Crisis, and curse, averted.
It took about five hours, but the Red Sox jersey that was embedded in the concrete of the Yankees' new stadium to place a curse on the New York franchise has been unearthed with jackhammers.
Earlier this week, a construction worker who is a Boston fan working on the concrete crew at the $1.3 billion new Yankee Stadium buried a Red Sox shirt in with the concrete foundation, in the hopes of jinxing the New York Yankees' new home, the New York Post reported.
The newspaper reported Sunday that two workers approached a construction manager with what they thought was the location of the jersey. After digging a two-foot by three-foot hole, the jersey was found.
"They absolutely pinpointed that if it was in the ground, that's where it was," Yankees spokeswoman Alice McGillion told the newspaper.
Initially the Yankees denied the jersey was ever buried in the footings of the new stadium. But clearly the Yankees brass is happier now with the possibility of a curse gone.
"I hope his co-workers kick the [expletive] out of him," Yankees co-chairperson Hal Steinbrenner said.
The newspaper said the jersey felt like a filthy rag, but the word "Red" was clearly visible.
The Yankees plan to donate the jersey to charity, and may pursue a lawsuit against the construction worker.
There are precedents for fans strategically burying trinkets for good luck. During the construction of the ice rink for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, a worker laid a Canadian one-dollar coin (known as a "loonie") at center ice. Canada went on to win its first gold medal in men's ice hockey since 1952.
And Mickey Bradley, a co-author of "Haunted Baseball," told the New York Post that a worker was said to have buried an unknown good-luck charm in a water main trench of the current Yankee Stadium back in 1920.
"Prior to that, they never won a World Series," he told the newspaper.
The Yankees went on to win 26 world championships since.
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