At the end of the day on July 22nd, 1922, the New York Yankees found themselves in second place in the American League, 2.5 games behind the St. Louis Browns. At 52-41, the Yanks were in decent shape, but evidently felt like they needed to bolster their roster to win the pennant and chase their first World Series championship.
So the following day, New York found a willing partner to send some talent to the Bronx. The Boston Red Sox were, to be charitable, awful in 1922 (I like to think that even then, Yankees fans enjoyed life just a little bit more when Beantowners were down in the dumps).