Counting down baseball’s top curses

October 30, 2009

Halloween is this weekend, which means there will be plenty of hexes and curses floating around.

Here are few of our favorites from the baseball world:

5. The Curse of A-Rod (Mariners, Rangers, Yankees)

We’re throwing this one in because it is current.

Since becoming a professional baseball player in 1995, Alex Rodriguez has established himself as one of the game’s best. Rodriguez has been on seven playoff teams, but he’s traditionally been awful in October.

Rodriguez just won a pennant for the first time this year.

Will he help lead the Yankees to a World Series victory? We’ll have to see. Game 3 is Saturday at 8 p.m. on Fox.

4. The Curse of Rocky Colavito (Indians)

The year was 1960 when the Cleveland Indians traded Colavito — their most-popular player — for a washed-up Harvey Kuehn.

Cleveland couldn’t get close to a playoff spot during the next 30 years. The Indians lost the 1995 World Series and the ’97 ALCS.

So the curse lives on…

3. The Curse of the Black Sox (White Sox)

In the pockets of gamblers, the Chicago White Sox tainted baseball during the 1919 World Series when they purposely lost the series.

Eight players were permanently banished from baseball, and the office of the league’s commissioner was opened as a result.

Chicago broke the curse in 2005 with a World Series victory over the Houston Astros.

2. The Curse of the Bambino (Red Sox)

Perhaps the most well-known of all sports curses, hexes and voodoo, the Curse of the Bambino was born when the cash-strapped Boston Red Sox traded baseball legend Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $125,000 and a $300,000 loan.

In the 83 years following the trade, the Yankees went on to win 26 titles. The Red Sox won zero.

Boston broke the curse in 2004. They rallied from a 3-0 deficit to defeat the hated Yankees in the ALCS, and then they swept the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series.

1. The Curse of the Billy Goat (Cubs)


It was 1945, the Cubs were playing in the World Series and tavern owner Billy Sianis wanted to bring in his billy goat to watch a game.

Unfortunately, Sianis’ goat was stinky. The odor was bothering other fans, and workers at Wrigley Field asked Sianis to leave.

Outraged, Sianis proclaimed: “Them Cubs, they aren’t gonna win no more.”

So far, he’s been right. The Cubs lost the series, and they haven’t been back ever since.

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