One-page handwritten letter, dated April 28, 1920, signed by Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee. PSA has encapsulated the letter and certified the signature as "Authentic." Frazee's letter, which is written to New York Yankees co-owner T. L. Huston along the base of a Boston Red Sox file-copy letter addressed to Huston's partner, Jacob Ruppert, finds him in an anxious state as he awaits confirmation of a $300,000 loan. In full: "Dear Col: This is a copy of letter just mailed to Col Ruppert after my phone to you. Wire or phone me quick. Best Wishes, H. H. Frazee." Both the text and signature are scripted in black fountain pen and grade 8/10 overall. 

The text of the letter to Ruppert explains Frazee's anxiety, but to fully understand the issues involved, we have to go back to December 26, 1919, when Frazee sold Ruth's contract to the Yankees. In addition to receiving $100,000 for Ruth's contract, Frazee also insisted on receiving a $300,000 loan from the Yankees. However, to obtain the loan, Frazee had to put up Fenway Park as collateral. Unfortunately, at the time of the transaction Frazee was still dealing with unsettled legal issues pertaining to his original mortgage on Fenway Park, so the loan had to wait until those matters were settled. However, in the original agreement, the Yankees gave Frazee only 90 days to resolve his problems, otherwise the loan could be voided. 

As one can see from the date of this letter, Frazee's original time to secure the loan had run out and he had to acquire an extension, which apparently Huston had granted him. But, as Frazee makes frantically clear in his letter to Ruppert, he still had no official word that the extension has been granted. Frazee was in dire financial straights at the time, and if he did not receive the loan, it would be disastrous for him. In his own words: "You can understand how important this is to me as my plans have all been based on my ability to secure this loan. . . . I need this agreement signed by you here very badly to complete the balance of my negotiations." Fortunately, for Frazee, he secured the loan and was able to pay off his debts, but his reprieve was short lived. He continued to mount up debt and in 1923 was forced to sell the Red Sox. The letter (8.5x11") displays two vertical and three horizontal folds, as well as a few light creases. 

This letter, along with nearly every other surviving document relating to the sale of Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees, originates from the estate of Ed Barrow, who was manager of the Boston Red Sox at the time of the transaction, and soon after became the longtime business manager/general manager of the New York Yankees. Many years after Barrow's death, legendary collector Barry Halper purchased his entire business archive from the Barrow family, which included dozens of documents relating to Boston's historic sale of Ruth. (Barry Halper's collection is considered by many to have been the finest private baseball-memorabilia collection ever assembled.) In 1999, Halper sold nearly his entire collection at auction through Sotheby's in New York (the collection was so vast that it took over a week of twice-daily live auctions and three months of weekly internet sales to liquidate it). Lot 560 in the live-auction portion of the sale featured a large collection of documents relating to the sale of Ruth, from which this letter, as well as every other "sale of Ruth" document featured in this auction, originates. The entire content of Lot 560 in the 1999 Sotheby's Halper Collection auction has been consigned to this auction by the original purchaser, making this just the third time since 1919 that these historically significant documents will have traded hands.