Baseball is back! Though my fervor for the national pastime is not what it used to be, I still get excited for Major League Baseball’s opening day. Being a Cubs fan, I appreciate the history of the sport. The Cubs earned the very annoying nickname of “lovable losers” based on their 108-year drought between World Series wins.
The Cubs aren’t the only team that’s been known for losing. The Boston Red Sox went from 1918 to 2004 without bringing home the World Series banner. Where the Cubs had the Curse of the Goat, the Red Sox had the Curse of the Bambino.
The Cubs and Red Sox actually have a lot in common. They are two of the oldest clubs in baseball. Both teams broke their curses with Theo Epstein running The Show. The two franchises also have by far the oldest and most historic stadiums in all of baseball. In this post, we are going to discuss major Red Sox and Fenway milestones and what else was going on in the world at those times.
Fenway’s Grand Opening and the Titanic
Fenway Park officially opens its doors to fans on April 20, 1912 (this makes it the oldest stadium in the MLB). The Red Sox defeated the New York Highlanders 2-0. The next season, the Highlanders change their name to the Yankees.
Just five days before, on April 15th, the Titanic sank in the Atlantic Ocean. Harry Elkins Widener, a graduate of nearby Harvard University, is one of the more than 1,500 casualties of this catastrophe. Harvard’s main library is named the Widener Memorial Library in his honor.
Babe Ruth and World War I
On July 11, 1914, newly acquired and unknown teenager Babe Ruth takes the mound for the Red Sox in his Major League debut at Fenway against the Cleveland Naps in a 4-3 victory for the Red Sox.
Just two weeks before on June 28, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary is assassinated. Exactly a month later (July 28), Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia starting World War I. The war lasts until an armistice is agreed halting hostilities on November 11, 1918. During the World War I era, Babe Ruth and the Red Sox win three World Series championships.
In 1920, the Red Sox infamously sell Ruth, the Bambino, to the rival Yankees where he helps that franchise win their first championship in 1923 as well as three others. The Yankees go on to be the winningest franchise in American sports while the Red Sox cupboard goes bare. The Curse of the Bambino is born.
Sunday Games and the Great Depression
Due to a series of Massachusetts laws, no games were allowed to be played at Fenway on Sundays. With the easing of these laws, Fenway finally saw its first Sunday game on July 3, 1932. The Red Sox lose to the Yankees 13-2.
Five days later on July 8, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at 41.22. This is considered to be the low point of the Great Depression. That year, the Yankees win the World Series and, a month later, New Yorker Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected President of the United States. It’s a very depressing year for Red Sox fans.
Ted Williams and World War II
In 1941, Fenway bared witness to the last time a Major Leaguer finished the season hitting with an average of .400 or above. Ted Williams accomplished the feat batting .406 after going 6 for 8 in a doubleheader on the last day of the season (September 28).
Just a little more than two months later, Japan attacks Pearl Harbor (December 7). A year after that, Williams is drafted where he serves in the Navy and Marine Corps. From the National Baseball Hall of Fame Website:
Serving in World War II from 1942-1946, he (Ted Williams) went to flight school, choosing to prepare himself for combat rather than play on a service baseball team like many other major leaguers did at the time. He was part of only 10 percent of Navy fliers to earn their wings, graduated at the top of his class and even set a student gunnery record for aerial fire while stationed at Pensacola Naval Air Base. So when he was offered the chance to discharge, he declined.
Williams is called into service again in 1952 for the Korean War. He flies 39 combat missions and earns several medals. Just as he did after World War II, Williams continues his baseball career after his service in the Korean War. Williams misses the equivalent of five seasons in service to the United States but still is considered one of the all-time best hitters in the MLB.
The Green Monster and Jackie Robinson
The “Green Monster” is the most iconic characteristic of Fenway Park. However, the 37-foot wall wasn’t always green. Up until 1947, the wall is plastered with advertisements. In 1947, the ads are scraped off and the wall painted green to match the rest of the stadium.
In that same year, Jackie Robinson makes his historic MLB debut on April 15, playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers. This moment marks the breaking of the color barrier in professional baseball. Unfortunately, the Red Sox are the last MLB team to integrate, not doing so until 1959, twelve years after Robinson debuted.
A Curse Broken and the Boxing Day Tsunami
In the 2004 American League Championship Series, the Red Sox are down 3-0 against, you guessed it, the Yankees and facing a humiliating sweep. The Curse of the Bambino strikes again. This is one curse made to be broken though. In a historic comeback (literally, it had never been done), the Red Sox overturn that 3-game deficit to defeat the Evil Empire (according to Ben Affleck) and advance to the World Series. There is no way they could do anything but win the World Series after that, which is what happens in sweeping fashion of the St. Louis Cardinals, a small consolation to Cubs fans.
Just a few months later on December 26, a 9.1-magnitude earthquake—one of the largest ever recorded—rips through an undersea fault in the Indian Ocean, propelling a massive column of water toward unsuspecting shores loaded with tourists from all over the world. The Boxing Day tsunami is the deadliest in recorded history, taking a staggering 230,000 lives in a matter of hours.
Fenway as a Living Museum
If you visit Boston, Fenway Park is a must. Think of it like a living museum. It harkens back to a time when baseball was king. The stands of Fenway bore witness to Red Sox greats. It also seated spectators who experienced the shock of the Titanic, the horrors of two world wars, the strains of the Great Depression, the triumph of baseball integration, and the aftermath of a devasting tsunami. In a way, sitting in those seats connects us to those generations. And watching live baseball is just a great time!