You might not associate the Christmas season with Babe Ruth, but the infamous trade that sent him to the New York Yankees was actually made the day after Christmas in 1919. The sale of the superstar two-way player to New York was hardly a Christmas miracle for Boston Red Sox fans, but it did set the stage for one of the most iconic moments in sports history — 85 years later.
Everyone knows the story. Red Sox owner Harry Frazee was struggling financially and more concerned with his Broadway shows than his baseball team. To finance a new musical, he sold Ruth to the Yankees for $100,000, which is now a paltry sum for a professional athlete, even after adjusting for inflation, but was then staggering. Ruth took his already illustrious career to even greater heights in New York, and his legacy lived on after his retirement. The Yankees won 26 World Series rings before the Red Sox won another championship.
Over the long history of the curse, the Red Sox experienced some particularly cruel moments. In all four World Series they played in between 1920 and 2004, they lost in seven games. After Carlton Fisk's legendary walk-off home run in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, the Sox blew a 3-0 lead in Game 7 to the Reds. Then, of course, there was the Buckner game in 1986, which saw the World Series slip through the legs of the Red Sox first baseman. The year before the curse was broken, Aaron Boone walked off the Red Sox in Game 7 of the ALCS.
The Red Sox traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees on Dec. 26, 1919
2004 looked like the same old story, as Boston fell down three games to none with a 19-8 loss in game three. But the Red Sox, not to be deterred, beat the Yankees twice in extra innings at Fenway to send the series back to New York. After holding on for a Game 6 win, they routed New York in Game 7, completing the first and only 3-0 series comeback in MLB history.
The legacy of 2004 lived on, as the Red Sox won four World Series in 14 years after breaking the curse while the Yankees have one in that same span. The Yankees' collapse in the fifth inning of game five in this years' World Series might even indicate that they've been bitten by the bug of bad playoff fortune.
Eighty-six years of drought is hardly a Christmas gift. But the end of the curse remains one of the most memorable comebacks in sports history, and it swung the balance of power in the Red Sox' bitter rivalry with the Yankees. Not a bad silver lining.