What are the key elements of the 'Curse of the Bambino' on the Boston
Red Sox and what is the cure?

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Request for Question Clarification by justaskscott-ga on 01 Apr 2003 09:06 PST

The second half of this question is technically impossible to answer
at this time -- only when the Red Sox win a World Series will the
curse be broken.  Would you be satisfied with an interesting
speculation as to the cure?   (I'm sure there are plenty of
speculations.)

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Clarification of Question by 4103-ga on 01 Apr 2003 09:11 PST

Why certainly because the Red Sox haven't won the World Series since
before radio was invented.

Hi 4103-ga,

Most every baseball fan believes that Babe Ruth was sold by Red Sox
owner Harry Frazee to the Yankees to finance "No, No, Nannette", and
that this started "The Curse of the Bambino".  Perhaps the curse did
start then, but the story is far different and more complicated.

"When the Yankees nearly moved to Boston", by Glenn Stout (July 18,
2002)
ESPN.com
http://espn.go.com/mlb/s/2002/0718/1407265.html

Moreover, an interesting idea as to how to lift the curse presupposes
that the curse did not start with the sale of Ruth to the Yankees, but
with Ruth dumping or otherwise losing a piano in a lake after the 1918
season.  Restore the piano, lift the curse?!  Perhaps this explains
the failure of previous "cures" -- they focused on the wrong malady.

"Subject: Neue Hoffnung für Boston", posted by "GM Brewers" on
16-11-2002
German Baseball League [yes, there are baseball fans in Germany]
http://www.ootp-leagues.com/mbs/gbl/viewthread.php?tid=172

"Babe Ruth's Piano"
Restoration Project
http://www.restorationproject.org/babe.htm

But putting that aside, I would say that in the popular imagination,
the curse is composed of: Babe Ruth being sold to the Yankees; the Red
Sox always failing to win the World Series since then; and probably
the number "1918" (which Yankees fans chant as if it is a curse, and
Red Sox treat as if it is a curse).  The curse (or the evidence for
it) is well-described as "one of the most infamous stories of defeat,
near miss, and utter collapse that the world of sports has ever
known."  (You may wish to click the link for "Amazing Boston Red Sox
Losses, Remarkable Collapses and other
Record Breaking Feats".)

"What is Bambino's Curse?"
Bambino's Curse
http://www.bambinoscurse.com/whatis/

- justaskscott-ga


Search terms used on Google:

"curse of the bambino"
cure "curse of the bambino"

I'd never seen the Stout story.  Great!

"The Bambino", Babe Ruth, was an outstanding player for the Boston Red
Sox.  In January of 1920 he was sold to the New York Yankees for
$150,000.  Since then, the Boston Red Sox have failed to win a world
series for the past 80 years.

There is no apparant cure. 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/news/2000/03/22/the_curse_timeline/