Curse of the Bambino

When it comes to baseball superstitions, one of the most famous involves sporting legend Babe Ruth. In this article, you will learn details regarding a superstition dubbed the ‘Curse of the Bambino,’ which focuses on the Boston Red Sox baseball team.

When you are a professional baseball team that hasn’t won the World Series within an 86-year span of time, it’s easy to blame the losing streak on legends and superstition. For the Boston Red Sox, it was the infamous Babe Ruth that played an intricate role in this superstitious belief. The Red Sox hadn’t won the World Series from 1918 to 2002. Diehard baseball fans believed that the Curse of the Bambino was to at the root of their unfortunate series results.

When Did the Curse Begin?

People believe the Curse of the Bambino started during the 1919/1920 off-season when the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees. Up until then, the Red Sox had enjoyed one of the most successful runs in professional baseball. The franchise was well respected and had already won their first World Series in 1903. Four other World Series titles would follow. However, when Babe Ruth became a Yankee, the team suffered a setback. No more titles were won. In the meantime, the Yankees (who were not as popular as they are today) started to reign supreme in the world of baseball. The two baseball teams completely switched positions on the totem pole.

The curse had been talked about every baseball season until the streak was broken in 2004, when the Red Sox managed to come back from a 0-3 best-of-seven deficit to beat the Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series. In the 2004 World Series, the Red Sox went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals for the title.

“Cursed” Games

A few “cursed” games have included the following:

The Red Sox made it to their first World Series since they sold Babe Ruth in 1946. They were favored to beat the St. Louis Cardinals and the series went to seven games. The star of the team at the time, Ted Williams, had been playing with an injury and was not much help.

The Red Sox finished the regular season tied for first place in 1948 with the Cleveland Indians and entered in the first-ever one-game playoff to take place in the major leagues. They lost.
During the 1949 season, the Red Sox needed just one more win of the last two games of the season to claim the pendant. However, they lost both games to their rival, the Yankees, who would go on to win a record five consecutive World Series from 1949 to 1953.

In 1978, the Red Sox held a 14-game lead over the Yankees in the American League East. But, the tide turned when the Yankees wound up tying Boston in the standings in a run that lasted from July 18 to September 10. The Yankees would gain a 3 ½ game lead over Boston until the team was able to make up the deficit. The two teams met in the playoffs with the Yankees winning and then later besting the Kansas City Royals and meeting the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.

Taken Seriously

The curse was taken seriously and there were attempts to break it , especially when it came to the Red Sox fans. For example, the Boston Cap was taken to the top of Mount Everest, while a Yankees cap was burned at the base camp. Professional exorcists had been hired, as well as personalities, such as Father Guido Sarducci to “purify” Fenway Park.