By: History.com Editors

2004

Red Sox win first championship since 1918

History.com Editors

Published: November 16, 2009

Last Updated: January 30, 2025

On October 27, 2004, the Boston Red Sox win the World Series for the first time since 1918, finally vanquishing the so-called “Curse of the Bambino” that had plagued them for 86 years. “This is for anyone who has ever rooted for the Red Sox,” Boston general manager Theo Epstein tells reporters. “This is for all of Red Sox Nation, past and present.”

Ever since team owner Harry Frazee sold the great Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920, the Red Sox had been unable to win the World Series. Some believed the team was cursed. Before 1920, the Red Sox had won five championships, the Yankees none. After the Babe left, Boston’s well ran dry. The Yankees, meanwhile, won a record 26 World Series after 1920.

Boston had its chances to snap the streak.

In the 1946 World Series against St. Louis, the Red Sox were winning Game 7 with two outs in the eighth—until shortstop Johnny Pesky held onto a relay throw just long enough for Enos Slaughter to score the winning run from first base. Boston lost the World Series in 1967 and 1975, too.

Three years later, in a one-game playoff for the AL pennant, the Red Sox lost when  light-hitting Yankees shortstop Bucky Dent cranked a three-run home run over the Green Monster. (The Yankees won the game and went on to win their 22nd World Series.) In the 10th inning of Game 6 in the 1986 World Series against the Mets, an error by Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner plated the winning run. The Mets beat the Red Sox in Game 7 for the title.

But in 2004, the team’s luck changed.

The Yanks were three games up in the AL Championship Series, but Boston made a miraculous comeback and swept the last four. Boston's opponent in the World Series, the St. Louis Cardinals, had the best regular-season record in the majors. But in the World Series, their pitching was weak and their batting was worse. The Red Sox won the first three games handily.

In Game 4 in St. Louis, Johnny Damon led off with a homer, and Trot Nixon’s bases-loaded double in the third scored two more. Pitcher Derek Lowe gave up just three hits in seven innings as Boston won, 3-0.

“This,” wrote a columnist for the Boston Globe, “is what it must have felt like in 1918.”

In the 2007 World Series, the Sox did it again—they swept the Rockies for another easy victory. They won the World Series again in 2013 and 2018.

7 of the Most Memorable World Series in Baseball History

In 1956, the New York Yankees' Don Larsen, an 'imperfect man,' pitched a perfect game—the only one in World Series history.

Pitcher Don Larson of the New York Yankees delivers the first pitch to Jim Gilliam of the Brooklyn Dodgers as catcher Yogi Berra and umpire Babe Pinelli look on during Game 5 of the 1956 World Series on October 8, 1956 at Yankee Stadium. Larson would go on to pitch a perfect game against the Dodgers. (Photo by Stanley Weston/Getty Images)

By: Chris Mueller

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on October 27th

1659

Quakers executed for religious beliefs

William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson, two Quakers who came from England in 1656 to escape religious persecution, are executed in the Massachusetts Bay Colony for their religious beliefs. The two had violated a law passed by the Massachusetts General Court the year before, banning Quakers from the colony under penalty of death.

1858

Theodore Roosevelt is born

On October 27, 1858, future President Theodore Roosevelt is born in New York City to a wealthy family. Roosevelt was home-schooled and then attended Harvard University, graduating in 1880. He served in the New York state legislature from 1881 to 1884.

1873

Joseph Glidden applies for a patent on his barbed wire design

On October 27, 1873, a DeKalb, Illinois, farmer named Joseph Glidden submits an application to the U.S. Patent Office for his clever new design for a fencing wire with sharp barbs, an invention that will forever change the face of the American West.

1904

New York City subway opens

At 2:35 on the afternoon of October 27, 1904, New York City Mayor George McClellan takes the controls on the inaugural run of the city’s innovative new rapid transit system: the subway.

Seth Low

1932

Poet Sylvia Plath is born

On October 27, 1932, poet Sylvia Plath is born in Boston. Her father, a German immigrant, was a professor of biology and a leading expert on bumblebees. An autocrat at home, he insisted his wife give up teaching to raise their two children. He died at home after a lingering illness that consumed the energy of the entire household and left the family penniless. Sylvia’s mother went to work as a teacher and raised her two children alone.

1940

Mafia boss John Gotti is born

John Joseph Gotti, Jr., the future head of the Gambino crime family and a man later nicknamed “the Dapper Don” due to his polished appearance and expensive suits, is born in the Bronx, New York.

1961

Appeals court upholds Chuck Berry’s conviction

On October 27, 1961, a U.S. appeals court affirms rock 'n' roller Chuck Berry's second conviction for transporting a minor across state lines for immoral purposes in violation of the Mann Act. After an earlier conviction in the case had been thrown out a year earlier, Berry was retried—and this time, the charges stuck. He was sentenced to three years in prison.

1962

The United States and Soviet Union step back from brink of nuclear war

Complicated and tension-filled negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union finally result in a plan to end the two-week-old Cuban Missile Crisis. A frightening period in which nuclear holocaust seemed imminent began to come to an end.

1994

Justice Department announces that U.S. prison population exceeds one million

The U.S. Justice Department announces that the U.S. prison population has topped one million for the first time in American history. The figure—1,012,851 men and women were in state and federal prisons—did not include local prisons, where an estimated 500,000 prisoners were held, usually for short periods. The increase, due to tougher sentencing laws, made the United States second only to Russia in the world for incarceration rates at the time. Today, the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world.

2006

Chick-fil-A founder takes last Ford Taurus

On October 27, 2006, the last Ford Taurus rolls off the assembly line in Hapeville, Georgia. The keys to the silver car went to 85-year-old Truett Cathy, the founder of the Chick-fil-A fast-food franchise, who took it straight to his company’s headquarters in Atlanta and added it to an elaborate display that included 19 other cars, including one of the earliest Fords. “I do have this disease of collecting cars,” Cathy told a reporter. “I was very sorry [the workers at the Ford plant] lost their jobs,” he said, but “since I was gonna get the keys, I was glad for that.”

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History.com Editors

HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. Articles with the “HISTORY.com Editors” byline have been written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Missy Sullivan, Matt Mullen and Christian Zapata.

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Citation Information

Article title
Red Sox win first championship since 1918
Website Name
History
Date Accessed
March 23, 2025
Publisher
A&E Television Networks
Last Updated
January 30, 2025
Original Published Date
November 16, 2009

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