Curse of the Bambino: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Babe with the Sox
(Rookie portrait, 1915)

The Curse of the Bambino is a tongue-in-cheek explanation for the failure of the Boston Red Sox baseball team to win the World Series in the eight decades since they sold Babe Ruth, sometimes called The Bambino, to the New York Yankees. The flip side of the "curse" is that after the sale, the once lackluster Yankees became one of the most successful franchises in U.S. professional sports.

The notion of the curse seems to have first appeared in print in a 1986 column by New York Times sports writer George Vecsey entitled "Babe Ruth Curse Strikes Again". (The column was subsequently reprinted in Glenn Stout's Impossible Dreams: A Red Sox Collection, ISBN 0618303987.)

The phrase was used as the title of a 1990 Red Sox team history by Boston Globe writer Dan Shaughnessy (ISBN 0140152628). The phrase was also used as the title of a musical play in 2001, directed by Spiro Veloudos. Rather than focus on the current Red Sox team and its strengths and weaknesses, National TV sports media will sometimes reference the curse when the Red Sox are doing notably well (or notably poorly).

The lore

Prior to Ruth leaving Boston, the Red Sox had won five World Series, with Ruth an important part (as a pitcher) of the 1915, 1916, and 1918 teams, whereas the Yankees had never even been in the World Series. Since the sale, the Yankees have won 26 World Series, 15 more than any other team, with Ruth an essential part of the 1923, 1927, 1928 and 1932 championships—while the Red Sox have been to the Series just four times, and have always lost 3 games to 4.

The most dramatic defeat, and the one which seems to have spawned the idea of a curse, came in 1986, when the Red Sox squandered three leads in what would have been the deciding sixth game before losing in the 10th inning after an egregious fielding error by first baseman Bill Buckner. The Red Sox then lost the seventh and final game of the 1986 series to the New York Mets

The "curse" does not always wait for the Series, however. In 1978 the Red Sox had a 14-game lead over the Yankees on July 18, but by season's end, the teams were tied. A one-game playoff took place at Fenway Park on October 2nd. In the 7th inning, Boston led 2-0, but Bucky Dent, a .240 hitter with only 4 home runs all season, hit the ball over the Green Monster with two runners on base to secure the Yankee win.

In 2003, a similar scenario occurred. Tied with the Yankees at three games apiece in the American League Championship Series, Boston had a 5-2 lead going into the 8th inning. Two Yankee doubles and a single later, the game was tied. The game went into extra innings and was decided in the 11th by a first-pitch lead-off home run by light-hitting Aaron Boone.