We Red Sox fans grouse about the Curse of the Bambino, the sale of Babe Ruth that some superstitious people believe ensured that we will never again win a World Series. There are books, movies, and even a musical about this infamous trade at the end of 1919.
On July 13th of that same season, however, the Red Sox dodged a bullet. That day in Chicago against the White Sox, Pitcher Carl Mays stormed off the field after two innings, blaming his teammates for lack of support. His manager and teammates couldn’t convince him to return to the mound. The owner immediately traded him to the Yankees, where, of course, he was joined in several months by the Ruth.
In August of his first season with the Yankees, whil Babe Ruth looked on, Mays made history — he killed a batter with a high, inside pitch. Cleveland’s Ray Chapman, the man Mays beaned, is the only player in the history of baseball to have been killed in a game. The Yankees deserve a curse far more than the team that traded the irascible Carl Mays, Babe or no Babe.