There is a baseball team in Boston, Massachusetts called The Red Sox that won 5 of the first 18 World Series ever played and were poised to dominate the 1920s with the emergence of the best athlete ever to play the game, a charismatic delinquent from Baltimore named Babe Ruth, a phenomenal pitcher who became an even better hitter. So what did they do? They traded him to the Yankees in 1919, and didn’t win another World Series until October 27, 2004, making today
NATIONAL CURSE OF THE BAMBINO LIFTED DAY!
The Red Sox owner at the time, Harry Frazee, was a Broadway producer in need of cash to produce his newest musical, “No, No Nannette,” and the Yankees were happy to provide the cash in exchange for the 24 year-old superstar Ruth, who went on to play in 7 World Series for the Yanks, hitting 15 Series home runs in the process.
Babe set records in a dozen baseball categories, including 714 regular season home runs, most of them hit with a hangover. The Sox, meanwhile, became the American League’s bridesmaid, coming close to the altar a few times, but never getting a ring.
This went on for 86 long years until a trio of happy-go-lucky Dominicans showed up; Manny Ramirez, the best hitter of his generation, professional clutch hitter David “Big Papi” Ortiz, and pitching great Pedro Martinez, who finally spurred the Red Sox to win the title.
Boston fans, never candidates for anyone’s Good Sportsmanship Award, didn’t know how to act after 4 generations of cursing the Yankees and waiting until next year. Lucky for them, Big Papi stuck around and helped get them 2 more rings in 2007 and 2013 and The Sox won another one in 2018 behind new young superstars like Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts, so Red Sox Nation is a tad more at ease with winning these days.
Now that the Chicago Cubs finally put an end to their own record 108-year dry spell by finally winning the World Series in 2016, only that year’s losers, the Cleveland Indians (74 years) are in the same boat as Boston was, and once again dreaming of making it to Baseball’s Promised Land.
• Suggested Activities: Telling Red Sox fans that on the plus side, “No, No Nannette” was a big hit.