Babe Ruth traded to Yankees to produce NO, NO NANETTE?!?!?!?

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 12:14pm

Ok, I just flipped to HBO and "The Curse of the Bambino" is on.

They were talking about when Babe Ruth was traded to the Yankees and from the jist of what they're saying it sounds like the Red Sox coach traded Ruth so that he could use the money to help produce "No, No Nanette" on Broadway?!?!?

Could someone tell me if there is any truth to this? I did just tune in and might have missed something. But, if it's true, I'm flaberghasted.

(P.S....1,000th post!!)

[Princeton78]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 12:23pm

Yes...it's funny you mention that....we were having drinks in the Marriott Marquis on Monday night right before "Sweet Charity" and my dad was telling this same story.

PS..congrats on your legendary status!

[smartpenguin78]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 12:30pm

Its a big legend, but not entirely true.
The owner of the Sox was a New York theatre producer, who wanted extra cash. He spent some of the money from Ruth on production and some on the team.
No No Nannette was not actually produced on Broadway until a couple years later. It was produced by a group that had the Sox owner as an investor.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 12:31pm

Damnit, now you have the title song from No, No Nanette running through my head. I have to work real had to get it out of there!

[bwayfan3]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 12:37pm

They also mention this in that new Drew Barrymore movie, Fever Pitch.

[dry2olives]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 12:58pm

Like smartpenguin78 says, it's a legend based on lots of reality. Harry Frazee considered himself more of a Broadway producer with a "hobby" of owning a baseball team. He would regularly sell players to the Yankees to raise funds for theatrical productions, which drove Boston fans crazy. There's no documentation as to what money went where, and Nanette had an extensive national tour before heading to Broadway in 1925, but it has become a popular legend.

I always said before the Sox finally won, Yankee fans should taunt the Red Sox by singing Tea For Two and the ballpark.

[apdarcey]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 1:19pm

he's from my town...

[bostonbroadwayfan]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 2:20pm

The curse of the bambino is really a load of crap to many people here. It's a catch phrase that was made famous by a local sportwriter who wrote a book.
I think most of the people who call the local talk shows hate how Boston fans were portrayed in the HBO show.
Before last year we weren't all hanging outside Fenway Park praying.
Sorry for the rant but the curse thing is so overblown.

[Loppy]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 3:12pm

The "curse thing" is, most definitely NOT overblown. While the idea of the curse may have been developed by Shaunessey, Boston fans loved to hate it. All you people have done for the past HOW many years is debate the authenticity of the curse, swear to reverse the curse, and claim not to believe in the curse while making plans to fish Ruth's piano out of a friggen lake.

Believe me, the rest of the baseball world didn't begin every broadcast of every play-off game asking if this was going to be the game to "reverse the curse"

Drive along Storrow or look at pics of signs being held by fans saying "Reverse the Curse" and try to tell me that Boston didn't latch on to the idea.

And I don't know what Boston you're living in, but the "Fenway Faithful" or the "Red Sox Nation" or whatever term we're using at the moment have never been known for their class or realistic perspective. Perhaps the reason that you didn't like the way fans were portrayed in that documentary is because it made the truth look a little more unpleasant than you realized. Or did you think that "Yankees suck, Jeter swallows" is really the true meaning of baseball?

If the curse was overblown, it's because Boston fans made it that way.

Ugh. I still can't believe that that band of trolls is wearing championship rings.

[JenD512]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 3:45pm

Haha...if anyone ever reads The Sports Guy's (Bill Simmons) column on ESPN.com, he just reviewed 'Fever Pitch' and ranted about how the Jimmy Fallon character was such a stereotype of a Sox fan. But then his wife and mother saw the movie, called him and said "It was YOU!!"

Funny, how so many Sox fans are now saying the Yankees have been hit by the "Curse of A-Rod."

(and personally, I'd rather have my eyes scratched out than sit through 'Fever Pitch')

[bostonbroadwayfan]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 4:39pm

Loppy. first off let me say that the "Jeter swallows" is the most offensive thing I have ever seen on a t shirt and heard at a game.

I'm not sure where "you" live but you can't use the curse as an excuse for years of bad trades and bad baseball.
And I stand by my original point that the curse is an overblown media catch phrase.

BTW say hi to Jarred Wright :)

[Loppy]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 4:48pm

"I'm not sure where 'you' live but you can't use the curse as an excuse for bad trades and bad baseball"

You're right. You can't. But Bostonians (both the media and the fans) could and did for an awful long time.

As for where I live....about 15 minutes from Fenway

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 5:18pm

The only curse the Red Sox had was the incredible racism that their owners and managers practiced for years, refusing to integrate the club until long after every other major league team had. The LONG list of great, hall of fame black players they had a chance to draft or acquire over the years, but didn't, is stunning (Willie Mays was one).

That "curse" was self-inflicted by their own racist attitudes. They got what they deserved.

[bostonbroadwayfan]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 5:21pm

>As for where I live....about 15 minutes from Fenway<

OK, apologies. Last point, I lived through '67 '75 and '86 and I never used the Curse as an excuse.

But really which is better Wicked or Rent?
Updated On: 4/24/05 at 05:21 PM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 6:51pm

It is true

[Loppy]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 11:32pm

The Red Sox ownership and management was extremely slow to desegregate and they lost a lot of great opportunities as a result.

Additionally, they have a history of writing off great players too early and allowing their stars to act like overpaid three year olds.

All of that contributes to their history of loss. Additionally, I think that the reprehensible behavior of their fans tosses in some bad karma.

Last year was a crying shame. People say that the Yankees are bad for baseball, but at least we're a team that holds our players and our fans to certain standards. The Sox winning was something that we should have never let happen. We basically handed it to them. Ultimately, though, I think that the win hurts the Red SOx lore more than it hurts the Yankees. If a "cursed" team had to get it, I wish it could have been Chicago.

As for "Rent" vs "Wicked", I'd have to go with the former. Neither rank particularly high with me, though.

[Plum]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 11:52pm

The curse is bull****. That HBO program is bull****. And all those bandwagon-hopping losers who would magically become Sox fans every fall so they could cheer for the "underdog" are full of bull****. I went over this in great detail in October, so I'm going to stop now.
A Curse Born of Hate

[bostonbroadwayfan]

Posted: 4/25/05 at 7:50am

Loppy I'll also agree with you on the fan behavior.
Hope you caught the article on the front page of yesterday's Globe.

[Loppy]

Posted: 4/25/05 at 9:39am

I didn't look at the Globe yesterday. But I'm sure I can dig it up today.

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 4/25/05 at 10:10am

I've been threadjacked! Well, I never!

Updated On: 4/25/05 at 10:10 AM

[Loppy]

Posted: 4/25/05 at 10:58am

We already answered your question (which, I believe was also answered in the HBO show that you were watching)

No, Ruth was not sold to finance "No, No, Nanette". Itis an urban legend that has a few threads of truth.