Red Sox Break Spell and Sweep the Series

After decades of suffering, all those years of waiting for the Red Sox to break the curse and win a World Series, Wil Porter figured there was only one thing to do.

The longtime fan placed a folding chair in front of Fenway Park and sat alone, listening to the ballgame on a transistor radio.

“This is the pure way,” said Porter, 38, of Quincy, Mass. “This is where it all began.”

Twelve hundred miles to the west, his team put a joyous and convincing end to the misery Wednesday night with a 3-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals and a sweep of the World Series.

The rough-hewn Red Sox -- known for their facial hair and timely hitting, if not a few errors in the field -- not only won their first championship since 1918, they steamrolled a team that had the best regular-season record in baseball.

“I know there’s a whole lot of happy people back in the city of Boston,” center fielder Johnny Damon said.

Gone was the so-called Curse of the Bambino. Washed away were memories of seasons past.

With the final out, thousands of fans poured onto Beacon Street by the ballpark, shouting, climbing trees and lampposts, joining Porter in a celebration long overdue.

“It’s done, 1918 is done,” said Marcus Rodrigues, 29. “No more. And it’s about time.”

At a bar in the shadow of Fenway, patrons hugged and spilled their beers on the floor. Bouncer Rob Grieco explained: “It just seems like something always goes wrong, and this time it didn’t.”

Their anguish was the stuff of legend. Locals believed their team could not win a World Series because, after the 1919 season, team owner Harry Frazee sold slugger Babe Ruth to the rival New York Yankees.

Ruth, known as the Bambino, became recognized as the greatest player of his era. Boston would come tantalizingly close from time to time -- within one game of the title in 1946, ‘67, ’75 and ’86 -- only to fall short.

This season seemed doomed to rank among the litany of heartaches, with the Red Sox falling behind the Yankees three games to none in the American League championship series.

But they would not lose again.

They won four in a row to reach the Series -- the first time a team had overcome such a deficit in the playoffs. They then got three quick wins over the Cardinals.

As Wednesday’s game approached, it seemed that everyone here was wearing a Red Sox T-shirt, hat or tie. People tied red balloons to grave markers in cemeteries around town, as if loved ones long departed might join in the excitement.

Noel Schaub, a 58-year-old office manager, thought he might finally pop a bottle of pink champagne, the one he had “borrowed” to celebrate the 1975 Series victory that never came to be. All these years, it had sat in his refrigerator.

City officials remained cautious, too superstitious to openly discuss plans for a victory parade. But this time felt different and, behind closed doors, the mayor and others began preparing, mindful that 1 million fans lined the streets after the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl in 2002.

The Red Sox could draw two to three times as many, or roughly half the population of Massachusetts. An extended parade route was mapped out, long enough to accommodate throngs of people on the city’s old, narrow streets.

City officials also planned for crowds immediately after the game. There were problems a week ago, when fans took to the streets after the Yankee victory. Police fired nonlethal pepper pellets and struck 21-year-old college student Victoria Snelgrove in the eye, causing a fatal brain injury.

While the incident remained under investigation, the city was put on alert Wednesday night, and bars were told to stop admitting patrons when they reached 75% capacity.

Hundreds of police, including some called from neighboring cities, patrolled the streets, some wearing riot gear. Officer Michael Flaven stood outside a pub and peered through the window to watch the game on TV.

“Keeping the peace ... that’s what we’re doing,” Flaven said. “It’s not a bad assignment.”

In St. Louis, the Red Sox wasted little time giving their fans something to celebrate, Damon hitting the fourth pitch of the game over the right-centerfield wall for a 1-0 lead. In the third inning, right fielder Trot Nixon doubled home two runs.

As the game wound down, the patrons who packed Copperfields bar near Fenway chanted and stomped their feet, cheering with each out. The Cardinals threatened late in the game, putting runners on base in the eighth and ninth innings, but the Red Sox escaped both times.

“Unbelievable,” winning pitcher Derek Lowe said. “No more going to Yankee Stadium and having to listen to ‘1918.’ ”

Now the record for baseball futility resides undisputedly in the city of Chicago, where the Cubs and White Sox have not won a World Series since 1908 and 1917, respectively.

And the people of Boston can finish a baseball season happy.

“This makes up for all the disappointment, all that’s happened over the years,” said Edward Ayoub, 63, who as a boy sat in the bleachers with his father.

“My dad used to tell me, ‘Wait until next year,’ ” Ayoub said. “Well, now it’s next year.”

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Mehren reported from Boston and Wharton from Los Angeles.

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(Begin Text of Infobox)

No, no, curse

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In the early years of the American League, the Red Sox won five World Series, the legendary Babe Ruth contributing to the final two in 1916 and 1918. After the 1919 season, owner Harry Frazee sold Ruth to the rival New York Yankees for $100,000.

The balance of power shifted, the Yankees becoming dominant and the Red Sox going without a title for 86 years.

The so-called Curse of the Bambino did not become a popular notion until it materialized in several newspaper columns and a book in the 1980s. And a supporting myth -- that Frazee sold Ruth to finance his Broadway production of “No, No, Nanette” -- was untrue. The owner was a millionaire, and the play did not open until five years later.

Yet, as one regional scholar said, the curse has become “part of the cultural history.” And a road sign near Fenway Park in Boston, posted to warn drivers of a “Reverse Curve,” has long been altered with white paint to read: “Reverse the Curse.”

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-- David Wharton