NEW YORK, June 23 (UPI) -- A baseball bat with a direct connection to the "Curse of the Bambino" that hung over the Boston Red Sox for 86 years is set to be auctioned off.
The autographed bat was given by Babe Ruth to Broadway diva Tessa Kosta in 1924, which makes it part of the legend in which Ruth supposedly put a curse on his former Red Sox team, the New York Post reported Monday.
The legend says Ruth put a hex on the Sox when owner Harry Frazee sold his contract to the Yankees in 1920 for $125,000, a sum Frazee then invested in the production of the hit Broadway musical "No, No, Nanette." Ruth's move to the Yankees began a run of 26 World Series titles for the Bronx Bombers while the Red Sox, which had won the World Series in 1912, 1915, 1916, and 1918, didn't win a World Series again until 2004. They also won last season.
The Post said the bat's connection to the curse comes from the fact that Tessa Kosta's husband was Richard Madden, a theater agent who represented Eugene O'Neill and was a producer of "No, No, Nanette."
The bat will be part of an auction July 14-15 at the Javits Center in New York.
