PEORIA MAGAZINE June 2022

S P O T L I G H T

FROM THE HUB OF THE UNIVERSE, THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO Peoria now remembers Harry Frazee, Boston never forgave him

BY PHIL LUCIANO

J ust over a century ago, a budding superstar named Babe Ruth was sold to the New York Yankees, skyrocket ing both toward iconic status as the greatest names in American sports history. Meantime, the after-effects rippled well beyond the national pastime. John Thorn, the official historian of Major League Baseball, told the New York Times in 2019, “If Boston was the cultural capital of 19th century America, New York City became the cultural capital of 20th century America when Babe Ruth arrived.” Dumb luck? More like shortsighted greed. And you can blame an accidental innovator from Peoria. Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee, fed up with Ruth’s off-fieldmisbehavior and outlandish contract demands, made the cash deal to buoy a bottom line plagued by his foundering Broadway musicals. For unloading Ruth, he would be bad-mouthed by baseball fans – in Boston and elsewhere – for cursing the

Babe Ruth pitching for the Boston Red Sox

52 JUNE 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE