exciting, informative, snarky, and very likely fabricated tales of life as an american expat in london

when the hurlyburly’s done, when the battle’s lost and won

by Jen at 8:58 pm on 15.04.2008 | 1 Comment
filed under: this sporting life

this story made my week. for a team which so often laughed at our superstitions and curses, when it comes to their own playground, it seems they’re taking no chances.

A construction worker’s bid to curse the New York Yankees by planting a Boston Red Sox jersey in their new stadium was foiled when the home team removed the offending shirt from its burial spot.

The team said it learned that a Red Sox-rooting construction worker had buried a shirt in the new Bronx stadium, which will open next year across the street from the current ballpark, from a report in the New York Post on Friday.

It took about five hours of drilling Saturday to locate the shirt under 2 feet of concrete, he said.

On Sunday, Levine and Yankees CEO Lonn Trost watched as Gramarossa and foreman Rich Corrado finished the job and pulled the shirt from the rubble.

In shreds from the jackhammers, the shirt still bore the letters “Red Sox” on the front. It was a David Ortiz jersey, No. 34.

Castignoli, 46, said he became a Red Sox fan during his childhood in 1975 when he idolized slugger Jim Rice.

As construction began for the new Yankee Stadium, Castignoli said his union got after him to work on the project. The Red Sox fan was reluctant.

“I would not go near Yankee Stadium, not for all the hot dogs in the world,” he told the Herald.

But he relented, and hatched the plan to plant the jersey. He said he worked just a single day at the stadium project.

“It was worth it,” he said.

1 Comment »

1 Comment

  • 1

    Comment by Tabitha

    17.04.2008 @ 01:54 am

    What a hoot! I followed this story from the beginning when it was first believed to be a cruel rumor. It still produces chuckles each time it’s mentioned. How I wish Castignoli never opened his big mouth.

    Sincerely,
    Not a Yankees Fan -)

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