Baseball Curses: Curse of the Colonel
Curse of the Colonel is an urban legend that believes that a curse was put on the Japanese team Hanshin Tigers. According to the local fans, it was placed on the team by the late KFC founder Colonel Harland Sanders, who was also their mascot.
The curse is supposedly the reason that the Tigers have managed no wins at the Japan Championship since the 1985, when they had their first and only victory. The curse started when upon the victory of the Japan Championship, when excited fans tossed the
statue of Colonel Sanders into Dotonbori River. Colonel expressed anger over the way his store-front statues had been mistreated.
Fans believe that the curse would not be lifted until the statue was recovered. So that means no Japan Championship wins for the team.
In 1985 the Tigers went against the Seibu Lions and to the surprise of many people, they managed to defeat them, winning the Japanese Championship for the first time. Unfortunately that was the last time till present day that they managed to win the Championship.
In the celebrations of their first win, the fans went absolutely berserk and gathered near the Dotonbori River. Over there the supporters assembled started yelling the players name and then a fan that would resemble the player would jump into the river. However
when it came to Randy Bass, there was no one who resembled him except for the statue of Colonel who supported a beard and was not Japanese. They ended up tossing the statue into the river and that is where it all began. According to the legend, until and unless
every part of the status is recovered, the Tigers will not be able to win any Championship title.
After their success in 1985, they started on a downward journey that would lead to one defeat after another. With so many defeats lined up, the Tigers are now one of the worst teams present, if not the absolute worst. There were two instances, once in 1992
and once in 1999 when the Tigers came close to winning, but it all ended in disappointment.
In 2003, the team qualified for the Central League and many newspapers and fans expected 2003 to be the year when the curse would be lifted. Their rivals had lost their star player Hideki Matsui and the Tigers had gained Hideki Irabu, who came back to Japan
to play after some time with the Texas Rangers. Once again all hopes were broken when they lost to Fukuoka Daiei Hawks. So the curse remains intact till present day.
Like other curses, attempts were made to rid the team of the curse. This would mean that the statue has to be recovered so divers were sent in the river to find the statue but could not. The fans collectively apologised to the store manager as well, but
to no avail since they still did not manage a championship win.
After 24 lengthy years, divers recovered some parts of the original Colonel statue that was thrown into the river. The Hanshin fans that were present at the venue immediately recognised the statue but sadly it was only the upper body of the long lost Colonel.
The curse is said to continue to this day in Japan.
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