How Cubs, Indians should handle their curses and superstitions in World Series

Kevin L. Burke

How Cubs, Indians should handle their curses and superstitions in World Series image

Curses and superstitions are a very real phenomenon in sports, especially when it comes to baseball and particularly around the World Series. 

One of the most famous "curses" of all-time is "The Curse of the Bambino," which refers to Babe Ruth being sold to the New York Yankees by the Boston Red Sox in 1920.

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Ruth was as a left-handed pitcher for Boston, leading the Red Sox to three World Series titles. During Ruth's final season with the Red Sox he hit 29 home runs (more than anyone else had ever hit in one season) and still won nine games as a pitcher. Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold The Bambino to the Yankees for $100,000 in cash and for a loan of $300,000. Most believe Frazee did so either to fund a Broadway show, or simply because he was experiencing financial peril.

Before Ruth was sold to the Yankees in 1920, the Red Sox had won five World Series and the Yankees had yet to win a single world championship. After acquiring The Babe, the Yankees ended up winning four World Series with the Sultan of Swat. The Red Sox had 13 losing seasons in a row after getting rid of Ruth. After the deal, the Red Sox did not win another championship for 86 years, finally ending "the curse" when they rallied from an 0-3 deficit to the Yankees in the ALCS and won the 2004 World Series. 

The creation of the Bambino curse is usually credited to New York Times sports writer George Vecsey, who wrote an article titled, "Babe Ruth curse strikes again." A book later written by the Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy entitled "The Curse of the Bambino" cemented the phrase in the minds of most baseball fans.

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In a similar vein, the World Series-bound Cleveland Indians have supposedly suffered from "The curse of Rocky Colavito." This curse first emerged after the unpopular trade of Colavito to the Detroit Tigers for Harvey Kuenn in 1960. Colavito had been the home run champion 1959. (By the way, Kuenn was the batting champion during that same year.) The curse became popular after a book written by Terry Pluto was published with the same title. In other books, Pluto has continued to discuss the curse and the negative events that have occurred with the Indians organization since the 1960 trade. The Indians made it to the World Series in 1995 and 1997, but have not won it since 1948. 

The Chicago Cubs, meanwhile, likely have the second most infamous curse known as "The Curse of the Billy Goat," which originated in 1945. Bar owner Billy Sianis purchased two tickets so he could bring his goat, named Murphy, to a Cubs 1945 World Series game. Because some of the fans complained, Sianis and Murphy were asked to leave. Sianis was extremely mad and supposedly stated, "Them Cubs, they ain't going to win no more!" Hence, Cub fans can now point to numerous events in franchise history that have kept them from getting to the World Series. (Black cat, Steve Bartman, etc.)

While these and other mysterious happenings are widely discussed in the sports world, curses are simply another version of superstitions. While athletes typically use superstitions to try to gain control over events or their performance, in the uncertain world of sports, curses are used to explain poor performance or odd developments over a sustained period of time. The curse is usually viewed as an outside obstacle or barrier to ultimately becoming successful.

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The real issue is whether these curses and superstitions have an actual effect on athletes and teams. If the coaches and players believe them, they certainly may.

One potentially difficult situation is when a player doesn't believe (i.e., thinks they are silly) and will not adhere to a superstition. This can cause quite a team disruption, particularly among athletes who do take curses and superstitions seriously. Tempers can easily flare when a player believes a teammate does not care enough about the whole team to follow a traditional superstition.

Remember what happened in "Major League" when Pedro Cerrano was trying to wake up Jobu to help him break the curse of the curveball?

 

In dealing with superstitious athletes, I usually encourage those who don't believe in a curse or superstition to just go along with it so as not to upset their teammates. I remind them that part of being a good teammate is doing what's best for the team, or sacrificing as an individual, even if it means pretending to believe in a silly curse. 

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Simply agreeing to rub a rabbit's foot or lucky charm, or break a decades-long curse, in front of your teammates does not mean you actually believe it works. The skeptical athlete should usually do this just to maintain team harmony. Besides, who knows? Like with Cerrano, it might just work. 

Kevin L. Burke is a sport psychology professor and consultant at Queens University in Charlotte, N.C. Follow him on Twitter @sportpsyching.

Kevin L. Burke