New York Yankees announce purchase of Babe Ruth
On January 5, 1920, the New York Yankees major league baseball club announces its purchase of the heavy‑hitting outfielder George Herman “Babe” Ruth from the Boston Red Sox for the…
Also Within This Year in History:
1920
The first year of Roaring Twenties in the U.S. brought votes for women and an official start to the nationwide ban on alcohol. The League of Nations met for the first time in Geneva, and the Mexican Revolution ended after 10 years. The Band-Aid debuted, the first commercial radio broadcast hit the airwaves, transmitting the Harding-Cox presidential race results, and Jazz Age author F. Scott Fitzgerald published his first novel, “This Side of Paradise.”
On January 5, 1920, the New York Yankees major league baseball club announces its purchase of the heavy‑hitting outfielder George Herman “Babe” Ruth from the Boston Red Sox for the…
On January 10, 1920, the League of Nations formally comes into being when the Covenant of the League of Nations, ratified by 42 nations in 1919, takes effect. In 1914,…
John Dodge, who with his brother Horace co‑founded the Dodge Brothers Company, which was once America’s third‑largest automaker and later became part of Chrysler, dies at the age of 55.…
On January 23, 1920, the Dutch government refuses demands by the Allies for the extradition of Wilhelm II, the former kaiser of Germany, who had been living in exile in…
On January 30, 1920, Jujiro Matsuda (1875‑1952) forms Toyo Cork Kogyo, a business that makes cork, in Hiroshima, Japan; just over a decade later the company produces its first automobile…
The League of Nations, the international organization formed at the peace conference at Versailles in the wake of World War I, recognizes the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland on February 13,…
This Side of Paradise is published, immediately launching 23‑year‑old F. Scott Fitzgerald to fame and fortune. Fitzgerald, named for his ancestor Francis Scott Key, author of “The Star Spangled Banner,”…
On May 13, 1920, the Socialist Party nominates Eugene V. Debs as its candidate for president in the upcoming November election. There’s a slight complication, though: Debs is serving a…
On May 18, 1920, Karol Jozef Wojtyla is born in the Polish town of Wadowice, 35 miles southwest of Krakow. Wojtyla went on to become Pope John Paul II, history’s…
On June 12, 1920, Man O’ War wins the 52nd Belmont Stakes, and sets the record for the fastest mile ever run by a horse to that time. Man O’…
Swarms of admirers mob the Hollywood film actors Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, who arrive in London on their honeymoon on June 21, 1920. Two of film’s earliest stars, Pickford…
Nils Bohlin, the Swedish engineer and inventor responsible for the three‑point lap and shoulder seatbelt—considered one of the most important innovations in automobile safety—is born on July 17, 1920 in…
On August 16, 1920, a gloomy day at the Polo Grounds, home of the New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray “Chappie” Chapman steps into the batter’s box to lead…
A dramatic battle in the Tennessee House of Representatives ends with the state ratifying the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution on August 18, 1920. After decades of struggle…
On August 20, 1920, seven men, including legendary all‑around athlete and football star Jim Thorpe, meet to organize a professional football league at the Jordan and Hupmobile Auto Showroom in…
Daphne Milne, wife of writer A.A. Milne, gives birth to a son, who the couple name Christopher Robin Milne on August 21, 1920. Christopher Robin will be immortalized in A.A.…
The 19th Amendment, guaranteeing women the right to vote, is formally adopted into the U.S. Constitution by proclamation of Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby. The amendment was the culmination of…
On September 28, 1920, a Chicago grand jury indicts eight members of the Chicago White Sox on charges of fixing the 1919 World Series. White Sox owner Charles Comiskey immediately…
In an 1888 novel called Looking Backward: 2000‑1887, author Edward Bellamy imagined a scene in which a time‑traveler from 1887 reacts to a technological advance from the early 21st century…
On December 10, 1920, the Nobel Prize for Peace is awarded to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson for his work in ending the First World War and creating the League of…