88 Years

The Chicago Cubs threw the 1918 World Series? Could be.

The short and dirty version of what is said in the link is that a newly found affidavit from Eddie Cicotte concerning the 1919 World Series the Chicago White Sox threw that they got the idea from the 1918 thrown World Series. There have been other reports of suspicious dealings with the 1918 World Series.

What's interesting, at least to me, is that this sort of changes the records a little. See, until 2004, the Red Sox last won a world series in 1918. But, apparently, their win in 1918 was fixed. So that means that, unless more information comes to light, the Red Sox actually endured an 88 year curse. See, prior to 1918, the last time they won a World Series was 1916 against the Brooklyn Robins (which later became the Brooklyn Dodgers, then Los Angeles Dodgers). Now, of course, considering how crooked baseball was at the time, its hard to say whether or not Boston won that one fair and square.

It could be that the only World Series the Red Sox won on the up and up have been their two most recent wins because, as we know, nothing funny about baseball these days.

viva el mustache

ps...vintage baseball information came from the amazing website Retrosheet.org...and if you're willing to kill some more baseball time, check out Baseball Reference.