• Date of Birth: January 3, 1920
• Place of Birth: Boston, MA.
• Date of Death: October 27, 2004
• Claim to Fame: Babe Ruth's revenge on the Boston Red Sox

George Herman ("Babe") Ruth began pitching for the Boston Red Sox baseball team in 1914, and over the next four years had produced an impressive record of wins, including two World Series' wins in 1918. That year the Red Sox won their 5th World Series, the most by any club at that time.

On January 3, 1920, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee needed money to finance his girlfriend's play, so he sold Babe Ruth's contract to the New York Yankees for $100,000 (plus a $300,000-loan collateralized by Fenway Park).

Since then, the Yankees, who had never won a World Championship before acquiring Ruth, went on to win 26. Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox appeared in only four World Series between then and 2003, losing each one in Game 7, and often in particularly devastating fashion.

The Red Sox reversed the curse in 2004. They became the first MLB team to win a series after trailing 3 games to none. They did it in particularly dramatic fashion, coming back from a 9th inning deficit in Game 4 against their old nemesis, the Yankees. The Sox then swept the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series to become the first team to win 8 games in a row in a single postseason. They completed the sweep on the anniversary of their 1986 Game 7 loss to the New York Mets.

Last updated: October 28, 2004.

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