Harry Frazee Quotes

"Frazee has his likeable points and there are some things about him not so well liked, showing he’s merely human. He’ll say what he thinks and stand by it, which is something out of the ordinary in a baseball magnate, and he’ll deliver himself of his opinions even if he gets a bat in the eye for it, and be of the same opinion still."

Source	Author	Date
The Sporting News		September 5, 1918

"Frazee was a producer of the old school—buy cheap, sell dear, and screw the world."

Source	Author	Publisher	Date	Page
Make Believe: The Broadway Musical In The 1920’s	Ethan Mordden	New York: Oxford University Press	1997	75

"Harry Frazee never drew a sober breath in his life, but he was a hell of a producer. He made more sense drunk than most men do sober." — Irving Caesar

Source	Author	Publisher	Date	Page
The Big Bam	Leigh Montville	New York: Doubleday	2006	97

"Perhaps Harry Frazee will have the helm—a grand fellow, a lucky man whose touch turns every enterprise to gold, and a game sportsman who will bring added credit to the circuit of the National League."

Source	Author	Date
Baseball Magazine	William Phelon	January 1913
Phelon was speculating about who might be the next owner of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1913.

"I think that by giving the public a first class article I am bound to hold their support. And this goes double for Boston, which I consider, by all odds, the greatest ball town on earth." — Harry Frazee

Source	Author	Date
The Sporting News		September 5, 1918

"Frazee was the ultimate outsider, neither one of [Ban] Johnson’s longtime partners nor one of his toadies. From the moment Frazee took command of the Red Sox, Johnson did everything in his considerable power to drive him from the game."

Source	Author	Publisher	Date	Page
Red Sox Century	Glenn Stout & Richard Johnson	Boston: Houghton Mifflin	2000	6

"The Boston club is not officially sold until the deal is ratified by the American League as a whole. I am in receipt of a telegram from Mr. [Joe] Lannin that the purchasers are substantial business men, but As I do not know either [Harry Frazee or business partner, Hugh Ward] intimately, I could not pass judgment at this time." — Ban Johnson

Source	Author	Date
Boston Globe		November 2, 1916

"Although President Johnson never had met either of the men who bought the Boston club, his knowledge of their success as theatrical promoters seemed to make him favor them as members of his organization."

Source	Author	Date
Chicago Tribune		November 30, 1916

"I'm in the game to make money, and a man is entitled to 20 percent annually on his investment. If I can’t make that I don’t intend to spend my time in baseball and will be perfectly willing to hand the club over to some philanthropist who is willing to work his head off for the purpose of handing the ball players large salaries." — Harry Frazee

Source	Author	Date
Boston Globe		January 30, 1917

"Frazee, in spite of the fact that he has just entered the game, has refused to be bluffed by [Duffy] Lewis, [Harry] Hooper and [Dutch] Leonard, who soon will find that unless they accept his terms they can remain in retirement."

Source	Author	Date
The Sporting News		March 15, 1917
The Sporting News applauded Frazee for not caving in to his players' contract demands.

"This talk of asking for exemption for ball players has not done the game any good. I never agreed with Ban Johnson in his plan to have ball players exempted…He kicked one alright." — Harry Frazee

Source	Author	Date
Boston Globe		December 7, 1917
Frazee was responding to reports that he supported Ban Johnson's suggestion that 18 players per team be exempt from military service during World War I

"No one will believe any such yarn as Mack is trying to put over…You can bet Mack will get what he is after. He is not in baseball for love." — Harry Frazee

Source	Author	Date
The Sporting News		January 24, 1918
Frazee was responding to Connie Mack's assertion that he traded first baseman Stuffy McInnis to Boston out of gratitude and as a favor to McInnis and that he practically presented McInnis to Boston

"Much favorable comment was heard yesterday concerning the securing of players from Philadelphia. Frazee’s willingness to spend money to get talent will win over many fans."

Source	Author	Date
Boston Globe		December 16, 1917
Frazee sent three players and $60,000 to the Athletics for Joe Bush, Wally Schang, and Amos Strunk in December 1917

"Baseball club owners of the past never knew the methods in accord with which these two owners [Red Sox owner Harry Frazee and Cubs owner Charles Weeghman] have started out to buy players who can land them a pennant at any cost."

Source	Author	Date
New York Times		January 6, 1918

"Big league magnates are appreciating more and more what Harry Frazee, owner of the Red Sox, has done for baseball. Frazee’s methods have made a hit with Boston and his club should be one of the biggest money makers of the 1918 season. Among fans he is one of the most popular of owners."

Source	Author	Date
Washington Post	J.V. Fitz Gerald	February 16, 1918

"You can’t fill a theater with a poor attraction, and you can’t interest the fans with a losing ball club. Boston has been educated to expect winners in the American League, and when I discovered that the war had deprived the Red Sox of their best players, I was compelled to act or play to empty benches." — Harry Frazee

Source	Author	Date
Los Angeles Times		February 17, 1918

"From now on [Ban] Johnson is through spending our money. The club owners are going to run the American League in the future. His policy of ‘rule or ruin’ is shelved." — Harry Frazee

Source	Author	Date
Chicago Tribune		August 11, 1918

"It is evident that a movement is on foot to save Johnson’s face, and that Comiskey and Griffith are being whipped into line to make Frazee the goat." — Paul Shannon of the Boston Post

Source	Author	Publisher	Date	Page
1918: Babe Ruth and the World Champion Boston Red Sox	Allan Wood	San Jose, CA: Writers Club Press	2000	212
Shannon was referring to a denial by Charles Comiskey and Clark Griffith that they agreed with Frazee about Ban Johnson's policy

"It has seemed a war of extermination on the part of Mr. Johnson ever since I bought the Boston American League club…Mr. Johnson seems to pick me out as his particular target. It is too bad that Mr. Johnson could not be as militant toward me when I was in Chicago as he is now when there are a thousand miles between us." — Harry Frazee

Source	Author	Date
New York Times		December 17, 1918

"The subterfuge under which Johnson would force Frazee out of the American League is that he has gambling in his park. No greater joke was ever perpetrated. He has no authority to oust Frazee." — Charles Comiskey

Source	Author	Date
Boston Globe		December 19, 1918

"I am going to ask for a figure in my contract for next season which may knock Mr. Frazee silly, but nevertheless I think I am deserving of everything I ask." — Babe Ruth

Source	Author	Date
New York Times		January 18, 1919

"If Ruth doesn’t want to work for the Red Sox, we can make an advantageous trade." — Harry Frazee

Source	Author	Publisher	Date	Page
Emperors and Idiots: The Hundred Year Rivalry Between The Yankees and Red Sox, From The Very Beginning To The End Of The Curse	Mike Vacarro	New York: Doubleday Publishing	2005	53

"They swear they are through with the show, they’ll leave it flat. But it would take at least two squads of marines to keep them out of the theater and off the stage." — Harry Frazee

Source	Author	Publisher	Date	Page
The Big Bam	Leigh Montville	New York: Doubleday	2006	82-83

"The Yankees want him and I can get a lot of money for him." — Harry Frazee to Ed Barrow about Carl Mays

Source	Author	Publisher	Date	Page
The Pitch That Killed	Mike Sowell	Chicago: Ivan R. Dee	1989	45