Curse of the Bambino Nanette" had originated as a non-musical stage play called "My Lady Friends", which opened on Broadway in December 1919. That play had, indeed, been financed as a direct result of the Ruth deal. Various researchers, including Montville and Shaughnessy, have pointed out that Frazee had close ties to the Yankees owners, and that many of the player deals, as well as the mortgage deal for Fenway Park itself, had to do with financing his plays. Yankee fans taunted the Red Sox with chants of "1918!" one weekend in September 1990. The demeaning chant echoed at Yankee Stadium each time the
Curse of the Bambino the St. Louis Cardinals, the team to whom they had lost in and , and led throughout the series, winning in a four-game sweep. Cardinals shortstop Édgar Rentería, who wore the same number as Ruth (3), hit the final out of the game. Glenn Stout argues that the idea of a "curse" was indirectly influenced by antisemitism, although that aspect was not part of its modern usage; he even says "This does not mean that ... anyone who writes or speaks of the Curse today -- as a journalist or a fan -- is either anti-Semitic or even remotely aware