October 27, 2004: The Curse of the Bambino Is Broken

October 27, 2004: The Curse of the Bambino is finally broken. Well, sort of. The Boston Red Sox win their 1st World Series in 86 years with a 3-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals, in Game 4 at Busch Memorial Stadium.

Derek Lowe ends up as the winning pitcher in all 3 postseason series-clinchers for the Sox, the 1st pitcher of any team to do so. (Andy Pettitte became the 2nd in 2009.) Johnny Damon hits a home run for Boston. Manny Ramirez is voted Series MVP‚ as he leads Boston to the 4-game sweep with a .412 batting average and 4 RBI. The last out was Cardinal shortstop Edgar Renteria grounding back to pitcher Keith Foulke, who threw to 1st baseman Doug Mientkiewicz.

With the New England Patriots having won Super Bowl XXXVIII 9 months earlier, this win also gave Boston its 1st MLB-NFL double. They would achieve it again in 2018-19. Sports Illustrated had previously named entire national teams as a collective Sportspeople of the Year -- U.S. men's hockey in 1980, U.S. women's soccer in 1999 -- but, in 2004, for the 1st time, they gave the award to an entire major league sports team, the Red Sox.

Some people had joked that the Red Sox winning the World Series would be a sign of the Apocalypse. Well, according to the Bible, one such sign is the Moon turning blood red -- and, in fact, there was a full lunar eclipse during the game. (Although this was hardly a surprise, as newspapers and news networks had mentioned it before nightfall.)

A sign held aloft at the victory parade in Boston sums it all up: "Our (late) parents and g'parents thank you." So many people said, "We wanted them to win it in our lifetime, just once." Well, as Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe, who has written more and better about the franchise than anyone, said in the following weeks, "There was no spike in the obits. We checked. All those people who said they couldn't die until the Red Sox won a World Series decided to live a little longer."

Of course, they didn't win it just once in those people’s lifetimes – except for those who died between October '04 and October '07.

And now that we know that the Red Sox are a bunch of lying, cheating, dirty, low-down, no-good bastards, we can tell the truth: They still haven't really won a World Series since 1918*. The Curse lives.

So all those Sox fans who weren't old enough to suffer through Harry Frazee, Johnny Pesky, Harry Agganis, Tony Conigliaro, Larry Barnett, Bobby Sprowl, Bucky Dent, John McNamara and Bill Buckner – though most of them did get through what Nomar, Pedro and Grady put them through – and showed more bastardry in victory than their forebears ever showed in defeat can kiss my 27 rings (well, 7 in my lifetime – for the moment), and then they can kiss my Pinstriped ass.

UPDATE: The Red Sox have a team Hall of Fame. From the 2004 World Champions, they have inducted designated hitter David Ortiz, left fielder Manny Ramirez, center fielder Johnny Damon, right fielder Trot Nixon, catcher Jason Varitek, 1st baseman Kevin Youkilis; pitchers Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, Derek Lowe and Mike Timlin; team president Larry Lucchino, scout George Digby, executives Dick Bresciani and Elaine Weddington Steward, farm system director Ben Mondor, guest relations director Al Green, broadcasters Jerry Remy and Joe Castiglione, and longtime vendor Arthur D'Angelo. Team owner John W. Henry, manager Terry Francona and general manager Theo Epstein have not yet been inducted.

From their 2007 World Champions, add 2nd baseman Dustin Pedroia, 3rd baseman Mike Lowell, and pitchers Jon Lester and Jonathan Papelbon.

*

October 27, 2004 was a Wednesday. It was the last baseball game of the season. Football was in midweek. The NHL team owners had locked the players out, so there were no games. And the NBA season wasn't scheduled to begin until the following Tuesday. So there were no other scores on this historic day.

October 11, 2003: Pedro Martinez Commits 3 Felonies During a Playoff Game

October 11, 2003: Pedro Martinez of the Boston Red Sox commits 3 felonies, all witnessed by 34,209 people at Fenway Park in Boston, and by millions of people on live national television:

* Count 1: Assault with a deadly weapon, on Karim Garcia of the New York Yankees, by hitting him with a pitch, and it would have hit him in the head had he not ducked.

* Count 2: Conspiracy to commit murder, against Yankee Jorge Posada, by pointing to his head, as if to say, "You're next."

* Count 3: Felonious assault (and possibly attempted murder) on Yankee coach Don Zimmer, by grabbing a 72-year-old man by the head and throwing him to the ground.

In spite of this, he is not arrested. The felonies, after all, occurred at Fenway Park, not Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees beat the Red Sox, 3-2, with Roger Clemens outpitching Martinez, and take a 2-games-to-1 lead in the ALCS. That's right: A little over 13 years after becoming the most recent MLB player to be thrown out of a postseason game, Clemens was the one who kept his cool.

The New York Post, in one of the rare instances in which I agree with it, labeled Pedro the Fenway Punk. Ever since, he has been the opposing athlete I have loathed the most. Which is why my favorite home run of all time is no longer the one that Aaron Boone hit 5 days later, but the one Hideki Matsui hit off Pedro to clinch the 2009 World Series -- which turned out to be Pedro's last game in the major leagues.

This was the day that Yankee Fans finally went beyond mere posturing, and began to hate the Red Sox and their fans as much as Sox fans hate the Yankees and their fans. This was the day the idea of the Mets' being Yankee Fans' team "they love to hate" went out the window. The Red Sox became, as they would say in English soccer, "The Scum."

*

October 11, 2003 was a Saturday. On the same day, the Chicago Cubs beat the Florida Marlins, 8-3 at Pro Player (now Hard Rock) Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, and take a 3-games-to-1 lead in the NLCS. Just 1 more win, and the Cubs will have their 1st Pennant in 58 years. But they needed another 13 years to get that 1 more NLCS win.

The NBA season didn't begin until October 28. There were 11 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets, 5-0 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

* The New York Islanders beat the Buffalo Sabres, 6-0 at the HSBC Arena (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo.

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 2-1 at the RBC Center (now the Lenovo Center) in Raleigh.

*  The Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins played to a tie, 3-3 at the Wachovia Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Atlanta Thrashers beat the Washington Capitals, 4-3 at the MCI Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.

* The Boston Bruins and the Florida Panthers played to a tie, 1-1 at the Office Depot Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

* The Dallas Stars beat the Nashville Predators, 3-1 at the Gaylord Entertainment Center (now the Bridgestone Arena) in Nashville.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, and in the opener of CBC's broadcast of Hockey Night In Canada, the Montreal Canadiens beat their arch-rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-0 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Ottawa Senators, 3-2 at the Corel Centre (now the Canadian Tire Centre) in Ottawa.

* The Calgary Flames beat the San Jose Sharks, 3-2 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* And in the nightcap of Hockey Night In Canada, the Vancouver Canucks beat the Edmonton Oilers, 3-0 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.

And there were college football games played, including the following:

* The night before, in a rare matchup when both halves of the "Little Brown Jug" rivalry were ranked, Number 20 Michigan beat Number 17 Minnesota, 38-35 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* Number 1 Oklahoma beat Number 11 Texas, 65-13 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

* Number 2 Miami beat Number 5 Florida State, 22-14 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida. They had a rematch in the Orange Bowl on New Year's Day, and Miami won again.

* Number 3 Ohio State were upset by Number 23 Wisconsin, 17-10 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. Ohio State would beat Kansas State in the Fiesta Bowl.

* Number 4 Virginia Tech beat Syracuse, 51-7 at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia.

* Number 6 Louisiana State were upset by Florida, 19-7 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU would rise to Number 2, and beat Number 3 Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl.

* Number 7 Arkansas were upset by Auburn, 10-3 at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

* Number 8 Georgia beat Number 13 Tennessee, 41-14 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee.

* Number 9 Southern California beat Stanford, 44-21 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. USC would rise to Number 1, and beat then-Number 4 Michigan in the Rose Bowl, to win the National Championship.

* Number 10 Nebraska were upset by Missouri, 41-24 at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri.

* Notre Dame upset Number 15 Pittsburgh, 20-14 at Heinz Field (now Acrisure Stadium) in Pittsburgh.

* Navy beat Vanderbilt, 37-27 at Vanderbilt Stadium (now First Bank Stadium) in Nashville. But Army lost to Louisville, 34-10 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York.

* And Rutgers lost to West Virginia, 34-19 at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, West Virginia.

July 30, 2009: The Boston Red Sox Are Exposed As Cheaters

July 30, 2009: The New York Times and Sports Illustrated publish reports that reveal that David Ortiz tested positive for a banned substance during survey testing in 2003.

"Big Papi," the biggest reason why the Boston Red Sox won the 2004 and 2007 World Series, cheated.

It was also revealed that Manny Ramirez, another big bat behind those titles, had failed the same test. But this was not new: He had been exposed as using performance-enhancing drugs earlier in the year, after having been traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

It was "nice" of the Times and SI to reveal it 6 years after the fact, 5 years after the Red Sox finally ended "the Curse of the Bambino," and 2 years after they won a 2nd World Series as well.

Still, those World Series wins are hereby invalidated.

Let's be blunt, shall we? Let's be brutally honest.

The linchpin to saying that the Yankees "cheated" their way to winning the 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000 World Series is Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte.

For Pettitte, we have an admission of PED use to come back from an injury in 2002, a season in which the Yankees did not win a Pennant, much less a World Series.

For Clemens, we have the word of Brian McNamee. Translation: Even if Clemens is a louse (and we have many reasons to say that he is), McNamee isn't exactly trustworthy, either. He submitted evidence that has not been revealed to the public. The 2000 WS, and the '01 and '03 Pennants, can be attributed in part to Clemens' use, if in fact McNamee is being completely honest. But 1999? Clemens wasn't all that hot that year. Either he wasn't using, or it wasn't working.

Alex Rodriguez? At this point, he had never played on a Pennant winner, and, besides, all we had on him is an admission of an accusation that he used before becoming a Yankee. He would become the most-tested player ever, and did not test positive in 2009, when he finally helped the Yankees win a World Series. Even afterward, when evidence as to his guilt came again, and he got a lengthy suspension, he still didn't test positive.

Gary Sheffield? He never helped the Yankees win a Pennant, either, and all we have on him is an admission of something that happened before becoming a Yankee.

Jason Giambi? He helped the Yankees win the '03 Pennant – against those same cheating Red Sox – but in '04, it was obvious that steroids weren't helping him.

Compare also the Yankees' postseason opponents:

The 1995, 2000 and '01 Seattle Mariners: Jay Buhner (probably), Edgar Martinez (possibly), and, for the latter two, Alex Rodriguez (using then? who knows). They almost certainly used steroids, but the Yankees still beat them 2 times out of 3.

The '96, '98 and '99 Texas Rangers: Rafael Palmeiro (caught), Juan Gonzalez and Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez (almost certain). Still, the Yankees beat them 3 times, going 9-1 in games in the process (though those 1st two, in '96, were awfully dicey).

The '96 and '97 Baltimore Orioles: Palmeiro (caught) and Brady Anderson (not official, but, come on). The Yankees beat them in the '96 ALCS, but lost the '97 Division Title to them. Still, in those two years combined, they won a grand total of 1 home game in ALCS play, so I don't want to hear about how the Yankees "cheated" -- either with steroids or a kid in right field.

The '96 and '99 Atlanta Braves: On the second occasion, John Rocker, even though he did nothing against us. Besides, the Yankees beat them.

The '97 and '98 Cleveland Indians: Manny Ramirez (caught), Matt Williams (mentioned in the Mitchell Report) and Jim Thome (suspected). Split 2 series.

The '98 San Diego Padres: Ken Caminiti (admitted). Swept in the World Series, so it didn't matter.

The '99 Red Sox: Hard to tell. Manny wasn't there yet, nor Papi, nor Curt Schilling, nor Mark Bellhorn, nor Kevin Millar. But Pedro Martinez? So skinny, but now you have to wonder. Jason Varitek was there. So was Trot Nixon. And Nomar Garciaparra: He's fallen apart since, so was Nomahhhh using? In this case, it didn't matter, because the Yankees beat them in the ALCS.

The 2000 and '01 Oakland Athletics: The aforementioned Jason, and also Jeremy, Giambi, and that's just the ones I know of. It didn't matter, because the Yankees beat them both times.

The '01 Arizona Diamondbacks: Matt Williams, and the heavily suspected Schilling and Luis Gonzalez.

The '02 Anaheim and '05 Los Angeles Angels: As far as I know, they were clean.

The '03 and '04 Minnesota Twins. As far as I know, they were clean, and it didn't matter because the Yankees beat them both times anyway. In fact, after those two ALDS, the Yankees now have a better postseason record in the Metrodome than the Twins do.

The '03 Florida Marlins: Pudge Rodriguez again.

The '03 and '04 Red Sox: Papi and Manny, and rumors abound about Schilling, Millahhhh, Bellhorn, Trot and Tek.

The '06 Detroit Tigers: Pudge again.

The ’07 Indians: As far as I know, they were clean.

And, of course, the 2000 New York Mets: Mike Piazza. It didn't matter, because the Yankees beat them anyway.

Put it all together, and not only have the Yankees been helped less by steroid use than any of those teams (if they were helped by it at all), but the Yankees have been hurt by steroid use more than any other team!

*

But as big a story, and as underreported a story, as that is, the biggest story right now is that the Red Sox cheated. They couldn't win honestly, so they cheated.

The Yankees didn't cheat: They had no control over how to use the Curse, and then again, as one of the River Avenue T-shirts says, maybe there never was a Curse, the Sox just, uh, underachieved for 86 years! (As long as we're being honest, I checked once, and they were within range of the postseason in September in 43 of those 86 years, exactly half. They didn't "suck for 86 years.")

But the Red Sox cheated. Sox fans can throw away those "Got rings lately?" T-shirts -- if not in the trash, then I can suggest other places to stick them -- and Yankee fans could bring back the "1918" T-shirts, just add an asterisk. (Not sure if Roger Maris would approve, but I'll bet the Babe would laugh at it!)

All their smack talk these last five years, and it was all a big fat lie. Red Sox fans on July 30, 2009 are roughly in the same position as Richard Nixon fans were on July 30, 1974: They know now, their guy is a crook!

In 1967, during the Sox' "Impossible Dream" season, the young Bee Gees, not yet the hideous avatars of disco, sang a lovely song called "Massachusetts." They sang "The lights all went out in Massachusetts." I'm sure a few Yankee Fans have sung that one over the years.

On this historic day, the lies all came out in Massachusetts.

Of course, when the 2022 election for the Baseball Hall of Fame took place, David Ortiz, eligible for the 1st time, was elected. Alex Rodriguez, also eligible for the 1st time, was not.

It's been said that the greater offense of Pete Rose isn't that he bet on baseball, but that he lied about it for 15 years after getting caught, before coming clean.

For his steroid use, both times he was accused, A-Rod came clean quickly.

Big Papi has lied about it for 13 years -- almost as long as Rose has lied about what he did.

Ortiz is in the Hall of Fame. A-Rod and Rose are not.

I'm not saying that A-Rod and Rose should be in the Hall. I am saying that Ortiz should not be in it. 

*

July 30, 1999 was a Thursday. These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Chicago White Sox, 3-2 at U.S. Cellular Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago. Nick Swisher hit a home run, and Derek Jeter went 1-for-4. But Alex Rodriguez went 0-for-4, and Phil Hughes blew it in relief of Andy Pettitte.

* A doubleheader was split at Citi Field. The New York Mets won the opener, 7-0. Johan Santana pitched 7 innings of 4-hit shutout ball, and 2 relievers finished the shutout. The Colorado Rockies won the nightcap, 4-2.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 8-5 at Fenway Park. David Ortiz went 2-for-3 with a 3-run homer. I guess he was still juicing.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-3 at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Florida Marlins, 6-3 at Land Shark Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida. Brian McCann won it with a home run in the top of the 10th inning.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-4 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Astros, 12-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Yes, both Chicago teams were not only at home on the same day, but both won.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Washington Nationals, 7-3 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-3 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Matt Kemp singled Andre Ethier home with the winning run in the top of the 10th.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners, 7-1 at Rangers Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-2 at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco.

* And the following teams were not scheduled to play that day: The Arizona Diamondbacks, the Cleveland Indians, the Detroit Tigers, the Los Angeles Angels, the Minnesota Twins, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Toronto Blue Jays.