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Posted
on 16-Apr-04 10:22 AM
The Curse of the Bambino
In 1918, Babe Ruth helped pitch the Boston Red Sox to winning their fifth World Series. The Yankees, on the other hand, had never won a championship.
George Herman Ruth left and the tables turned with a vengeance. Boston would never again win a world championship; the Yankees have won 26, so far. That would be completely understandable if Boston fielded lousy teams. But that isn’t the case. It is the manner in which the Red Sox manage to lose that gives life — and perhaps credibility — to the notion of the “Curse.”
The Red Sox will play great in the regular season and head into the playoffs; then there are skips, jumps, bumps and bumbles. Or they actually make it to the World Series, only to have the victory snatched away at the last moment, in some inexplicable way. Four Series, four losses. All in Game 7.
Is it the Curse? Should the Red Sox have never sold baseball’s greatest player to the lowly Yankees? Only the baseball gods know.
May 7, 1903
The first game between the two franchises — then called the Boston Pilgrims and the New York Highlanders. Boston comes away with a 6-2 victory. The Red Sox go on to win baseball’s first World Series.
April 4, 1912
Fenway Park opens with a 7-6 Red Sox victory in 11 innings. It is one of 19 Red Sox wins over New York in 21 games that season. The Red Sox go on to win their second world championship.
May 6, 1915
The Yankees beat Boston left-hander Babe Ruth, 4-3, in 13 innings at the Polo Grounds. In the third inning, Ruth hits the very first pitch ever thrown to him in New York for a home run. Four weeks later, same place, same Yankee pitcher — Jack Warhop — and Ruth hits home run number 2 of his career.
1915
Babe finishes the 1915 season, his first full season with Boston, with a record of 18-8. Boston wins the pennant.
1916
Boston wins the AL pennant and the World Series. Ruth contributes 23 victories, and his 1.75 ERA is the league's best.
November 1, 1916
Red Sox owner Joe Lannin announces that he is selling the club for $650,000 to a trio of investors. The leading shareholder and most prominent among the group is New York theatrical producer Harry Frazee.
1918
In the war-shortened 1918 season, Boston wins another pennant and their third (and last) World Championship in four years.
December 26, 1919
In order to keep the team financially solvent, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sells Babe Ruth's contract to the New York Yankees for $125,000 and the promise of a $300,000 personal loan. Fenway Park is put up as security for the loan.
January 5, 1920
On the “11th day of Christmas,” news of Babe Ruth’s trade to the Yankees is announced. At a press conference, Frazee says: “The price was something enormous but I do not care to name the figures. It was an amount the club could not afford to refuse. I should have preferred to have taken players in exchange for Ruth, but no club would have given me the equivalent in men without wrecking itself, and so the deal had to be made on a cash basis.”
April 18, 1923
Yankee Stadium opens, and the Yankees beat with Red Sox 4-1. Babe Ruth christens the new park by hitting the first home there.
October 15, 1923
The Yankees win their first World Championship. Eleven of 24 players on the roster are former Red Sox.
September 6 – 7, 1927
Ruth hits five home runs in two days against the Red Sox.
1936 – 1962
The Yankees win 16 World Series titles.
contd...
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| AX |
Posted
on 16-Apr-04 10:23 AM
October 2, 1949
The Yankees win the pennant by beating the Red Sox twice at Yankee Stadium in the season’s final two games.
April 14, 1967
Yankees catcher Elston Howard breaks up Boston rookie Billy Rohr’s no-hitter with two outs in the ninth at Yankee Stadium.
1967
Boston wins the pennant on the last day of the season, only to lose a seven-game World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals.
March 22, 1972
The Red Sox trade left-hander Sparky Lyle to the Yankees for first baseman Danny Cater. Lyle is the 1977 AL Cy Young winner; Cater hits 14 home runs in three seasons for Boston.
1975
Boston’s Bernie Carbo hits a three-run homer to tie Game 6 of the World Series. A Carlton Fisk homer in the bottom of the 12th wins it for the Red Sox over the Reds. In Game 7, despite an early 3-0 lead, the Red Sox lose it, and the Series.
September 7 – 10, 1978
Known as the “Boston Massacre,” the Yankees outscore the Red Sox 42-9 in the four-game series. The wins help the Yankees tie the Red Sox for first place in the AL East.
October 2, 1978
After winning seven consecutive games to end the regular season, the Red Sox force a one-game playoff with the Yankees. Yankees shortstop Bucky Dent, who all season had hit only five home runs, lines a shot over the Green Monster, silencing Fenway Park. The Yankees, who had trailed Boston by 14 games in July, win the game and the division title.
July 4, 1983
Yankees left-hander Dave Righetti throws a no-hitter against the Red Sox.
October 25, 1986
One strike away from a World Series title — their first since 1918 — Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner lets a simple ground ball up the line go between his legs and the Mets score and win in the bottom of the 10th inning. The Red Sox lose a 3-0 lead in the Game 7 to lose the World Series.
1988
Boston wins the AL East title, only to be swept in the ALCS by the Oakland Athletics. Former Red Sox pitcher Dennis Eckersley saves all four games and earns the series MVP.
1990
An umpire ejects Roger Clemens in Game 4 of the ALCS and Boston falls to the A’s in another ALCS sweep.
1995
Former Red Sox catcher Tony Pena hits the game-winning home run in the 13th inning to give Cleveland the lead in Game 1 of the Division Series. Three days later, the Indians finish the sweep of the Red Sox.
1996
Roger Clemens signs with Toronto and becomes the first AL pitcher since 1945 to win pitching’s Triple Crown.
1999
Toronto trades Clemens to the Yankees; and Clemens faces the Red Sox in the playoffs. In Game 1 of the ALCS, a bad call by an umpire in the 10th inning turns Boston’s “men on first and third with no outs” into a “man on first with one out.” The Yankees go on to win that series and their 25th world championship. Clemens pitches in the World Series finale.
2000
The Yankees win the World Series. Since 1918, Yankees 26, Red Sox 0.
2001
In an effort to lift the Curse, Red Sox fan Paul Giorgio climbs Mt. Everest and leaves a Red Sox cap on the summit. For good measure, he also burned a Yankees cap.
2002
A legend of Babe Ruth’s piano in the bottom of Wallis Pond, in Sudbury, Mass., takes life as a possible counter-curse. An expedition is trying to raise, restore and play the piano; they believe that will life the curse.
2003
The Red Sox and Yankees met in the ALCS, and the Red Sox forced the 26-time Champs to seven games. With only five outs left, the Red Sox led by 3. But in the bottom of the 8th inning, Red Sox manager Grady Little decided to leave in his ace starter Pedro Martinez. The Yankees rattled off four hits to tie the game. In the bottom of the 11th, on the first pitch, pinch-hitter Aaron Boone hit a home run. The Yankees were headed to their 39th World Series. The Red Sox were now 0-5 in Game 7 situations.
http://www.baberuthmuseum.com/visiting/news.asp?newsId=42
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| AX |
Posted
on 16-Apr-04 10:23 AM
October 2, 1949
The Yankees win the pennant by beating the Red Sox twice at Yankee Stadium in the season’s final two games.
April 14, 1967
Yankees catcher Elston Howard breaks up Boston rookie Billy Rohr’s no-hitter with two outs in the ninth at Yankee Stadium.
1967
Boston wins the pennant on the last day of the season, only to lose a seven-game World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals.
March 22, 1972
The Red Sox trade left-hander Sparky Lyle to the Yankees for first baseman Danny Cater. Lyle is the 1977 AL Cy Young winner; Cater hits 14 home runs in three seasons for Boston.
1975
Boston’s Bernie Carbo hits a three-run homer to tie Game 6 of the World Series. A Carlton Fisk homer in the bottom of the 12th wins it for the Red Sox over the Reds. In Game 7, despite an early 3-0 lead, the Red Sox lose it, and the Series.
September 7 – 10, 1978
Known as the “Boston Massacre,” the Yankees outscore the Red Sox 42-9 in the four-game series. The wins help the Yankees tie the Red Sox for first place in the AL East.
October 2, 1978
After winning seven consecutive games to end the regular season, the Red Sox force a one-game playoff with the Yankees. Yankees shortstop Bucky Dent, who all season had hit only five home runs, lines a shot over the Green Monster, silencing Fenway Park. The Yankees, who had trailed Boston by 14 games in July, win the game and the division title.
July 4, 1983
Yankees left-hander Dave Righetti throws a no-hitter against the Red Sox.
October 25, 1986
One strike away from a World Series title — their first since 1918 — Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner lets a simple ground ball up the line go between his legs and the Mets score and win in the bottom of the 10th inning. The Red Sox lose a 3-0 lead in the Game 7 to lose the World Series.
1988
Boston wins the AL East title, only to be swept in the ALCS by the Oakland Athletics. Former Red Sox pitcher Dennis Eckersley saves all four games and earns the series MVP.
1990
An umpire ejects Roger Clemens in Game 4 of the ALCS and Boston falls to the A’s in another ALCS sweep.
1995
Former Red Sox catcher Tony Pena hits the game-winning home run in the 13th inning to give Cleveland the lead in Game 1 of the Division Series. Three days later, the Indians finish the sweep of the Red Sox.
1996
Roger Clemens signs with Toronto and becomes the first AL pitcher since 1945 to win pitching’s Triple Crown.
1999
Toronto trades Clemens to the Yankees; and Clemens faces the Red Sox in the playoffs. In Game 1 of the ALCS, a bad call by an umpire in the 10th inning turns Boston’s “men on first and third with no outs” into a “man on first with one out.” The Yankees go on to win that series and their 25th world championship. Clemens pitches in the World Series finale.
2000
The Yankees win the World Series. Since 1918, Yankees 26, Red Sox 0.
2001
In an effort to lift the Curse, Red Sox fan Paul Giorgio climbs Mt. Everest and leaves a Red Sox cap on the summit. For good measure, he also burned a Yankees cap.
2002
A legend of Babe Ruth’s piano in the bottom of Wallis Pond, in Sudbury, Mass., takes life as a possible counter-curse. An expedition is trying to raise, restore and play the piano; they believe that will life the curse.
2003
The Red Sox and Yankees met in the ALCS, and the Red Sox forced the 26-time Champs to seven games. With only five outs left, the Red Sox led by 3. But in the bottom of the 8th inning, Red Sox manager Grady Little decided to leave in his ace starter Pedro Martinez. The Yankees rattled off four hits to tie the game. In the bottom of the 11th, on the first pitch, pinch-hitter Aaron Boone hit a home run. The Yankees were headed to their 39th World Series. The Red Sox were now 0-5 in Game 7 situations.
http://www.baberuthmuseum.com/visiting/news.asp?newsId=42
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