Do baseball curses work?

Question

Are baseball curses real? Do you think they can actually work, or are they just an excuse?

I don't myself believe in curses, I'm just curious how everyone else feels. There's no right or wrong, it's just opinion.

Answer 1

I think the longer a team goes w/o winning, the more pressure there is, especially in large market cities. I definitely think that can get in the head of players who are in pressure situations. Do I believe in Goats, Babe Ruth, etc? NO, but I do think that sustained losing is contagious... the fans start to worry, it bleeds out onto the field and the players start to sweat.....
I thought for sure the Cubs would break their curse after the Red and White Sox did. I was starting to think it was a big conspiracy in baseball to end all the curses and draw some fans... but the Cubs are still just loveable losers.

Answer 2

Yah sometimes it is used as an excuse, but sometimes I REALLY wonder how real they are. As a Cub fan I am a good person to ask. Several really great players have played at Wrigley Field but were unable to win a World Series ring (Santo, Banks, Williams, Jenkins all in 69, Sandberg, Maddux, Sosa, Dawson, Bruce Sutter, Sutcliffe). It is really strange when you look at the history of the "Curse of the Billy Goat". In 1969, the Cubs had a very quality team. Led by Hall Of Famers Ernie Banks, Ferguson Jenkins and Billy Williams, the Cubs had a mid-month August lead at 8.5 games over the Cardinals and a full 9.5 over the Mets, but they lost several key games down the stretch. Several of these loses were against the Mets. Many superstitious fans attribute this collapse to an incident at Shea Stadium when a fan released a black cat onto the field and it pranced around the Cub dugout. The Cubs had great teams in 1984 and 1989 and late season collapses again cost them the title. I'm sure you remember the 2003 NLCS between the Cubs and Marlins and the crazy inning involving fan-interference, Mark Prior's collapse, and Alex Gonzalez's error. So in response to your question. I think curses are real in a certain sense. Whenever your team struggles and has a little bad luck and the talk of a curse on your team is brought up it really gets into the players heads. They don't use it necessarily as an excuse (because players will all tell you that the curse idea is stupid) but I really think it gets into their heads. Just ask Keith Moreland (former Cub who booted a routine pop-up in a crucial game), Bill Buckner (obvious reason), and Alex Gonzalez (Cub who booted a routine ground ball double play leading to 03 collapse) if curses can get into your head.

In order to break a "curse" I think you need a group of ignorant good baseball players. Players that don't think about anything but winning the game at hand. Hence, the 2004 sox. Damon, Ortiz, Millar, Martinez, and Ramirez (the idiots). I hope someday the cubs can do it. Too many Cub fans have suffered for a long time.

Answer 3

Of course, curses have no real effect on whether a team wins or loses. The two most famous "curses" are those on the Red Sox and Cubs. The Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, but it had been 86 years since their last. 1908 was the last year the Cubs won it all. However, this is due more to these teams stadiums: it is very hard for a team to win consistently in a hitter's park.

Answer 4

There is a diner in Chicago called Billy Goat's Tavern. The owner was a Cub Fan and he took his pet goat to a game years ago and the Cubs wouldn't let him in with the goat. He then put a curse on the Cubs. They let the goat in during the 80's and they still haven't won the whole thing. Cub fans think the curse is real but in reality the team has been bad for very long.

Answer 5

No, not really. It's just their mental mindset. If they haven't won a championship in 70 something years, they'll think that they can never win one. That's all it is. But the Red Sox finally broke through that mindset and finally won in '04. So no, baseball curses don't work and aren't real.

Answer 6

Lok at the one that is on the Cubs it has lasted fo 61 years so far it has been since 1945 that the was in the world series ,,because the wouldn't let Bil Simas in with his goat ..since then it has been the curse saying the Cubs will never get back

Answer 7

NO! It's definitely just an excuse! The Curse of the Bambino was BULL! The Boston Red Sox just SUCKED for 86 years!

Answer 8

Ask that question to any Cubs fan who helped explode the "Bartman Ball". They will tell you that it's pretty real. The Red Sox might say something diffrent though.

Answer 9

well, there is no right or wrong answer? like Red Sox for example. fans think that they cant win against the Yankees in the playoff. however, last time they faced each other the Red Sox won the conference and won the world series. so you tell me?

Answer 10

THE RED SOX WERE CURSED UNTIL 2004; THE CUBS ARE STILL CURSED.