The ‘Curse of the Bambino,’ explained

Many examples of what’s often called a “treaty curse” may be present in historical Christian and Hebraic texts, the place those that break an oath or covenant are damned with a malediction. One illustration of this concept is Esarhaddon, king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, threatening those that betray him by stating, “[May] your days be dark, your years be dim” and “May a foreign enemy divide your spoil.”

Which brings us to the story of the “Curse of the Bambino.”

On Dec. 26, 1919 (103 years in the past), the Boston Red Sox made the controversial and eminently regrettable determination to promote Babe Ruth — one of many nice sports activities heroes in American tradition and the so-called “Bambino” — to the New York Yankees.

Many dim years adopted for the Boston ballclub.

Prior to that time, the Red Sox had received 5 of the primary 15 World Series titles in Major League historical past, with Ruth a member of three of these championship groups. A proficient pitcher and sometime-slugger, Ruth was the profitable pitcher in two of the six video games of the 1918 World Series, giving him the arrogance to report late to Spring Training camp the next season and demand a giant pay day from Red Sox proprietor Harry Frazee.

After Ruth negotiated a three-year, $27,000 contract, the Red Sox went on to complete a distant sixth within the American League in that 1919 season. Still, Ruth, effectively conscious of his recognition throughout the sport, wished to renegotiate his deal. He wished to double his wage.

Frazee — a theatrical producer and director who had, suspiciously, come to Boston from New York City — was already in debt from his 1916 buy of the group and was in want of money to finance a play named “My Lady Friends,” which might go on to change into the profitable Broadway hit, “No No Nanette.” Facing these monetary pressures, Frazee agreed to promote the rights to Ruth to the Yankees, who on the time had by no means even appeared in a World Series, for the then-staggering sum of $100,000.

That’s when the fortunes of the 2 groups swung dramatically.

While the Yankees went on to win 4 World Series with Ruth — now absolutely transformed to a power-hitting place participant — on their roster and one other 22 earlier than the shut of the twentieth century, the Red Sox plunged right into a decades-long abyss of irritating — even eerie — finishes. In the 84 seasons after the Ruth sale, the Sox reached the World Series simply 4 occasions (1946, ’67, ’75, ’86), dropping every one within the seventh and last sport. When a ball rolled by the legs of first baseman Bill Buckner for an important fielding error that price them Game 6 of the 1986 World Series to the National League’s Mets (sure, one other New York group), the supposed supernatural results of the Ruth sale got the formal “Curse of the Bambino” branding.

Red Sox followers tried to kill the curse in some ways, spray-painting a “Reverse Curve” road signal on an overpass to vary the wording to “Reverse the Curse,” making an attempt to unearth a piano Ruth had allegedly tossed right into a pond exterior of Boston after a rowdy celebration in 1918, and even staging an exorcism exterior of their house stadium, Fenway Park.

But solely on-field outcomes might break the curse, and that’s what lastly occurred in 2004, when the Red Sox have been matched in opposition to the Yankees — the enemy that had divided their spoils lo these a few years — within the AL Championship Series, with a spot within the World Series on the road. Boston fell behind, three video games to none, within the best-of-seven set, then turned the primary group in historical past to storm again from such a deficit.

When the Red Sox went on to comb the St. Louis Cardinals for his or her first World Series title in 86 years, the participant who made the ultimate out of the Series — Cards shortstop Edgar Renteria — wore No. 3. Ruth’s quantity.

For Bostonians who had suffered all too many darkish days and dim years, the connection couldn’t be thought of coincidental. It might solely have been despatched from a god — or Bambino — above.