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Shameful or Not?
April 14, 2008
A construction worker has recently attempted to put a curse on the New York Yankees by burying a Boston Red Sox jersey in a service corridor behind what will be a restaurant in the new Yankee Stadium set to open next year. The team said that it learned of the jersey from a report in the New York Post last Friday. Construction workers jackhammered through the concrete Sunday and pulled out the number 34 David Ortiz jersey.
Yankees president Randy Levine said that team officials first considered leaving the jersey where it was but ultimately decided to dig it out. Levine said, “Why reward somebody who had really bad motives and was trying to do a really bad thing?” The jersey is expected to be cleaned up and sent to the Jimmy Fund, a charity affiliated with Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and auctioned off.
There has been a lot of stock put into curses and superstitions in sports, specifically baseball. Who can forget the “Curse of the Bambino” which lasted from the time the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1919 until the Sox finally won the World Series in 2004? Then there’s the “Curse of the Billy Goat” on the Chicago Cubs, who haven’t won a World Series since 1908, after a Greek immigrant and his goat were ejected from Wrigley Field during Game 4 of the 1945 Series after the goat began offending fans with its smell. The Cubs lost the Series.
Aside from so-called curses, there have been many players who believed there was some source of luck for their team’s good fortunes. Former Oakland Athletics P Vida Blue was forced to get rid of his discolored, lucky cap because it no longer matched the “color, trim, and style” of his teammates’. There have been countless other examples of players using the same bat, glove, or piece of uniform for the same reason Blue used the same cap: because they believe in luck.
Is it so hard to believe that there’s a such thing as curses and luck? It does seem farfetched at times, though. How could the Cubs be so unlucky for 100 years? The curse is the simple answer. The more logical answer is maybe they just aren’t that good.
Curses and luck may not be as much literal as it is psychological. If a player thinks he’s lucky, he’ll have a good game. If he thinks he’s cursed because of something that happened decades ago, he’ll probably choke. Is it that bad to believe in these things or should players forget all about it? Give us your comments. E-mail us at shamefulornot@athletehos.com