1. What if the Red Sox didn’t sell Babe Ruth to the Yankees?
What else could be number one? Babe Ruth had just spent the 1919 season establishing himself as the greatest home run hitter of a time. He hit 29 home runs in just 423 at-bats, more than 26 other teams in the majors that year. At age 24, Babe Rith was just coming into his own as a hitter and looked ready to lead the Red Sox into the next decade.
Owner Harry Frazee, however, had other ideas. Frazee was in desperate need of cash to finance his plan “No, No Nanette,” and trading Ruth, the biggest star in baseball, would be the quickest way to get some. On top of that, the troublesome Ruth constantly butted hands with coaches and had demanded that his salary double or he would sit out the season.
Whatever the reason, Ruth was sent to the Yankees for a then-unheard-of sum of $100,000. Ruth would smash every power record in his fifteen years with the Yankees and lead them to seven pennants and three World Series titles. The Red Sox, meanwhile, would go on to trade many of their best players to the Yankees in the coming years and not win another World Series for 86 years.