The Yankees-Red Sox Rivalry is one of the longest and most bitter rivalries in American professional sports. For nearly 90 years, baseball’s New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox of the American League have been chief rivals, compounded by their geographic proximity and the relative success of the Yankees in comparison to the relative frustration of the Red Sox. The Yankees have the advantage in the all-time series with a record of 1,060-879 (.547) through the 2005 season. The Yankees also hold lopsided advantages in World Series Championships (26 to 6) and American League pennants (39 to 11). In the playoffs the clubs have squared off three times, the Yankees winning two times, and the Red Sox once.

During the early 20th Century, the Red Sox were one of the most successful teams in baseball. The team won the inaugural World Series in 1903 and four more between 1912 and 1918. During this period, the Yankees were called the Highlanders, in reference to playing their games in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, and routinely finished near the bottom of the standings.

In 1916, the Red Sox were purchased by Harry Frazee on credit for $500,000. Though the team won the World Series in 1918, Frazee was hard-pressed to pay off the loans he accrued by purchasing the team and by producing Broadway shows. After the Red Sox finished sixth in the American League in 1919, Frazee sold several Red Sox players, including pitcher-turned-outfielder Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees. Frazee received $125,000 and a loan of $300,000 - secured on Fenway Park, the Red Sox’ home stadium - for Ruth.

Ruth’s arrival in New York simultaneously launched the Yankee dynasty while ravaging the Red Sox. While the Red Sox’ five World Series titles were a record at the time, 1918 would be the team’s last championship for 86 years. Meanwhile, Ruth’s home run hitting prowess anchored the Yankee line-up, which became known as Murderer’s Row in the mid-1920’s. After his trade to the Yankees, Ruth’s new team reached the World Series seven times during his career in New York, winning four. This abrupt reversal of fortunes for the Boston Red Sox marked the beginning of the supposed Curse of the Bambino.

Between 1920 and 2003, the New York Yankees won 26 World Series championships and 39 American League pennants, compared to only 4 American League pennants and no World Series titles for the Boston Red Sox. During this time, the Red Sox finished second in the standings to the Yankees on 12 occasions - in 1938, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1949, 1978, and every year from 1998 to 2003. During the 84 year period, the Yankees finished with a better regular-season record than the Red Sox 66 times. After the advent of post-season baseball prior to the World Series in 1969, the two teams faced each other three times in the American League playoffs - in the American League Championship Series in 1999, 2003, and 2004, the first two won by the Yankees and the latter won by the Red Sox.

In 2004, the Red Sox won the season series against the Yankees, but still finished second to their rivals in the AL East for the seventh straight season. Both teams would advance to the ALCS for the second straight year. The Yankees, who had home field advantage for the second year in a row, started out strong, winning the first three games, putting an exclamation point on their Game 3 victory with an eleven run win. Most observers believed that “the Curse of the Bambino” was still going strong, as no team had ever come from being three games down to win any series in the history of baseball. Everything seemed to be going the Yankees’ way entering the ninth inning of Game 4 at Fenway, when the usually automatic Mariano Rivera came in to seal the victory with his team up by a run, three outs away from a sweep. However, he walked the leadoff batter and then gave up an RBI single to Bill Mueller, tying the game. The Red Sox would go on to win the game in the bottom of the 12th inning with a home run by David Ortiz.

From there, the Red Sox went on to win three more games in a row, winning Game 7 at Yankee Stadium by seven runs. After having finally achieved a major victory over the Yankees, the World Series seemed almost pedestrian and anti-climatic, with the Red Sox over-powering the St. Louis Cardinals in four games for their first World Series crown in 86 years.

With the World Series triumph by the Red Sox, many have pronounced the “Curse of the Bambino” to be dead and buried. Some have remarked that the “curse” may even have been transferred to the Yankees, having been within only a few outs of winning the 2001 World Series and the 2004 ALCS, both in instances slightly reminiscent of the Red Sox’ heart-breaking collapse in the 1986 World Series.

It remains to be seen whether the 2004 triumph of the Red Sox has permanently altered the face of the rivalry. During the 2005 season, the Yankees again won the season series, and came from behind to win first place in the AL East from the Red Sox, who had reigned in that position for much of the second half of the season. Though the teams were poised to face off in a third straight ALCS, both were eliminated during the Division Series.

Generally speaking, Red Sox fans, known as Red Sox Nation, tend to have a more intense dislike of the Yankees than Yankees fans have for the Red Sox, though this is likely a function of the Yankees success at the Red Sox expense; in other words, Yankee fans disliked the Red Sox less simply because the Red Sox were not the thorn in the Yankees’ side that the Yankees were for Red Sox fans. It was not uncommon to hear the “Yankees Suck” chant at Fenway Park even when the Yankees were not in town, although this is less typical following the Red Sox’s World Series championship in 2004. Yankees fans similarly chant “Boston Sucks” when the teams play each other, and most Yankee fans will admit that the Red Sox are easily their biggest rivals.

In 2005, Yankee outfielder Gary Sheffield was involved in an altercation with a Red Sox fan at Fenway Park. The fan was ejected and was stripped of his season tickets, while Sheffield was not punished, as MLB ruled that the fan instigated the altercation. This was the most recent of several player-fan incidents during Boston-New York games at either venue over the years. In December of 2005, long time Red Sox favorite Johnny Damon was signed by the Yankees for $52 million, adding another chapter to the rivalry.