September 24, 1919 – It was a sign of good things to come when then, Boston Red Sox slugger Babe Ruth smashed a home run off of New York Yankees pitcher Bob Shawkey. It was the young batter’s 28th of the season and set an MLB season home run record. It also provided the only run in the game for Boston that day as they suffered a 2-1 loss to their rivals at the Polo Grounds in New York.
Perhaps that was the day the New York brass decided they wanted to get Ruth on their roster, as a few months later on January 5, 1920, it was announced that the rights to the player had been purchased by the Yankees from the Red Sox for $125,000. We all forget that the Bambino played 6 seasons in Beantown before he donned the pinstripes of NY.
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Special thanks to the resources of Newspapers.com and OnThisDay.com for the information obtained.