Cleveland Rejects Boston's Million-Dollar Offer for Herb Score

On March 19, 1957, Cleveland Indians general manager Hank Greenberg rejected the Boston Red Sox's offer of one million dollars for left-handed pitcher Herb Score. It was the largest sum anyone had ever offered for a single ballplayer, and Greenberg turned it down without hesitation. He considered Score the future of the franchise.

Score had given Cleveland every reason to believe he was untouchable. In his first two major-league seasons, the 23-year-old had gone 36-19 with 547 strikeouts. He led the American League in strikeouts as a rookie in 1955 with 245, then struck out 263 more in 1956. Scouts compared his fastball to Bob Feller's, and the comparison was not idle. Score threw hard enough to make veteran hitters look helpless.

Red Sox general manager Joe Cronin pressed the offer aggressively, but Greenberg was firm. Score was amused by the attention, telling The Sporting News that he wondered what his fiancee Nancy would think when she read he was supposedly worth a million dollars.

The refusal looked brilliant for exactly seven weeks. On May 7, 1957, Gil McDougald of the Yankees hit a line drive that struck Score in the face during a game at Municipal Stadium. The ball fractured bones around his right eye and caused hemorrhaging that temporarily impaired his vision. Score tried to come back but was never the same. He won only 17 more games in six remaining seasons. The million-dollar arm that Greenberg refused to sell was never the same arm again.