Good things cometo those who wait — eventually

Two finals, three semi-finals and an awful lot of heartache; the near misses are scratched into the soul of every Munster supporter. Yet a dip into the sporting archives reveals that those who follow the advice of ancient Scottish king Robert The Bruce, to try, try and try again if at first they do not succeed, are very often rewarded. Eventually. SIMON LEWIS investigates.

BASEBALL’S Boston Red Sox seemed destined to suffer from the Curse of the Bambino for ever more after their failure to win a World Series stretched into an 85th year. The last time they had won baseball’s most coveted prize had been 1918 and when Babe Ruth, the Bambino, was sold to the New York Yankees two years later, many fans felt the dye had been cast.

As the Yankees became baseball’s ruling dynasty, the Red Sox went into seemingly terminal servitude, as fate, ill fortune and sometimes downright ineptitude intervened to keep them as perennial losers. It took until 1946 for Boston to appear in another World Series but they threw away the championship to the underdog St Louis Cardinals in the ninth and final innings of the seventh and deciding game. There were three more world series appearances after 1946, the most notable and dramatic came in 1986, when Boston had victory in their grasp, with only one rival batter left in Game Six. The game was first tied and then blown in the extra inning thanks to a fielding error by Bill Buckner. The game was lost and the Sox lost the seventh by throwing away a three-run lead. The opponents? The New York Mets.