1904....McGraw's World Series"curse" on Boston

[Archive]

Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

In a current "post-war" O/T thread this discussion came up and I think it deserves a thread of it's
own. As, it is a worthwhile pre-war event in BB history that has not been fully appreciated.

In 1904 John McGraw put the "1st Curse" on the Boston Americans by refusing to play them in the
World Series. He stated that the Boston Pilgrims were not worthy of playing his Giants in the World
Series; and, proclaimed his NY Giants as the World Champs. My take on this is that he did not want
to face the likes of CYoung, Bill Dineen and Jessie Tannehill that year; and, risk losing to all his glory
to the hated AL prez....Ban Johnson. McGraw's vendetta against Ban Johnson stems from Johnson's
rejection of McGraw's request to be Manager of the NY Highlanders in 1902.

1904 was the year Jack Chesbro won his yet unequalled 41 games for the NY Highlanders. So I'll fast-
forward to the last day of the 1904 season....Oct 10th. Chesbro is chosen to pitch the "do or die" 1st
game of a double-header vs Boston's Bill Dineen. In the 9th inning the score is 2-2. With 2 outs (Lou
Criger on 3rd) and a 0-2 count on Fred Parent (who Chesbro had struck out twice that day), Chesbro
commits the "ultimate sin"....he fails to simply "waste" the next pitch to Parent and delivers a wild one.
Criger scores the winning run and Boston wins the AL pennant.

Call it the McGraw "curse" or "hex"; but, it wasn't just him that would not respect....not only Boston's
wishes....but the wishes of 1000's of New Yorkers who petitioned the NL to play the World Series. The
other culprits were Brush (Giant's owner) and Pulliam (NL prez.) that supported McGraw.

The entire 1904 season is fascinating and well documented....I recommend "The Year They Called Off
the World Series", by Benton Stark.

Finally, 100 years later in 2004 the Red Sox were World Champs....after a full century, the ghost of
McGraw no longer haunts them.

And yes, during Ruth's tenure with Boston (1914-19), the McGraw "curse" was ineffective....Ruth was
that powerful.

TED Z