The harmonic convergence of the A-Roid press conference and the latest installment of Ken Burns' "Baseball" documentary on the MLB Network -- about the 1950's -- both airing today gave me an idea. Everybody knows all about "The Shot Heard 'Round the World", Bobby Thompson's pennant-winning HR against Ralph Branca and the Dodgers in 1951 to complete the amazing comeback known as "The Miracle at Coogan's Bluff", but Alex Rodriguez going to the Yankees instead of the Red Sox in 2004 might be the greatest dodged bullet of all time. While we all know about the "Curse of the Bambino", I'm beginning to think that turn of events might come to be symbolize the dawning of "The Curse of A-Rod".
If you recall, back in that off-season of 2003-4, Boston had a deal in place to acquire A-Rod from the Rangers (along with Magglio Ordonez as part of a three-way deal) in exchange for Manny Ramirez and Nomar Garciaparra. But to make the deal work for the Sox, A-Rod needed to give back a significant chunk of cash off his record-breaking contract. He signed off on it, but the Union didn't, and the deal was dead. It was then that the Yanks jumped in and made a deal to acquire him for Alfonso Soriano and others.
At that point, the Yankees had won 27 world titles since acquiring Babe Ruth from the Red Sox in 1918, and Boston had won zero. Before that, the Sox had won five titles and the Yankees had zero. The change of fortune which Ruth brought to those two franchises by moving from one to the other can't be any more immediate and glaring than what A-Rod has brought. In the five years since he arrived in New York (instead of Boston), the Yankees have won zero titles (after winning four of the previous eight). During the same time, the Red Sox have won two titles, including breaking an 86-year championship drought in Year One of the A-Rod Era by becoming the first team to come back from a 3-0 deficit in the playoffs -- against A-Rod's Yanks.
What's more, in both their championship years, Boston leaned heavily on the bat -- and carefree personality -- of Manny Ramirez, the man almost traded for A-Rod. Meanwhile, A-Rod has consistently failed to come through in the postseason in New York, a city which loves to judge its players on how they play in October. He's never been embraced as a "true Yankee", and now with the admission he's done steroids (though conveniently, not as a Yankee, according to him), it's fair to think he never will. Of course, A-Rod is hardly the first Yankee to run into steroid controversy. In fact, since his arrival, they've also been deluged by it -- Giambi and Pettitte admitting their use, Clemens uncnvincingly denying his.
So the fates of the Yankees and the Sox have seemed to once again trade karmic places in cosmos around the acquisition of a future Hall of Famer. Who knows, if this keeps up much longer, we may begin to see books, and signs and movies about "The Curse of A-Rod" popping up as we did with "The Curse of the Bambino". At least one guy had an inkling it could happen way back in '04. Someday, we might even see the kind of strange ceremonies and makeshift exorcisms around New York which became popular in Boston before they broke their drought. Burnings of A-Rod's jersey and likeness may become commonplace. Hell, it's New York we're talking about -- it might happen next week.
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