Babe Ruth Yankees owners quickly pursued the purchase. Frazee sold the rights to Babe Ruth for $100,000, the largest sum ever paid for a baseball player. The deal also involved a $350,000 loan from Ruppert to Frazee, secured by a mortgage on Fenway Park. Once it was agreed, Frazee informed Barrow, who, stunned, told the owner that he was getting the worse end of the bargain. Cynics have suggested that Barrow may have played a larger role in the Ruth sale, as less than a year after, he became the Yankee general manager, and in the following years made a number of
1969 Major League Baseball expansion for the 1968 Major League Baseball season. The American League had considered decreasing the number of games played by each team to 152 or 156 from 162 that had been played each season since 1961, and the National League either 162 or 165 games, but the leagues agreed to a 162-game schedule in a meeting on 10 July 1968. Each team would play 18 games against divisional opponents, and 12 games against league opponents in the other division. A best-of-five post-season playoff series between league division winners was also introduced. The Kansas City Royals have been the most successful of