Curse of the Bambino
(Rookie portrait, 1915)
Copyright Baseball Antiquities
The Curse of the Bambino was a tongue-in-cheek explanation for the failure of the Boston Red Sox baseball team to win the World Series for 86 years after they sold Babe Ruth, sometimes called The Bambino, to the New York Yankees. The flip side of Boston's "curse" was New York's success—after the sale, the once-lackluster Yankees became one of the most successful franchises in North American professional sports.
The phrase ("Curse of the Bambino") already had a long history when in 1990 Boston Globe writer Dan Shaughnessy used it as the title of his team history (ISBN 0140152628). The phrase was also used as the title of a musical play in 2001, directed by Spiro Veloudos. As the title drought stretched on and on, national sports media often made reference to the curse when the Red Sox were doing notably well—or notably poorly.
Many serious fans considered the "curse" just a bit of media-created fluff that was good for book sales, television networks, and witty T-shirt slogans, but without basis in history. At any rate, the Red Sox seem to have exposed the so-called curse to be nothing but a piece of speculative fiction by triumphing over the Yankees in improbable fashion and then winning the 2004 World Series.
The lore
Although the title drought dates back to 1918, the sale of Ruth to the Yankees was completed January 3, 1920. It is believed that Red Sox owner Harry Frazee used the proceeds from the sale to finance the production of a Broadway musical, No, No, Nanette (which did not see its first performance until five years later). The show introduced songs such as "I Want to Be Happy" and "Tea For Two." In 1921, Red Sox general manager Ed Barrow left to take over as GM of the Yankees.
Prior to Ruth leaving Boston, the Red Sox had won five World Series, with Ruth as pitcher in the 1915, 1916, and 1918 teams, whereas the Yankees hadn't been in the World Series. After the sale, the Yankees came to win 26 World Series by the start of the 2004 season, while the Red Sox had been to the Series only four times - and lost each time in seven games.
The Yankees' success rate since the sale of Ruth is stunning: They have won 17 more World Series than the second-most-successful teams, the Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals, who both won 9 championships. Ruth, by then more known for his batting than for his pitching, was a high profile part of the 1923, 1927, 1928 and 1932 titles. And even when not winning American League pennants and/or World Series championships, the Yankees have been a model of consistency, finishing in the first division for a record 39 consecutive years—from 1926 through 1964, all inclusive—and suffering only two last-place finishes since the sale (in 1966 and again in 1990).
References to the "curse" do not usually cite any specific event in which Ruth himself invoked retribution; they rather look back to his departure and the beginning of the title drought as a coincidence. Skeptics sometimes suggest that the curse was merely a poor excuse for the team's long-term underperformance. Whatever their opinion on the issue, until 2004 the eternal refrain of disappointed Red Sox fans had been "wait 'til next year."
The "curse" did not always wait for the Series, however. In 1949, the Red Sox needed to win just one of the last two games of the season to win the pennant, but lost both games to the Yankees. Ironically, the Red Sox were managed by Joe McCarthy, who had previously steered the Yankees to 7 World Series titles.
In 1978, the Red Sox had a 14-game lead over the Yankees on July 18, but by season's end, the teams were tied. A one-game playoff took place at Fenway Park on October 2. In the 7th inning, Boston led 2-0, but Bucky Dent, a .240 hitter (although he had been hitting only .140 for the previous 20 games) with only 4 home runs all season, hit the ball over the Green Monster with two runners on base to secure the Yankee win.
The most dramatic defeat for the Red Sox, the one which seemed to have "confirmed" that there truly was a "curse", came in 1986, when Boston squandered three leads in what would have been the deciding sixth game before losing in the 10th inning to the New York Mets after a fielding error by first baseman Bill Buckner. The Red Sox then lost the 7th game of the series, blowing a 3-run lead. This marked the earliest, explicit in-print mention of the "curse," in a New York Times article by sports writer George Vecsy.
In 2003, a similar scenario to the 1978 series occurred. Tied with the Yankees at three games apiece in the American League Championship Series, Boston had a 5-2 lead going into the 8th inning. Two Yankee doubles and a single later, the game was tied. The game - and series - was decided in the 11th by a first-pitch lead-off home run by light-hitting Aaron Boone.
The curse "reversed"
In 2004, the Red Sox met the Yankees in the American League Championship Series. After losing the first three, including a 19–8 drubbing at Fenway, the Red Sox trailed 4-3 in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 4, three outs from being swept. But, the team then began a comeback, tying the game with an RBI single off feared Yankee closer Mariano Rivera and eventually winning on a 2-run home run in the 12th inning by David Ortiz, then winning the next three games. The Sox were the first Major League Baseball team to win a seven-game postseason series after being down 3 games to none.
The Red Sox then faced the St. Louis Cardinals, the team to whom they lost the 1946 World Series and 1967 World Series. In the 2004 World Series with a four game sweep, they successfully ended the eighty-six year title drought, and—with it—the "curse." The fourth and final game took place during a total lunar eclipse—the only post-season or World Series game to do so. The final out of the game was made on Cardinals shortstop Edgar Rentería—who wore Babe Ruth's old uniform number, 3 (which wasn't assigned to him until he joined the Yankees, who introduced uniform numbers).
The Red Sox will open the 2005 season on April 4 at Yankee Stadium. The home opener will take place on April 11, also against the Yankees.
