The Curse of the Bambino is Broken!
The 2014 World Series is well underway, with the Kansas City Royals facing off against the San Francisco Giants. It's been a while since our Brewers have made it to the Fall Classic, but one of the most famous dry spells in all of sports was that of the Boston Red Sox, who won the Series in 1918 but wouldn't win it again for very long time (yes Cubs fans, we know...). The legend was that the Red Sox became cursed after selling away Babe Ruth, who went on to have a Hall of Fame career with the New York Yankees.
It took them all the way to 2004 before winning again. After a season-long battle against the New York Yankees in the American League East Division, the Sox took the Wild Card and then swept the Anaheim Angels in the Divisional Series. They faced the Yankees again in the American League Championship Series. After losing the first three games of that Best-Of-7 series, the Red Sox would win the next four to win the Pennant and then swept the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. The Curse of the Bambino (and Bill Buckner) was broken!
The Red Sox would go on to win two more World Series after that, in 2007 and 2013, but neither of those would be as memorable as 2004. David Ortiz, Jason Varitek, Johnny Damon, Curt Schilling, and all the rest will never have to pay for dinner in Boston again.
MPL has several books and other items about that amazing team. Books by writers Jim Prime, Saul Wisnia, Dan Shaughnessy and even Stuart O'Nan and Stephen King would all be great reads at this time of the year. There's also the movie Fever Pitch, starring Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore, which was filmed during the 2004 season. And of course we can't forget Neil Diamond, whose song "Sweet Caroline" has become forever associated with the Carmine Hose. In 2004 in Boston, good times never seemed so good.