Curse of Bob Short
Curse of Bob Short is a curse that allegedly prevents the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball from winning the World Series championship since the team was relocated from Washington, D.C.
Origin of the curse
The Texas Rangers started their franchise as the Washington Senators in 1961. During the 11 years in Washington, the team did not reach the playoffs and had only one winning season. Bob Short took over as team owner and GM in 1968. The Senators then ran into financial troubles, leading Short to have no choice but to trade away good players, dooming the team and threatening the future in D.C., upsetting the fanbase in the process. He declined renewing the stadium as he couldn't find a buyer after an ultimatum was reached. By a 10 to 2 vote, the Senators would be relocated to Texas, upsetting the fans in the Washington, D.C. area. In their last Senators' home game in 1971 against the New York Yankees, the fans got into the ballpark without paying tickets and put up a banner that said "SHORT STINKS!". In the 9th inning and two outs with the Senators leading 7–5, the enraged fans ran onto the field, stealing souvenirs, including the first base bag. As a result of this, the game was forfeited to the Yankees.[1] The forfeit upset the fans even more, putting the curse on the relocating team, ensuring that they'll never win a World Championship away from Washington D.C.,[citation needed] until Washington gets another franchise and wins their championship first,[2][3] which it did when the Montreal Expos moved to Washington D.C. in 2005 and won their world championship in 2019, meaning the Rangers can now win the World Series at any time.
Playoff appearances during the curse
The team would not make their first playoffs in Texas until 1996. In the three playoff appearances in the mid to late-90s, all against the Yankees, they have won only one playoff game. The Rangers would finally go deep into the playoffs in 2010, where they won the pennant and lost the World Series in five games to the San Francisco Giants, who ended their Curse of Coogan's Bluff. One year later, they again won the pennant and appeared in the Fall Classic against the St. Louis Cardinals. In Game 6 of that World Series, the Rangers were one strike away from winning the championship with the Cardinals having runners on 1st and 2nd and David Freese at-bat. Then Freese hit a game-tying two-run triple, which the right fielder Nelson Cruz just missed making a leaping catch. Then the Rangers scored two go-ahead runs in the tenth inning, but the two-run lead was again erased by the Cardinals when Lance Berkman hit a game-tying single with again one strike away from winning it for Texas. Then in the bottom of the eleventh inning, Freese hit a walk-off home run, forcing a Game 7. The Rangers would lose Game 7, ending their hope with a flyout. Game 6 of the 2011 World Series would allegedly be the most infamous Curse of Bob Short incident. Following the loss, writers of The Dallas Morning News,[3] The Washington Post,[2] and ESPN[4] suspect that the curse must have played a role in that kind of improbable loss. They blame not the team, but GM Bob Short who stirred up trouble and moved the team from Washington D.C. Ron Zappone of The Washington Post commented "For Rangers fans, the good news is that this is not a life sentence. Just root, root, root for the Nationals. The sooner we win, the sooner you win."[2] Following their infamous 2011 appearance, the Rangers have made the playoffs three more times, going no further than the AL Division Series in each of those times.
References
- ↑ Dave McKenna (May 3, 2021). "Bob Short Still Stinks". Defector.com.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Rocco Zappone (Oct 31, 2011). "World Series champs: First the Nationals, then the Rangers". The Washington Post.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 SportsDayStaff (Nov 1, 2011). "The truth is out - a curse is to blame for Rangers' Series loss". Dallas News.
- ↑ Sam Miller (Aug 19, 2020). "Is your favorite MLB team cursed?". ESPN.
Template:Sports-related curses
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