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Frazee sold the rights to Babe Ruth for $100,000, the largest sum ever paid for a baseball player. The deal also involved a $350,000 loan from Ruppert to Frazee, secured by a mortgage on Fenway Park. Once it was agreed, Frazee informed Barrow, who, stunned, told the owner that he was getting the worse end of the bargain.<ref>{{harvp|Reisler|2004|p=1}}</ref><ref name="creamer208plus">{{harvp|Creamer|1992|pp=208–209}}</ref> Cynics have suggested that Barrow may have played a larger role in the Ruth sale, as less than a year after, he became the Yankee general manager, and in the following years made a number of purchases of Red Sox players from Frazee.<ref name="r2" >{{harvp|Reisler|2004|p=2}}</ref> The $100,000 price included $25,000 in cash, and notes for the same amount due November 1 in 1920, 1921, and 1922; Ruppert and Huston assisted Frazee in selling the notes to banks for immediate cash.<ref name="creamer208plus" />
According to one of Ruth's biographers, Jim Reisler, "why Frazee needed cash in 1919—and large infusions of it quickly—is still, more than 80 years later, a bit of a mystery".<ref name="r5" /> The often-told story is that Frazee needed money to finance the musical ''[[No, No, Nanette]]'', which was a Broadway hit and brought Frazee financial security. That play did not open until 1925, however, by which time Frazee had sold the Red Sox.<ref name="c20" /> However, Frazee did need the money to finance another theatre work: ''No, No, Nanette'' was based on a Frazee-produced play, ''My Lady Friends'', which opened in 1919.<ref>{{harvp|Montville|2006|pp=101–102}}</ref>{{relevance?|date=November 2024}}
The transaction was contingent on Ruth signing a new contract, which was quickly accomplished—Ruth agreed to fulfill the remaining two years on his contract, but was given a $20,000 bonus, payable over two seasons. The deal was announced on January 6, 1920. Reaction in Boston was mixed: some fans were embittered at the loss of Ruth; others conceded that Ruth had become difficult to deal with.<ref>{{harvp|Stout|2002|pp=86–88}}</ref> ''The New York Times'' suggested that "The short right field wall at the Polo Grounds should prove an easy target for Ruth next season and, playing seventy-seven games at home, it would not be surprising if Ruth surpassed his home run record of twenty-nine circuit clouts next Summer."<ref name="Year1920">{{cite news|title=Ruth Bought By New York Americans For $125,000, Highest Price in Baseball Annals|work=The New York Times|date=January 6, 1920|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1920/01/06/102732651.pdf|access-date=June 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181008233249/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1920/01/06/102732651.pdf|archive-date=October 8, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> According to Reisler, "The Yankees had pulled off the sports steal of the century."<ref name="r2"/>
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