One-page file-copy letter, dated November 15, 1919, from Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee to Yankees co-owner Jacob Ruppert regarding one of the key provisions to the sale of Babe Ruth's contract one month later. In his letter, Frazee asks Ruppert to help him secure a first mortgage on Fenway Park ". . . . for five years for $325,000 or $350,000 if possible, for which I would be willing to pay 6% if necessary. I will then retire the present outstanding bonds on the property." Frazee then provides Ruppert with the current valuation of the property: "This property is assessed at $415,000 and I have offers as high as $625,000 for the sale of this real estate."

Frazee was deep in debt at the time of this letter and when he was unable to meet his obligations he was forced to sell his most valuable asset: Babe Ruth. The main suitors were the New York Yankees, with owners Jacob Ruppert and T. L. Huston only too happy to take the budding star off Frazee's hands. The deal was agreed upon on December 26, 1919. The Red Sox received $100,000 for Ruth, with $25,000 paid in cash and the remainder to be paid in yearly installments of $25,000, with each note due on November 1st of 1920, 1921, and 1922, respectively. In addition, the Yankees provided Frazee a loan of $300,000, with the Yankees holding the mortgage on Fenway Park as collateral. This letter marks the early beginnings of that historic transaction, taking place nearly six weeks prior to the actual sale. As a file-copy example, the letter (8.5x11"), typed on "Boston American League Base Ball Club" letterhead, has not been signed. Minor flaws include toning and small tears along the edges of the two horizontal folds. 

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.