New York Yankees - Boston Red Sox: America's Finest Rivalry

What is the most powerful rivalry in all of sports? Ohio State - Michigan in NCAA football? Duke - North Carolina in NCAA basketball? Neither of them. Real sports fans know that the New York Yankees - Boston Red Sox rivalry is unparalleled by any rivalry in any sport. Maybe the greatest variable in fueling the hate between these pair of franchises is that they have met so many times when the season is on the line. They have met 19 times in the post season, with the Yankees victorious in 11 of those meetings. The two have also met in the American League Championship Series (ALCS) three times in 1999, 2003 and 2004. Other reasons?


A Rivalry Between Cities
Long before wars were battled on the baseball diamond, Boston was greatly thought of as the economic and cultural power of the United States. New York, however, was seen as a developing and grimy city because of over population. Having said that, New York City's population began to grow with the flourishment of enormous amounts of companies and factories in addition to the construction of the Erie Canal. New York City's wealth and population dwarves that of Boston's though Boston still remains as one of the top ten biggest cities in the United States.


The Curse of the Bambino
Red Sox owner Harry Frazee had purchased the Red Sox for 500k in 1916, on credit. When 1919 rolled around, Frazee was in urgent need of money to fund musicals (he was a Broadway producer) and to help pay for the looming debt from purchasing the Red Sox. He in turn, sold several players, one of those turning out to be Babe Ruth also known as 'The Great Bambino'. Ultimately, Frazee persisted to send increasingly more players to the Yankees in later years, among them, their own manager Ed Barrow. These steps propelled the Yankees into a baseball powerhouse and sent the Red Sox into the baseball cellar. During 1920-2003, the Yankees had amassed twenty-six World Series titles to the Red Sox' 0. Many years later, future Hall of Famers like Roger Clemens, Jonny Damon, David Wells and Wade Boggs went on to play for the Yankees and the Red Sox, which would also elevate the aggression between both clubs.


American League East Rivals
Consisting of the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays, a person would have a strong case in arguing that the American League East is the roughest and most competitive division in all of baseball. Encountering each other frequently, year in and year out, a division opponent is a rival almost inescapably (Cubs-Cardinals, Mets-Phillies, Dodgers-Giants, Cubs-Brewers). The Yankees-Red Sox matchups during the regular season are often granted the primetime games such as Sunday and Wednesday night games and are well discussed by ESPN.

'Four Days in October'
Who could disregard the 2004 ALCS between the Yankees and Red Sox? Trailing the Yankees 3 games to 0 in a best of 7 series, the Red Sox rallied to win four straight games to advance to the World Series. Eventually winning the World Series over the St. Louis Cardinals, the Red Sox had broken the 'Curse of the Bambino' in a manner that not even Hollywood could script. No team in Major League Baseball history had ever rallied to win the series after being down 3-0.

The history of this rivalry will only continue to expand and become richer. The prospect of the 2011 Boston Red Sox looks very encouraging with the free agent acquisitions of Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford as they look to test the Yankees for the American League East title.

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