The older of the two curses is the one supposedly placed by George Herman 'Babe' Ruth on the Boston ball club. Hence, it is known as 'The Curse of the Bambino'. Long before Ruth started his reign as the 'Sultan of Swat' for the Bronx Bombers, the New York Yankees, he was a pitcher of extraordinary talent for none other than the Boston Red Sox. The Babe's prowess on the mound and at the plate was formidable. In the six years he was with Boston, from 1914 to 1920, the team won three World Series titles.
The story goes that the owner of the Red Sox, despite the on-field success of the ball club, was in serious financial trouble. He chose to bail himself out by selling Ruth's contract to the well-heeled and well-hated rivals, the Yankees, for the sum of $125,000 and an additional loan of $350,000. With that sale, he had, at a stroke, sold out the Boston baseball fans and started the Yankees' legendary run of winning seasons and World Series titles. The Bo-sox , in turn, become perennial losers and also-rans. There's no real evidence that the 'Babe' actually articulated 'The Curse' but the results of that doom-laden deal remain. Boston has never since won a World Series while the Yankees have won the title twenty-six times.
Notice the use of the present perfect in the preceding sentence. For we have witnessed 'The Curse' still in effect. Boston vs New York, toe-to-toe and eye-to-eye, going the full seven games (and then some) of the 2003 American League Championship play-offs. Into the eleventh inning, all tied up and all of Boston ready to burst from the expected release from 'The Curse' they've striven under for nearly four-score and four. (Aaron Boone was their bane.) The Sox went home to lick their wounds and do Google.com searches for witch doctors to lift 'The Curse of the Bambino'. The Yankees go to their umpteenth World Series facing the Florida Marlins, the other beneficiary of another renown baseball curse this season.
This second, 'Curse' involves not a legendary 'Babe' but a contrary and reportedly smelly goat and its owner, Billy Sianis, a Greek restaurateur and avid Chicago Cubs fan.
In 1945, the Cubs had won the pennant for the first time since 1908. 'Tinkers to Evers to Chance' was the double-play combination which lead them to the World Series title that year against the Detroit Tigers. After a thirty-seven year drought, and two World Wars, the North-siders were once again Champs of the National League and back in the 'Big Game'.(I don't know that there was a curse involved in that long span of mediocre seasons.)
