# I hope Boston wins the World Series **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 5, 2004, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hope-boston-wins-the-world-series/267748 "2004-10-05T22:49:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hope-boston-wins-the-world-series/267748/81 "2004-10-20T06:57:37Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Not just MLB history, North American sports history. No team in MLB, The NBA or the NHL has ever gagged up a 3-0 series lead. The Leafs in '67, and the Islanders in '75 both won series after being down 3-0. Those are the only two times that that has happened in North American major sports. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hope-boston-wins-the-world-series/267748/82 "2004-10-20T07:08:46Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > That all depends upon when you consider “modern” baseball to have started. Let’s not forget that when a team moves their record goes with them (with a few exceptions), and the predecessors of the Orioles were the St. Louis Browns (boy, Baltimore has a thing for teams called the Browns, don’t they?), and they were the second-worst team in the American League throughout their history. > > Truth is, taking the whole team history into account, they have always been perennial losers with the exception of 1966-1983 when they won a few World Series. > > And before you get your panties in a wad, the same can be said of the Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins, perennial losers all, although the Steelers have been able to mostly shrug that mantle off unlike the Buccos and the Pens, who strung together a few good years on very rare occasions and were bottom feeders the rest of the time. Oh, point taken, but when a team changes it’s name, the history restarts, and the O’s from the mid 60s to the mid 90s did have the highest winning percentage in MLB. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hope-boston-wins-the-world-series/267748/83 "2004-10-20T11:59:24Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > > [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > > > Not just MLB history, North American sports history. No team in MLB, The NBA or the NHL has ever gagged up a 3-0 series lead. > > The Leafs in '67, and the Islanders in '75 both won series after being down 3-0. Those are the only two times that that has happened in North American major sports. [Just to clarify:](http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/baseball/mlb/specials/postseason/2004/10/20/panic.pinstripes.ap/) > [@](#): > > Boston became the first team in baseball history to pull even after trailing 3-0 in a best-of-seven series. Only twice in North American major professional sports has a club come back to win such a series after dropping the first three games, both times in hockey: the New York Islanders against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the quarterfinals of the 1975 NHL playoffs and the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Detroit Red Wings in the 1942 Stanley Cup finals. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hope-boston-wins-the-world-series/267748/84 "2004-10-20T12:30:38Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > That all depends upon when you consider “modern” baseball to have started. Let’s not forget that when a team moves their record goes with them (with a few exceptions), and the predecessors of the Orioles were the St. Louis Browns (boy, Baltimore has a thing for teams called the Browns, don’t they?), and they were the second-worst team in the American League throughout their history. Only second worst? Who was worst? The A’s? ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hope-boston-wins-the-world-series/267748/85 "2004-10-20T12:31:46Z")
> [@The\_Raven](#): > > Fuck the arrogant, cheating, sign-stealing Yankees, how about Curt frickin Schilling? Gets meatball surgery on his ankle the day before the game and doesn’t tell anybody, tears the sutures and soaks his sock with blood, and goes out and throws 7 innings of 1 run, 4 hit ball. Got a link? I don’t see this mentioned anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hope-boston-wins-the-world-series/267748/86 "2004-10-20T12:39:29Z")
> [@World Eater](#): > > Got a link? I don’t see this mentioned anywhere. It’s in [this article](http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylc=X3oDMTBpbmdmam0wBF9TAzI1NjY0ODI1BHNlYwN0bQ--?slug=dw-game6alcs101804&prov=yhoo&type=lgns) from Yahoo. Somewhere else I can’t find again said that the stiches were taken out immediately after the game. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hope-boston-wins-the-world-series/267748/87 "2004-10-20T12:57:55Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > It’s in [this article](http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylc=X3oDMTBpbmdmam0wBF9TAzI1NjY0ODI1BHNlYwN0bQ--?slug=dw-game6alcs101804&prov=yhoo&type=lgns) from Yahoo. Somewhere else I can’t find again said that the stiches were taken out immediately after the game. I take my hat off to him, that was gutsy. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hope-boston-wins-the-world-series/267748/88 "2004-10-20T13:10:33Z")
That’s a good point about Schilling. I hope the A-Rod play doesn’t overshadow such a gutty performance. If the Sox win tonight, the image of Schilling pitching with a shoe full of blood is going to be up there in history with Kirk Gibson’s homerun and Michael Jordan playing with food poisoning. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hope-boston-wins-the-world-series/267748/89 "2004-10-20T13:42:31Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > The Leafs in '67, and the Islanders in '75 both won series after being down 3-0. Those are the only two times that that has happened in North American major sports. Oh, what the hell, it’s happened in baseball, too. In the 1937 Little World Series, the American Association champion Columbus Redbirds won the first 3 in Newark, then the International League champion Bears came back to win 4 straight in Columbus, to take the Who Cares Cup. Insert your own crack about the Yankees starring in “My Big, Fat, Obnoxious Boss”. Isn’t George the only publicity-hungry rich guy left without his own reality show? Or is this it? ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hope-boston-wins-the-world-series/267748/90 "2004-10-21T00:46:50Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > Only second worst? Who was worst? The A’s? For the record, I did some toting up of figures for the sixteen clubs that existed from 1901 through 1968, when the first edition of the Macmillan _Baseball Encyclopedia_ was published. Teams that had over .500 records: Yankees, Tigers, White Sox, Giants, Dodgers, Pirates, Cubs, Cards. Records around .500: Indians, Red Sox, Reds. Below .500: Senators, A’s, Browns/Orioles, Phillies, Braves. The Pirates won pennants in 1901-03, 1909, 1925, 1927, 1960, 1971, and 1979. And but for Gabby Hartnett’s “Homer in the Gloaming” they would have won in 1938 too. (And remember the “Green Weenie” of 1966?) If you care to look at the lists of standings for the Pirates from their inception in 1887, you can decide for yourself whether they have been “bottom feeders” most of the time in their NL history. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hope-boston-wins-the-world-series/267748/91 "2004-10-21T01:08:12Z")
Grand fucking slam! That’ll make up for some oh-fers. **dougie\_monty** , nice legwork. I’d completely forgotten about the Senators. How’d I do that? ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hope-boston-wins-the-world-series/267748/92 "2004-10-21T03:55:34Z")
I fully expect **World Eater** to be a gentleman about tonight, and he has shown such tendencies several times before. Failing that, there’s [this](http://www.heimlichinstitute.org/howtodo.html). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hope-boston-wins-the-world-series/267748/93 "2004-10-21T05:15:43Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > The Leafs in '67, and the Islanders in '75 both won series after being down 3-0. Those are the only two times that that has happened in North American major sports. Nitpick; the Leafs team that came back from being down 3-0 was the 1942 Leafs, against Detroit. The 1967 team did win the Stanley Cup, but in much easier fashion, beating Montreal 4 games to 2, ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hope-boston-wins-the-world-series/267748/94 "2004-10-21T05:26:52Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > For the record, I did some toting up of figures for the sixteen clubs that existed from 1901 through 1968, when the first edition of the Macmillan _Baseball Encyclopedia_ was published. > Teams that had over .500 records: Yankees, Tigers, White Sox, Giants, Dodgers, Pirates, Cubs, Cards. > Records around .500: Indians, Red Sox, Reds. > Below .500: Senators, A’s, Browns/Orioles, Phillies, Braves. > The Pirates won pennants in 1901-03, 1909, 1925, 1927, 1960, 1971, and 1979. And but for Gabby Hartnett’s “Homer in the Gloaming” they would have won in 1938 too. (And remember the “Green Weenie” of 1966?) > If you care to look at the lists of standings for the Pirates from their inception in 1887, you can decide for yourself whether they have been “bottom feeders” most of the time in their NL history. Yeah, there is all that, but they had stretches in between where they couldn’t buy a sniff of the first division, not even with Ralph Kiner leading the league in homers multiple times. Their success has been sporadic at best. And how could anyone forget the Washington Senators? First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![King\_Friday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@King\_Friday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_Friday)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hope-boston-wins-the-world-series/267748/95 "2004-10-21T05:55:13Z")
> [@Dooku](#): > > Bah. My beloved Cards will crush \<\\> Insert _losing_ American rep.? Does that mean the Cardinals and Yankees will play a consolation game for 3rd place? ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hope-boston-wins-the-world-series/267748/96 "2004-10-21T05:56:21Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Nitpick; the Leafs team that came back from being down 3-0 was the 1942 Leafs, against Detroit. > > The 1967 team did win the Stanley Cup, but in much easier fashion, beating Montreal 4 games to 2, Yeah, I was going from memory, which is never a good idea for me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hope-boston-wins-the-world-series/267748/97 "2004-10-21T08:51:02Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > Yeah, there is all that, but they had stretches in between where they couldn’t buy a sniff of the first division, not even with Ralph Kiner leading the league in homers multiple times. Their success has been sporadic at best. > > And how could anyone forget the Washington Senators? First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League. 🙂 That’s true enough about Pittsburgh; ask Joe Garagiola about the 1952 team. 😃 In 1911 and 1913, the Giants and the A’s were in the World Series. In 1915 they both finished last. In _The Fireside Book of Baseball_ was this partial verse: We may emulate the dive Of the Cubs of ‘25 We ain’t _that_ bad, Mr. Gallagher. That’s what you think, Mr. Grimm. Four years later the Cubs won the pennant. The A’s won 36 games and lost 117 in 1915 (Joe Bush was the “ace” of the staff with 15 wins, more than 40% of the team’s total). In 1929, 1930, and 1931, the A’s won the pennant; and they took the Series twice. As for the Senators, they had several good years when they did not win the pennant (1912, 1913 and 1945, for example); in 1913 they won 90 games; Walter Johnson won 36, or 40%, of that total. And guess who beat them in the 1925 Series? The Pirates! 😃 The point: Losing years don’t detract from winning ones, and, as I noted, the Pirates’ overall won-lost records, from 1901 through 1968, was better than average. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hope-boston-wins-the-world-series/267748/98 "2004-10-21T16:02:10Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Wait for it. Still waiting 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hope-boston-wins-the-world-series/267748/99 "2004-10-21T16:04:56Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > In _The Fireside Book of Baseball_ … My dad finally sent me his copies of the first two; I’m so pleased. Remember dice baseball? [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hope-boston-wins-the-world-series/267748/100 "2004-10-21T16:15:53Z")
I’m very tired. And a tad hung over. I told myself I would never care again. Guess I was wrong. Well, I’ll qualify that: I don’t care now if they win the World Series. As long as they don’t choke completely, I’ll be perfectly at peace with whatever the outcome. But when the Sox began this streak to snatch victory from the jaws of Yankee defeat, I couldn’t help but get sucked in. Goddamnit, I tried to resist, but Sox fever infected me again. And I’ll be a flaming-trousered liar if I didn’t savor every moment of last night’s desruction of the New York Yankees. I wish I could have had George Steinbrenner in the room with us so we could see his pain. I don’t dislike Torre, or even Jeter (OK, maybe I dislike that punk A-Rod a tad). The Yankee coaching staff and many of the players are the best money can buy. And that’s why I would have loved to see the look on Steinbrenner’s face, that bastard. Just to watch Moneybags Poacher Rat Bastard Steinbrenner watch all those millions flushed down the john while giving him a fat Bronx Cheer would have been so very sweet. Aw fuck, I’ve got the disease again. Bullshit, I don’t care about the World Series. Who am I trying to kid. Fuck fuck fuckity fuck. Go Sox! Break da Curse! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hope-boston-wins-the-world-series/267748.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hope-boston-wins-the-world-series/267748.md?page=6)