Flashback: 97 years ago today, the Red Sox sold Ruth to the Yankees

Look away, New England.

One stroke of the pen on Dec. 26, 1919, was all it took for baseball to change forever. On this day 97 years ago, the Boston Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $125,000 and a large cash loan. Completed in secret, news of the shocking transaction was only made public in early January.

Ruth was already a star in Boston as the team's ace left-hander who led the team to three championships from 1914-18, but was quickly turning into a hitting superstar. In 1919, he went 9-5 with a 2.97 ERA and 12 complete games on the mound, but that paled in comparison to his offensive breakout. Over 110 games as Boston's primary left fielder that season, he shattered the single-season home run record with a then-unheard of 29 homers, and paced all big-league hitters in virtually every other offensive category.

But owner Harry Frazee was in need of cash, and Ruth's off-field issues - his heavy drinking and love of women away from the park didn't appeal to the Red Sox, according to his SABR biography - ensured the deal went through.

Incredibly, Frazee defended the move by calling Ruth's 29 homers "more spectacular than useful. They didn't help the Red Sox get out of sixth place."

"No other club could afford to give the amount the Yankees have paid for him, and I do not mind saying I think they are taking a gamble," Frazee told the Boston Globe. "With this money the Boston club can now go into the market and buy other players and have a stronger and better team in all respects than we would have if Ruth had remained with us."

Of course, it didn't quite work out that way. The Yankees had been a laughingstock for most of their existence, but acquiring Ruth changed everything. He annihilated his own single-season homer mark in 1920 by smashing 54 bombs at the cozy Polo Grounds, influenced the building and design of Yankee Stadium, and eventually led the Yankees to seven pennants and four World Series titles that established the Bronx Bombers as baseball's premiere franchise - all while becoming one of the most iconic athletes in the history of sports.

The Red Sox? Well, they wouldn't have another winning season until 1935 - the year Ruth retired - and from 1920-34 lost 100 games five times and 90 games 10 times. Frazee eventually had to deal even more of his players to make ends meet - including selling another 11 stars to the Yankees from 1920-23 - before selling the team three years later. Many believed selling Ruth cursed the Red Sox to never win again, and the "Curse of the Bambino" lingered over the team for 86 heartbreaking years.

The moral of the story? Home runs are actually quite useful, and superstars are irreplaceable - so if the Angels are even thinking about maybe considering offers for Mike Trout, they should probably aim higher than $125,000 and a loan.