We all wanted to be the Bambino while playing Whiffleball games on a Saturday afternoon. Without fail, someone would step to the plate, shimmy and shake, and point to the fences. And just like the Bambino, they would take a big swing and hit a dribbler to the pitcher. Curses. One thing was evident. We were no Babe Ruth.

“The Great Bambino”

Long before Shohei Ohtani was wowing fans across the world, another two-way phenom took the diamond. Originally a left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, George Herman “Babe” Ruth gained notoriety as a home run-hitting outfielder for the New York Yankees. On this day, January 3, 1920, the Red Sox sold the man who many consider to be the greatest of all time to the Yankees and fueled the greatest rivalry in sports. But why…

Bye, Bye Beantown…

It has been claimed that theatrical producer/ Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sought funding for Broadway shows, including “My Lady Friends.” So, he shipped the “Colossus of Clout” to New York to bash baseballs for the Bronx Bombers. To be technical, the official sale was agreed upon the day after Christmas 1919, but wasn’t officially finalized until January 1920.

So, for $100,000 and a $300,000 loan from the Yankees, which was used to pay off the mortgage on Fenway Park, Frazee sold the Babe and cursed his franchise for 86 years. Before the Ruth sale, the Red Sox had been one of the most successful baseball teams, winning five of the first fifteen World Series. After the sale, they would go on an 86-year World Series slump, and the Yankees would win 26 World Series before the “Curse of the Bambino” was finally broken in 2004.

In Boston, Ruth was a fantastic lefty pitcher who hit long home runs. It was unusual at the time for pitchers to be great hitters. Ruth was so talented and loved the game so much that he convinced the Red Sox to let him play in the outfield on days when he wasn’t pitching. This allowed him to play every day. He won three World Series with Boston and became a bigger attraction than the team itself. Following the 1919 season, Ruth held out, asking for $20,000 per year, which was double his previous salary.

It was well known that Ruth liked to partake in a beer or two, as he frequented local bars and would often show up to games inebriated. He was considered a troublemaker by some, which painted him in a bad light, and his reputation grew within the Boston clubhouse.

Sox general manager and field manager Ed Barrow convinced Frazee that the Yankees didn’t have any players that he wanted and urged him to sell Ruth instead. Following the 1920 season, Barrow left Beantown for the Big Apple as the Yankees’ new GM and built a championship team around Ruth, first winning the World Series in 1923.

Long Ball…

Ruth played 15 seasons in the Bronx, driving the Yankees to seven American League pennants and four World Series championships. In 1927, the “Behemoth of Bust” hit a record 60 home runs, a feat that has since been broken, first by Roger Maris in 1961.

His home-run hitting attracted fans and started the trend of higher-scoring games, as teams now included home runs in their game strategy, ushering the league into the “live-ball era” we see today. In 1998, upon watching Mark McGwire hitting dingers in batting practice, Atlanta Braves pitchers Greg Maddox and Tom Glavine found out what the “King of Swing” knew all along: “chicks dig the long ball.” In 1935, Babe Ruth retired as a member of the Boston Braves.

Cursed…

While the Yankees became the most successful franchise in baseball history, the “Curse of the Bambino” turned the Red Sox into the laughingstock of baseball. Though Boston did manage to win four AL pennants during those cursed years, their four World Series appearances ended in the most cursed ways.

In 1946, St. Louis Cardinals’ Enos Slaughter outran a confused Johnny Pesky throw when Pesky “held the ball,” scoring the deciding run to win Game 7. The Red Sox would again lose in seven games to the Cardinals in the 1967 World Series, ending Boston’s “Impossible Dream” season.

The late-game heroics of Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk clinched Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, when he hit the game-winning home run in the 12th inning, waving the ball into fair territory with his arms before rounding the bases. But in Game 7, the Cincinnati Reds overcame a 3-0 deficit and, with a Joe Morgan single, won it in the 9th inning.

And the cherry on top, in the bottom of the 10th inning of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series against the New York Mets, Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner made a fielding error that defined his career. Mets center fielder Mookie Wilson hit a routine grounder down the first baseline, and a hobbled and injured Buckner made a play on the ball, but the ball rolled through his legs into right field, allowing the winning run to score. Boston would go on to blow another 3-0 lead in Game 7, losing 8-5.

86 Years Later…

The 2004 Red Sox fielded a group of lovable misfits who had fun and won games. They faced the Yankees in the American League Championship Series, which would become one of the most memorable ALCS of all time. Boston would fall into the hole, three games to none, before coming back and winning four straight and punching their ticket to the World Series.

In the 2004 World Series, the Red Sox would face the Cardinals. St. Louis was favored by experts to win the Series. No surprise, after their bad luck in previous years, what else could the curse have in store for Boston? Turns out, nothing. The Sox swept the Cards, and the curse was broken.

Since that time, Boston has been the better franchise, winning championships in 2004, 2007, 2013, and 2018. In doing so, they became the first team to win four World Series trophies in the 21st century. New York has won just a single championship since the curse ended (2009). The “Curse of the Bambino” might be dead, but the Yankees/ Red Sox rivalry is still very much alive.