Baseball: curse of the bambino is reversed by a penny stuck in beer

this just in from boston....the curse of the bambino is history...here are the facts...decide for yourselves

Flip a penny, reverse the Curse
Sox vendors say 1918 coin is talisman
By Paysha Stockton, Globe Correspondent | September 6, 2004

Could the Curse finally be broken?



Joseph Coen, a 28-year-old beer seller at Fenway Park, believes it is.

Coen and John Redding, a fellow brewmeister, received what they interpret as an irrefutable sign yesterday, just before the Red Sox took on the Texas Rangers: a 1918 penny stuck to the counter of their Heineken and Miller beer stand.

They don't know who planted the coin, alongside a few others, in a patch of sticky beer on the counter of the right field concourse stand.

But its meaning is undeniable, they say: Every fan knows 1918 was the last year the Sox won the World Series, the year before George Herman ''Babe" Ruth was sold to the evil Yankees, reputedly unleashing the legendary Curse of the Bambino.

''Everyone gets it," said Coen of the penny's significance.

The good-luck penny is now taped to the stand's beer fridge, where the men plan to display it for the rest of the season. ''If you're a Red Sox fan and you've been around for this long, you get it."

In fact, the penny is the latest in a series of encouraging signs, said Coen, of Milton. ''It goes around with the other crazy stuff that was going on this year."

The Sox have won 81 games this season and lost 54. With 27 left to play, they're leading the wild-card race, and winning it would take them to the American League playoffs. Yesterday they beat the Texas Rangers, 6-5.

Rumors, superstition, and unbridled hope abound amongst vendors and fans at the park, Coen said. And signals that the team's sixth World Series win could be imminent just keep coming.

For example, Gabe Kapler and Johnny Damon sometimes stand together in the outfield, Coen said. Their numbers: 19 and 18.

Then there was the teenager struck by a foul ball last Tuesday. His address: Ruth's old house in Sudbury.

The 16-year-old boy had his two front teeth knocked out, and some fans now wonder whether his sacrifice could have lifted the Curse. Especially after the Yankees suffered their worst-ever loss that same night, under a nearly full moon.

''This is the year," Coen confirmed. ''This is just another sign."

Redding, who freed the 1918 penny from the sticky beer yesterday morning, agreed. This is the year Sox fans will finally be rewarded for their thankless loyalty and devotion, he said.

''I believe," said Redding, 34, of Brighton. ''I've been believing for the past 34 years."

This is it. It's over. The Yanks will endure years of frustration now.

I have one thing to say to that. Psychos.

Odds are, the owner put the penny there, and there is no reason for them to ask a kid where he lives. That has to be made up.

sniper is not a true beleiver...