continues the third article in our series of "Live and See". The "Curse of the Holy Child" (also known as The Curse of Babe Ruth ) is the most famous and most common among the three major curses of Major League Baseball (MLB). One of the most talked about sports topics. Let's start by talking about Babe Ruth, who can be called the first generation superstar in sports history. His real name was George Herman Ruth, Jr., and his nickname was "Babe" (baby, baby), so he was often called Babe Ruth. His status in the baseball world is a legend comparable to that of Muhammad Ali, Pele, and Michael Jordan.
Babe Ruth started his MLB career as a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox in 1914. He achieved great success as a pitcher with the Red Sox, helping the team win three MLB championships in 1915, 1916 and 1918. The winner of the finals (formally known as the World Series).
However, on December 16, 1919, shortly after the season ended that year, the new Red Sox owner Harry Frazier sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for a record price at the time. New York Yankees ! In fact, Frazier had already made many player transactions with the Yankees before this, and it had never caused a big response. But, this time is completely different...
The inside story of the transaction involving Babe Ruth being sold to the New York Yankees is still shrouded in mystery. The most famous version is that Frazier wanted to turn his mistress into a big star and wanted to raise huge sums of money to create a musical on Broadway in New York. The second version is that Babe Ruth created a musical in the 1919 season. He broke the MLB record of 29 home runs (the original record was 24) and asked for a salary increase to US$20,000 (double the original amount). He also said that "if there is no increase in money, we will not play" and even retired from baseball. Make money; the third version is that when Frazier bought the Red Sox from former owner Lanning in 1916 (reportedly costing $500,000), he owed the other party $125,000 and was in a lawsuit with Lanning at the time.
New York Yankees owner Jacob Rupert promised to complete the deal with all cash (US$125,000 + US$300,000 loan)! Think about what a huge amount of money this was in 1919.
Faced with such a drastic turning point in his life, one can imagine Babe Ruth's anger. For years, there have been rumors that he once swore a vicious oath: I never wanted to leave Boston! But that boss...please don't put all the blame on me! If I have to bear the reputation of a traitor, then the Red Sox will have to pay the price by never winning a championship!
Since 1920, Babe Ruth began his glorious 15-year Yankees career! The most successful transformation the Yankees made to him was to allow him to completely give up his pitching function and focus on hitting, completely unleashing the power of his bat.
In his first year with the Yankees (1920), he hit 54 home runs in one fell swoop, setting a new MLB record (you must know that the record he set a year ago was only 29)! The next year (1921), he raised this record to 59 teams and led the Yankees to the World Series for the first time! In the fourth year (1923), the Yankees moved into their new home stadium, Yankee Stadium. Babe Ruth hit a home run in the opening game. Since then, Yankee Stadium has been given the famous nickname " The palace built by Russ". Starting from this year, he led the Yankees to the World Series for the third consecutive year. The so-called three things happen, after losing to the local rivals New York Giants (now San Francisco Giants ) in the previous two years, this time the Yankees defeated the Giants 4-2 (best of 7 games). Winning the championship trophy for the first time in team history!
In 1935, when the 40-year-old Babe Ruth left the Yankees, he had already won 4 World Series trophies for the team (1923, 1927, 1928, 1932), and he won the season home run king 7 times. . Among them, the major league record of 60 home runs in a single season set in 1927 was not broken until 1961 by Yankees junior Maris (61), and his career total of 714 home runs was the major league record. It lasted until 1974 before being surpassed by Hank Allen!
On the other hand, looking at the Yankees' mortal rivals in the American League East and the Boston Red Sox , the powerful thing about this curse is that it is really too great! spirit! Test! .In the first 15 years since MLB was founded, the Red Sox were awe-inspiring across the United States and won a total of 5 World Series championships, the most valuable of which was the first MLB championship in 1903. However, since Babe Ruth left, the Red Sox have not won a championship and their record has been in decline. Although the Red Sox won the American League championship four times in 1946, 1967, 1975, and 1986 and thus entered the World Series, they fell short each time.
In order to break this terrible curse, the Red Sox tried their best! The team went to Baltimore, Ruth's birthplace, three times to worship, and invited wizards to break the spell at their home stadium (the famous Fenway Park). They even invited Ruth's adopted daughter to beg her father's spirit in heaven for mercy and forgiveness, but nothing happened. To no avail.
When the playoffs start every year, a large number of Red Sox fans always come to Ruth's grave to lay flowers. The cards on the flowers often read sincere words such as "Babe, please help us once."
Finally, the time has come to 2004!
In the American League finals, the Red Sox once again encountered their mortal enemies, the Yankees! When the Yankees won three consecutive games and were far ahead, and when the media across the United States thought the Red Sox were about to collapse again, the Boston Red Sox burst out with amazing courage and determination. They won four consecutive games and completed a miraculous comeback ( This is the only time in all professional leagues in North America that a team achieved a shocking comeback after 0-3 in a best-of-seven series)! Subsequently, the Red Sox encountered another sufferer in the World Series: the St. Louis Cardinals (a veteran MLB team and winner of 11 championships, including the Red Sox who won in 1946 and 1967). However, this time, like rising from the ashes, the Red Sox swept the Cardinals 4-0! Since 1918, exactly 86 years after their last championship, the Red Sox finally broke the curse of the Holy Child and won the championship again!
The world is changing, and this phenomenon cannot be explained by scientific principles. The gossips accompanying sports competitions are provided for media consumption and have become a source of entertainment for fans after dinner. Fortunately, our generation has miraculously witnessed the mystery of the three curses being solved. We are much luckier than those loyal fans who have never been able to see their beloved team come out of the shadows. However, things are unpredictable, maybe in our In this era, there are new problems of the century, and they will be proven to be XX curses in the future.
