In its early years the game was covered by journalists who at times refused to separate reality from fantasy and often supplied facts to fit the story. Such is the case, according to Anderson, with the sale of the Bambino to the Yankees. The popular myth is Frazee, who was also a Broadway producer, needed money to finance the play “No, No, Nanette” and sold Ruth to raise money for the play, which subsequently bombed on Broadway.

Baseball is a sport fraught with legend and myth. In its early years the game was covered by journalists who at times refused to separate reality from fantasy and often supplied facts to fit the story. Such is the case, according to Anderson, with the sale of the Bambino to the Yankees. The popular myth is Frazee, who was also a Broadway producer, needed money to finance the play “No, No, Nanette” and sold Ruth to raise money for the play, which subsequently bombed on Broadway. The story continues that Frazee in turn conducted a series of player transactions with New York that condemned Boston to baseball



Originally published: May 21, 2004. Last Updated: May 21, 2004.