Behind the Curse of the Bambino

Welcome to Daily Sports History, ham Eaton Reese, your guide back to sports history and the stories behind them. Every day. When you ask any sports fan, or even an every day person that's not big sportsman at all, what the biggest rivalry in all sports is, you're likely to hear the New York Yankees in the Boston Red Sox. But this deep seated rivalry didn't just appear overnight. In fact, it goes back over a hundred years, filled with iconic moments and heated animosity. The New York Yankees, often considered the most storied franchised in North American sports, have an impressive history of twenty seven championships since their founding in the early nineteen hundreds. They seem to win in almost every decade since the nineteen twenties, which naturally makes them easy to love and hate. On the other side, the Boston Red Sox are prettyistoric themselves, with nine World Series championships since their formation in nineteen oh one. But how did their rivalry really begin. The unofficial start of this historic rivalry begin in nineteen twenty, when the Boston Red Sox owner Harry Farce, fresh off his nineteen eighteen championship made a fateful decision. He sold legendary George Hermann Ruth, better known as Babe Ruth, to New York Yankees for one hundred and twenty five thousand and a loone over three hundred thousand dollars to support a Broadway play. This moment marked a turning point in baseball history. Babe Ruth, a name synonymous with greatness in the world of baseball, was undenied. Undoubtedly were the sport's brightest stars at the time. He may have not been as lethal of a hitter during his time with the Red Sox as he would be with the Yankees, but his stardom was undeniable. So why would a team trade the best player right after a championship. Many speculate it was due to financial troubles that the owner of the Boston Red Sox was having due to his failures on Broadway, But there's more to the store. At the beginning of the nineteen hundreds, baseball was starting to get very political with the owners and the commissioner of a Baseball and Boston Red Sox owner an issue with Ben Johnson, the Commissioner of Baseball at the time. The disagreement saw of a chain of events for this historic trade. Tensions between Varci and Johnson ran high, from umpire controversies to scheduling issues, and even the threat of Seizon control of the league. The situation had reachable whiling point, but Faresee was not the only one with grievances with the commissioner. The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox had their own separate issues with the Commissioner. Headlines in the New York Times declared declaration of war on Farsie and threatened to erupt the league. That stayed not continued, and Farsie had a strategic move selling some minor league players to the New York Yankees, effectively forming an alliance against Johnson while strengthening both clubs. As the drama unfolded, but Boston Red Sox appeared strong the start of the nineteen nineteen season. However, Ruth had become growingly dissatisfied with his salary. He demanded a significant pay race, and the tensions back and forth ensued. It seemed likely a trade was imminent. Surprisingly, weeks after negotiations, Ruth and Pharsee finally reached a three year thirty thousand dollars deep. The nineteen nineteen season began well for both sides, but there was an issue brewing. It were revolved around whether Ruth was more effective as a pitcher or a hitter. The Red Sox believed he was a better pitcher, while Ruth, with his incredible power, insisted he was a better better. This debate, combined with managerial issues and a losing season, strained the relationship between Ruth and the Red Sox. Even so, Ruth was still a sensation in the nineteen nineteen season, drawing fans to Fenway Port all by himself, even though the team around him began to decline. In the midst of all this conflict and losing, Ruth's set record numbers in the nineteen nineteen season and demanded another pay raise. He knew he was the center of the baseball world, not just Boston. However, the Red Sox attendants had dropped and Farsiew did not have the money to continue dealing with Root's demands, and Farsi's continued battle with the commissioner and challenges with Ruth led him to give up and sell Ruth to the New York Yankees, as he had had enough with baseball and was ready to move more into theater. This didn't only change the Boston Red Sox fate, who now had the curse of the Bambino over their heads, which caused them to lose in dramatic fashion throughout the years until two thousand and four, when they finally won another World Series in an eighty four year drought. For the Yankees, they started a tradition of winning for them and giving them a murderer's row as it was in the twenties, and allowing Ruth to focus on hitting, where it became one of the most historic hitters of all time. Without this trade, the baseball world have been very different. There's a pivotal moment in baseball history we can never forget about and started a rivalry that will stand testable time. Thank you for listening to Daily Sports History. If you want to see more pictures of George as a Yankee and a Red Sox, check out our Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter and come back tomorrow for more sports history.