One hundred and ten years ago, the American league ballclub from Boston without an official nickname defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1903 World Series, the first edition of the historic and prestigious championship series.
Later renamed the Red Sox, that same Boston team would win it all in 1912, 1915, 1916 and a likely fixed 1918 series in which both the Chicago Cubs and Red Sox are believed to have thrown different games a year before the more famous Black Sox scandal. After that series, both teams would fail to win another one for years, creating rumors of curses such as that of the “Bambino”, Babe Ruth, who was sold to the rival New York Yankees and that of the Billy Goat and William Sianis in Chicago.
The Red Sox came close in 1986, before a series of events including a ball finding its way through Bill Buckner’s legs saw the Red Sox fall in a game six in which they held a two-run lead in extra innings and lose the series in game seven.
It would be another eighty-six years after that 1918 championship before Boston, long in control of the Boston market after the Braves left for Milwaukee in 1953, would find themselves atop the baseball world, champions at long last and finally over the Curse of the Bambino in 2004. The sweep of the same St. Louis Cardinals franchise they beat tonight came just a year after Aaron Boone walked off in the ALCS to send Boston home at the hands of their greatest rivals, while the series-fixing mates from Chicago experienced a game six meltdown before falling to Florida in a seventh game. Boston found their revenge during their 2004 title run, rallying to win the ALCS decisively in game seven against their familiar foes from The Bronx after trailing the series three games to none.
Under Boston native wunderkind general manager Theo Epstein, now with the Cubs, the Red Sox would not stop at one, sweeping the Colorado Rockies in 2007 to continue to spoil the once annually suffering fans at Fenway. The only thing the team seemed to fail to accomplish under Epstein, was to win the World Series at their historic home field of Fenway Park.
In 2013, the city of Boston suffered a tragedy, as a pair of Chechnyan radicals bombed the Boston Marathon, as the city united in mourning under the phrase “Boston Strong”.
Boston fans would be disappointed just a few months later as the Bruins inspirational Stanley Cup run fell short, allowing two goals in seventeen seconds near the end of game six of the finals as the Chicago Blackhawks won their second championship in three calendar years, just as the Red Sox had in 2004 and 2007.
Finally, going from last place in 2012 to first place and tied for the best record in baseball with St. Louis in 2013, the Boston Red Sox are the world champions! After defeating the Cardinals 6-1 in game six, outfielder Shane Victorino proclaimed, “Boston Strong!”
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