The Story

When the Boston Red Sox traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees they called it the “Curse of the Bambino.”

After the 1918 season in 1919, the Boston Red Sox owner sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees to finance his play, “No, No Nanette.” After selling Babe Ruth, otherwise known as “The Great Bambino,”  and then the Yankees went on to have great success over the decades. They won 26 championships until 2003 while the Red Sox won zero. The curse can be most attributed to Babe Ruth who was known – to that generation – as the greatest baseball player that ever lived. His numerous accolades with his near mythic power made him “the legend of legends in baseball lore. To sell away a player who led the Yankees to such great success coupled with the Red Sox’s seemingly “cursed” misfortune, the Curse of the Bambino, or the Sale of Babe Ruth to the Yankees was commonly referenced as the reason for the Red Sox’s failure through the 21st Century.

Analysis:

The informant is a 65 year old die-hard Yankee fan. When it is baseball season he watches or records every game that he does not attend. Thus, he says this baseball legend with a sense of pride as it is about the deal that ushered in a golden era for his most beloved team, the Yankees. It is clear that this “curse” is not actually a curse in the informant’s or likeminded Yankee fans’ eyes . He makes this clear when he calls the “Curse of Bambino” by what it objectively was: “The sale of Babe Ruth to the Yankees.” The title of the legend or the sale implies that it was probably thought up by Red Sox fans. The transaction that sent Babe Ruth to the Yankees from their Red Sox led the Boston team to decades of loss and no championships while their biggest rivals won 26 times, making the sale a true curse for Boston fans.