Curse of the Bambino
(Rookie portrait, 1915)
The Curse of the Bambino is a tongue-in-cheek explanation for the failure of the Boston Red Sox baseball team to win the World Series in the eight decades since they sold Babe Ruth, sometimes called The Bambino, to the New York Yankees. The flip side of the "curse" is that after the sale, the once lackluster Yankees became one of the most successful franchises in North American professional sports.
The phrase was used as the title of a 1990 Red Sox team history by Boston Globe writer Dan Shaughnessy (ISBN 0140152628). The phrase was also used as the title of a musical play in 2001, directed by Spiro Veloudos. National sports media will sometimes make reference to the curse when the Red Sox are doing notably well - or notably poorly.
Serious fans consider the "curse" just a bit of media-created fluff that is good for book sales, television networks, and witty T-shirt slogans, but without basis in history. Babe Ruth never said anything negative about the city of Boston or the Boston Red Sox.
The lore
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.
Prior to Ruth leaving Boston, the Red Sox had won five World Series, with Ruth an important part (as a pitcher) of the 1915, 1916, and 1918 teams, whereas the Yankees hadn't been in the World Series. Since the sale, the Yankees have won 26 World Series, while the Red Sox have been to the Series just four times and have always lost 3 games to 4.
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, each tied with 9 championships. Ruth was an essential part of the 1923, 1927, 1928 and 1932 titles.
The most dramatic defeat for the Red Sox, and the one which seems to have "confirmed" that there truly is 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 an egregious fielding error by first baseman Bill Buckner. The Red Sox then lost the 7th game of the series after blowing a 3-run lead.
The "curse" does 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. What is ironic is that 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 (however he was hitting only .140 for the previous 20 games leading up to this one) hitter with only 4 home runs all season, hit the ball over the Green Monster with two runners on base to secure the Yankee win.
In 2003, a similar scenario 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.
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 staged the greatest comeback in baseball playoff history, winning the next four games.
The Red Sox then met the St. Louis Cardinals, the team to whom they lost the 1946 World Series and 1967 World Series. They have now won two of seven games in the world series.
