Today's the Anniversary of the Red Sox Selling Babe Ruth's Rights to the Yankees

Exactly 100 years ago, the Boston Red Sox traded away star Babe Ruth for cold, hard, Broadway-financing cash in a move that haunted the Red Sox for nearly the next 85 years. The Babe was coming off of a season that saw him hit 29 home runs (setting the all-time record), bat .322 and knock in 113 RBI, all career bests.

However, disappointed by a sixth-place finish after winning three of the past four World Series, ownership decided to ship the controversial player to the New York Yankees for an amount that ended up being around $125,000. This chunk of change financed Sox owner Harry Frazee's production of "No, No, Nanette" -- worth it!

Over the Babe's next 13 seasons (all with the Yankees), he averaged 46 HR, a .356 BA and 138 RBI per season, completely smashing what many thought was a dominant season in 1919 with Boston.

Red Sox owner Harry Frazee knew how good Babe was, but he justified the decision as shipping a "selfish" player off the team. On the contrary, Frazee believed that the team would do better even without the Babe's slugging if their team was harmonious and unselfish.

While this theoretically makes sense, Frazee did not know just how good the Babe would become, as he still has the third-most HR in MLB history, and still holds the record for career Slugging Percentage and OPS (leading both of those categories 13 out of a 14-year span in his career).

Babe Ruth was quite possibly the greatest player who ever lived, and this trade not only offset a dynasty in the Red Sox (winners of the 1915, 1916 and 1918 World Series, before an 86-year drought), but also set the Yankees on a course to become the winningest franchise in sports history.