Curse of the Bambino

The Curse of the Bambino (1918 – 2004) was an urban myth or scapegoat cited as a reason for the failure of the Boston Red Sox baseball team to win the World Series for 86 years after they sold Babe Ruth, sometimes called The Bambino, to the New York Yankees. The flip side of the "curse" was New York's success—after the sale, the once-lackluster Yankees became one of the most successful franchises in North American professional sports. While some fans took the superstition of the Curse seriously, many others used the expression in a tongue-in-cheek manner.

History of the phrase

The phrase "curse of the Bambino" first gained wide currency in 1990, when Boston Globe writer Dan Shaughnessy used it as the title of his team history (ISBN 0140152628). This book brought it to national attention and triggered widespread usage by the national media. The phrase was also used as the title of a musical play in 2001, directed by Spiro Veloudos.

Related Topics:
1990 - Boston Globe - Dan Shaughnessy - 2001 - Spiro Veloudos

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Prior to 1986, a few passing references to a Red Sox or Fenway-related curse had been floated around by sportswriters, but they tended to be vague and did not feature Babe Ruth prominently. However, after the Red Sox collapsed against the New York Mets in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, New York Times sportswriter George Vecsey wrote an article connecting the errors that cost the Sox the game, the team's past history of disappointments, and the sale of Babe Ruth back in the team's glory days. After the Sox also lost Game 7, and thus the series, Vecsey wrote another article expanding on the theme, headlined "Babe Ruth's Curse Strikes Again". These articles were the first explicit mentions of a Babe Ruth "curse" in print.

Related Topics:
New York Mets - 1986 World Series - New York Times - George Vecsey

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Vecsey might have picked up the idea of the curse from other columns that had appeared in the leadup to the Series. Before that year's AL playoffs, an article by UPI sports writer Frederick Waterman said in its lead that when the Sox traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees "he carried away with him the good luck and winning touch of the Red Sox." The rumor that Frazee had sold Ruth to finance a Broadway musical was also being buzzed about at the time, including in an article by Times writer Fox Butterfield just a week before the Red Sox's collapse. Vecsey tied these and other threads together to establish the "curse" template that thereafter became widely known.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After 1986, as the title drought stretched on and on, national sports media often made reference to the curse when the Red Sox were doing notably well—or notably poorly. Many serious fans grew annoyed by the constant refrain of the "curse" and deplored it as media-created fluff that was good only for book sales, television networks, and witty T-shirt slogans.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~