Home>News Center>Sports
             
     

    Maybe time for Red Sox Curse to end?
    (Agencies)
    Updated: 2004-10-28 09:30

    The Boston Red Sox owner had just sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $125,000 and a $300,000 loan.

    "Ruth had simply become impossible and the Boston club could no longer put up with his eccentricities," he said. "While Ruth, without question, is the greatest hitter the game has ever seen, he is likewise one of the most selfish and inconsiderate men that ever wore a baseball uniform."


    Boston Braves Babe Ruth appears in this March 10, 1935, photo. The Boston Red Sox can emphatically end their 86-year title drought and put a stop to all the talk about the 1920 sale of that Bambino fellow by beating the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night to complete a four-game sweep of the World Series. [AP]
    And so began what's now known as The Curse of the Bambino, on Jan. 3, 1920.

    "I heard about it before I got here," Boston closer Keith Foulke said Wednesday. "I mean, it's funny that a team that's been this good hasn't won for all those years, but the reason they didn't win wasn't because of a curse. The curse thing doesn't affect anyone here."

    The Red Sox had won five of the first 15 World Series before the trade, the last one in 1918.

    Ruth, then a pitcher, too, threw a six-hit shutout against the Chicago Cubs in the opener at Comiskey Park, winning 1-0. He then beat the Cubs 3-2 at Fenway in Game 4 on three days' rest.

    When Stuffy McKinnis gloved second baseman Dave Shean's throw to first on Les Mann's grounder to seal Boston's 2-1 victory in Game 6 at Fenway, the reaction was muted. Perhaps it was because World War I caused the major leagues to stop the season a month early. That final game, played on Sept. 11, drew just over 15,000 fans.

    "Boston is the luckiest baseball spot on earth, for it has never lost a world's series," The New York Times reported the following day.

    Still, the gloominess was unmistakable.

    "After the game, the crowd filed out of the gates with about as much enthusiasm as a party of home folks trooping out of a poor-moving picture show," the report said. "No hero was proclaimed, no player got a ride on any one's shoulders. no star was patted on the back or wildly cheered to a niche in baseball's temple of fame. The finish was as uneventful as the last moment of a double-header in Brooklyn."

    And then came the drought.

    Boston didn't get back to the World Series until 1946. That's when shortstop Johnny Pesky did or didn't hold the relay as Enos Slaughter scored from first on Harry Walker's eighth-inning double, which provided the go-ahead run in the Cardinals' 4-3 win in Game 7 at Sportsman's Park.

    In 1967, the Red Sox and Cardinals went to the seventh game again and started Jim Lonborg, who pitched a one-hit shutout in Game 2 and a three-hitter in Boston's Game 5 win. Pitching on two days' rest, Lonborg lost 7-2 at Fenway to Bob Gibson, who pitched a three-hitter on three days' rest for his third win of the Series.

    In 1975, Carlton Fisk hit a 12th-inning homer off the left-field foul pole to win Game 6, jumping and famously waving his arms to will the ball fair. But Boston wasted a 3-0 lead in Game 7, also at Fenway. Joe Morgan blooped a go-ahead ninth-inning single off Jim Burton in Cincinnati's 4-3 win.

    Perhaps the worst torture came in 1986 when the Red Sox came within a strike of winning the title in Game 6. But then came Bob Stanley's tying wild pitch and Mookie Wilson's winning grounder through the legs of first baseman Bill Buckner. Boston again wasted a 3-0 lead in Game 7, losing 8-5.


    Boston Red Sox fan O'Neil Danis of Boston holds a sign before the start of Game 4 of the World Series in St. Louis October 27, 2004. The Red Sox lead the Series three games to none against the St. Louis Cardinals. [Reuters]

    "This team deserved better," Stanley said then. "We deserved to win, but we didn't."

    Even if it took years for all that bad luck to be formally called The Curse, Boston's dismay was immediately clear when Ruth was sent packing.

    "This is not the first time that Boston baseball has been shocked by the sale of a wonderful player," The Boston Post said in an editorial. "Cy Young and Tris Speaker went their ways, much to the disgust of the faithful, but the club did not suffer materially. But Ruth is different."

    Perhaps too different for Frazee.

    "Had he possessed the right disposition, had he been willing to take orders and work for the good of the club like other men on the team, I would never had dared let him go," Frazee said. "Twice during the past two seasons Babe has jumped the club and revolted. He refused to obey orders of the manager."

    And the rest is history.



     
      Today's Top News     Top Sports News
     

    Making of anti-trust law is speeded up

     

       
     

    One-China policy key to talks with Taipei

     

       
     

    Powell remarks consistent with policy

     

       
     

    Arafat collapses as his health worsens

     

       
     

    Police: "Pessimistic" man set off bus blast

     

       
     

    IOC warns against Olympic venue delays

     

       
      Vince Carter spends day in, not on, court
       
      Lecce fight back, Milan go second
       
      Maybe time for Red Sox Curse to end?
       
      Chinese soccer body releases reform plan
       
      Owen on the mark again for Real
       
      BoSox beat Cards to lead World Series 3-0
       
     
      Go to Another Section  
     
     
      Story Tools  
       
    Advertisement
             
    日本无码WWW在线视频观看| 国产色无码精品视频免费| 亚洲综合无码精品一区二区三区| 少妇中文无码高清| 中文字幕人妻无码一夲道| 99久久无色码中文字幕人妻| 无码人妻一区二区三区免费看| 久久中文字幕无码专区| 人妻少妇精品无码专区动漫| 亚洲AV永久无码精品网站在线观看| 精品一区二区三区中文字幕| 久久久久无码国产精品不卡| 人妻无码视频一区二区三区| 久久午夜无码鲁丝片秋霞| 痴汉中文字幕视频一区| 乱人伦人妻中文字幕无码| 人妻无码久久一区二区三区免费| 亚洲韩国精品无码一区二区三区| 无码AV动漫精品一区二区免费| 欧美日韩中文字幕久久伊人| 在线欧美中文字幕农村电影| 精品无人区无码乱码大片国产| 蜜桃成人无码区免费视频网站| 亚洲中文字幕无码爆乳AV| 亚洲欧美成人久久综合中文网| 亚洲伦另类中文字幕| 亚洲中文字幕无码久久综合网| 天堂√中文最新版在线| 中文字幕无码成人免费视频| 亚洲AV无码一区二三区| 免费a级毛片无码免费视频| 毛片一区二区三区无码| 中文成人无码精品久久久不卡| 西西4444www大胆无码| 亚洲AV无码一区二区一二区 | 亚洲国产精品无码久久久蜜芽 | 亚洲Av永久无码精品三区在线| 最近最新中文字幕视频| 国产AV无码专区亚洲AWWW| 亚洲Av无码专区国产乱码DVD | 蜜臀精品无码AV在线播放|