Fans Young And Old See Curse Reversed

The Following Article Appeared In The Franklin County Edition On Sunday, October 28, 2007 Of The Burlington Free Press Which Is Only Distributed In Franklin County

Fans young and old see curse reversed

For some, the ghosts of Red Sox past are a faded memory

By Rick Burnham
Free Press Correspondent

FAIRFAX — It is Friday, a travel day for baseball's two World Series contenders and their fans, a day of rest in preparation for a showdown in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains.

Reginald Barkyoumb, Maryann Raymond, Shayne Kirby and Jacob Millette spend the day among friends and family, bracing for a pivotal Game 3 on Saturday, and hopefully for Red Sox fans, a deciding Game 4 today.

They have much in common, these four, each a lifelong resident of Fairfax, and each an upstanding citizen of Red Sox nation. They follow the team ever so closely, holding their breath before each David Ortiz swing, before each Josh Beckett pitch. They celebrated 2007 in high fashion, both for the banner year of the Sox and the struggles of that other team, the one in pinstripes.

That's what Red Sox fans do.

What they don't do is shrug off the "curse of the Bambino." In 1920, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees, and the slugger went on to claim immortality playing for the hated team from the Big Apple. The Red Sox, meanwhile, wallowed for decades in mediocrity. While the Yankees claimed 26 titles in the years following the sale, the Red Sox had to wait until 2004 to win their first since 1918.

Innocence of youth

Don't tell Kirby about a curse. A junior at Bellows Free Academy-Fairfax, the 16-year-old says it is given too much blame for the struggles of the team. "It's nothing," says Kirby, who says Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia is his favorite player. "It's a bunch of crap. It was just a bunch of bad luck."

Jacob Millette offers a similar reponse to the curse. Never heard of it, he says with a smile. Never heard of Bill Buckner, either. But he has heard plenty of Ortiz — "Big Papi" — his favorite player. Only 8, Jacob has a lifetime to learn about the team’s struggles throughout the 20th century.
Faith rewarded

Barkyoumb and Raymond lived those struggles. And they are more than familiar with the curse.

Commonly referred to as Fairfax's No. 1 Red Sox fan, Barkyoumb began following the team when his sons began playing Little League baseball in the '60s. He has been hooked ever since.

"I used to listen to them on the radio, back before they were on television,” he said.

He became so wrapped up in the team that he bought a second home in Winter Haven, Fla., to watch the team play its spring training games (the team has since moved to Fort Myers). And he still has the ticket stub from Game 6 of the 1975 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds, the game won by a Carlton Fisk home run down the left field line.

That ticket cost him $7.50, he said.

He has developed a heart problem over the years, not necessarily caused by the team's difficulties, but certainly not helped fey them. He grimaces at the mere mention of Buckner, calling the Red Sox first baseman's key error in the '86 Series I against the New York Mets "disastrous."

Like many older Red Sox fans, he considers former slugger Carl Yastrzemski one of his all-time favorites. Raymond will go along with that choice, although she also speaks highly of the “Gold Dust twins," Fred Lynn and Jim Rice of the '75 Series team, and their outfield mate Dwight Evans.

She joins Millette in the David Ortiz fan club, saying that there is not a Red Sox fan alive who doesn't like "Big Papi."

Raymond also favors slugger Manny Ramirez, who she says "makes me laugh the most.”

“Most get disgusted with him," she says. "I think he is what makes that club loose."

Raymond actually started out as a Brooklyn Dodgers fan. But when that team moved to Los Angeles in 1958, her friends persuaded her to pledge allegiance to the Red Sox.

Barkyoumb and Raymond remember that joyous October evening in 2004, when the curse, of the Bambino officially died in St. Louis.

"The phone never stopped ringing all night long," he said. "It was unbelievable. We had ia big party afterward."

The results of that game changed Raymond for eternity.

"In the years preceding their World Series title, I could not watch when they were playing a big game," she said. "I would do a lot of 'peeking.' I would look at the score and run away, like a lot of fans did. Now I watch come hell or high water, like a lot of fans do."