The Curse of the Bambino

–by Chloe Sweeney, a born Red Sox fan

The tale of the Babe completes Chloe’s three-part series on famous baseball curses. 
The Curse of the Bambino is arguably the most notable curse in sports’ history. The superstition began when the Boston Red Sox traded the infamous Babe Ruth or “Bambino” to the New York Yankees between the 1919 and 1920 seasons. Prior to this trade, the Red Sox had been the most successful team in baseball. They had won five World Series titles including the inaugural championship. This disastrous trade led to a grand power shift as the Yankees became home to the legend and went on to be incredibly successful. The Red Sox went without a victory from 1918 to 2004. To many Bostonians, this curse was no joke as the die-hard fans lived their entire lives passionately detesting the Yankees. The curse was the spark that ignited the greatest rivalry in sports between the Yankees and Red Sox. As a child, many things were engrained into my brain, but one of the most vivid lessons was the absolutely necessary hatred of the New York Yankees. To this day, despite the curse’s ending, I loathe the Yankees, other New York sports teams, and often the city itself.

In 2003, many fans believed it was the Red Sox’s year. We were in the American League Championship Series against the Yankees. It was game seven, the bottom of the 11th inning when Aaron Boone hit a one-run homer to win the game and the pennant. As you can probably imagine, he became the most disliked man in the city of Boston and the Sweeney household. We were all devastated! We had come so close to victory but were denied victory by our greatest enemy.

There were many attempts to break the curse, such as placing a Red Sox hat on the top of Mt. Everest, burning a Yankee’s hat at the base, and hiring an exorcist to “purify” Fenway Park. A sign on Storrow Drive (a road leading to Fenway) that read “Reverse Curve” was changed to say “Reverse the Curse.” This sign was not changed until after the curse was broken in 2004 and it now reads “Curse Reversed.”

The 2004 season was all about redemption. The Red Sox absolutely refused to be denied the victory. Once again, in the American League Championship Series, we were up against the New York Yankees. Fueled by a fan base who desperately longed for the sweet taste of glory, the Sox rallied after being down by three games to win four in a row. The Red Sox became the only Major League Baseball team to come back and win a seven-game postseason series after being down three games. Finally, we defeated the Yankees! The entire state of Massachusetts went absolutely insane. The entire state was celebrating the humongous achievement of their beloved team. It almost meant more to the team and the fans to defeat the Yankees the way they did then to actually win the World Series. The Red Sox did go on to sweep the Cardinals and win the 2004 World Series! The Curse of the Bambino was finally broken after 86 years.

–Edited by Gaige Griffin