Ranking the 30 Worst Sports Betrayals of All Time After Lane Kiffin's LSU Deal
Sports loyalty is a fragile thing. It's built on the belief that the people on your "team" care about the same things you do. Then someone signs with the rival you were trained to despise and everything you thought you understood about the relationship snaps at once. Sound familiar?
Betrayal cuts deeper in sports because fans invest years in a connection that teams can sever in a single decision. The reasons vary. Money. Power. Talent. Sometimes it's a coaching change delivered through a fax. Other times a star chooses the team that ripped out your heart in the playoffs.
What follows is a ranking—based on fan outrage, rivalry stakes, shock factor and long-term fallout—of the 30 moments that left fanbases stunned, shook, furious and permanently changed. Et tu, Lane?
Note: Franchise moves and "betrayals of the game" such as gambling infractions and illegal actions are omitted due to their outsized impact compared to transactions.
30. George Karl's Memoir Targets Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin
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The Betrayer: George Karl
The Betrayed: Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin and many Nuggets fans
Former NBA coach George Karl wrote a memoir titled Furious George published in 2017 that reignited long-standing tensions with former players. The book's rollout leaned into controversy.
In fact, it's fair to say the rift between coach and players will never be closed. Kenyon Martin, who played under Karl with the Nuggets, said in 2024 on the Gil's Arena podcast (h/t Basketball Network):
"You're a horrible person, George. Like, live with that, dog. God don't like ugly bro. And you ugly as s--t on the inside … You didn't add no value to nobody bruh, not one of us. As a coach, as a person, you didn't add value to the sh** that we did, including Carmelo Anthony, so don't act like you was there doing people favors like you helped us."
In the book, Karl aimed most of his ire at Anthony and Martin, whom he dismissed as "AAU babies." The familiar critiques were all there: defensive inconsistency and erratic leadership, but then he got nasty, invoking their single-mother households.
That move, more than the basketball analysis, ignited a public backlash. The tone felt pointed, even punitive, and many Nuggets fans and former players saw it as an unnecessary reopening of old wounds—personal shots at players who had long since moved on.
29. Mel Tucker Jumps from Colorado to Michigan State
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The Betrayer: Mel Tucker
The Betrayed: Colorado players, recruits and fans
Colorado believed it had found its long-term builder in head coach Mel Tucker. He spoke of permanence and place and convinced boosters and recruits alike that he was committed long-term.
Yet even as he moved through a donor event at the Denver Country Club in Feb. 2020, his next act was already unfolding elsewhere. Supporters later described the scene as surreal, per Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger and Pat Forde. They sensed something off in his voice, in his eyes, in the way he sidestepped questions about Michigan State's pursuit. Within hours he struck a deal that more than doubled his salary.
Many Colorado players learned through social media that their coach was gone. It felt like a familiar ruse and it set the program back once again. Fans did not begrudge the money. They bristled, rightly, at the public declarations of loyalty hours before he boarded a private jet toward Michigan State.
28. DeAndre Jordan Backs Out on Mavericks
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The Betrayer: DeAndre Jordan
The Betrayed: Mavericks front office, Mark Cuban and Dallas fans
DeAndre Jordan gave Dallas a verbal commitment in free agency. He was to be the team's next great big next to Dirk Nowitzki. The Mavericks built their 2015 offseason around his arrival and Cuban reportedly traveled to speak with him during the final hours. Then Clippers teammates arrived at his home, locked him inside his house in Houston and convinced him to stay with the Clippers.
During all this, a war of emojis broke out on Twitter between all parties involved.
Dallas ended up without its primary target and had no realistic replacements left. Fans saw it as a soft commitment that collapsed at the last minute. Jordan did nothing against league rules, but the manner of the reversal and the silence during the final hours made Dallas feel deliberately cut out of a decision it thought was settled.
It's no wonder once he finally landed with the Mavs in 2019, he didn't last a full season before he was shipped out in a trade.
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27. The Sixers' Daryl Morey-James Harden Saga
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The Betrayer: Daryl Morey
The Betrayed: James Harden and 76ers fans
James Harden publicly dragged Daryl Morey for being an all-caps "LIAR" in August 2023 over the star guard's desire for a trade after the sides didn't agree on a long-term extension.
What followed was a standoff that played out through training camp, social media, press conferences and even a league investigation. The Philadelphia 76ers eventually traded him to the Clippers. Sixers fans were trapped between two losing outcomes while losing the best player Joel Embiid had played next to at that point.
Harden stands firm he was misled and clearly felt betrayed. The team believed it needed to move on from the distraction and bad blood. The split created an atmosphere that leaked into player morale.
The betrayal for fans was not the trade itself but the public unraveling of a relationship that had once been one of the strongest star and executive partnerships in the league. In many ways, they were the paradigm for the player/executive dynamic. Until they weren't.
26. Pat Riley Resigns by Fax
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The Betrayer: Pat Riley
The Betrayed: New York Knicks organization and fans
Riley was the face of the Knicks revival in the 1990s. He instilled the pathos of the "blood in the Garden" era. Then in 1995, shockingly, he chose to leave the franchise, not through a meeting or press conference, but with a faxed resignation letter.
It royally pissed off the Knicks fanbase that built a cultural identity around his style. Gen X and older fans still seethe from this betrayal, fueling their hatred of Riley's current team, the Miami Heat. The moment felt abrupt and impersonal, which amplified the sense of abandonment.
Riley wanted ownership stake in the Knicks and was denied, so he got it in Miami, where he built a championship culture. Knicks fans were left to watch from afar as the architect of their era achieved his greatest run elsewhere. The fax became a symbol of analog heartbreak for the Orange and Blue faithful.
25. Lincoln Riley Leaves Oklahoma for USC
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The Betrayer: Lincoln Riley
The Betrayed: Oklahoma players, recruits and fans
In five seasons at Oklahoma, Lincoln Riley won four Big 12 championships and led the Sooners to the College Football Playoff three times. So when he told reporters at a Nov. 2021 press conference he wasn't leaving for LSU, why doubt him?
Hours later he was on a plane to Los Angeles, as the new head coach at USC. Oklahoma fans woke up feeling misled. Recruits peeled away. Assistants packed for the coast. There was a sense that he had already mapped his exit while still wearing a Sooners headset.
USC offered the rare trifecta he coveted: elite academics, deep football history and the gravitational pull of Hollywood.
24. Ken Griffey Jr. Asks Out of Seattle
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The Betrayer: Ken Griffey Jr.
The Betrayed: Mariners fans and the city of Seattle
Ken Griffey Jr. was Seattle baseball. His swing, his smile made the team matter in both sports and pop culture. It was a face that sold magazines and season tickets. So when he asked for a trade after the 1999 season, the news rocked the city.
His reason was wanting to be closer to family. But nothing could soften the blow of losing a superstar—one who kids the world over wanted to emulate—still in his prime. The Mariners were competitive, and losing their centerpiece felt like the end of an era just as it was reaching its peak.
The hurt only grew when Alex Rodriguez left a year later, turning Griffey's exit into the first crack in what felt like a crumbling foundation. Griffey didn't leave in anger, and fans never turned on him. But the sense of loss stayed with the city, a reminder of how quickly a franchise icon can slip away.
23. Kyrie Irving Steps Out of LeBron's Shadow
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The Betrayer: Kyrie Irving
The Betrayed: LeBron James, Cavaliers management and fans
Kyrie Irving requested a trade out of Cleveland in 2017 after three straight NBA Finals trips alongside LeBron James. The timing stung, especially given the partnership between the two stars, albeit mercurial, was seemingly only beginning to reach its full potential.
From Irving's perspective, he wanted autonomy as "the guy," which meant stepping out of LeBron's considerable shadow. But many fans interpreted the decision as abandoning a title team that still had room to grow.
Once the request became public, it fractured the relationship between Irving and James, creating tension that lingered long after. Cleveland ultimately traded Irving to Boston, a decision that marked the beginning of the end of the Cavaliers' dominant era, even though another Finals appearance ensued.
Since "The Decision," Cavs fans have been a burned bunch. Who could blame them for staying consistent on their Kyrie slander?
22. Brian Kelly leaves Notre Dame for LSU
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Brian Kelly left Notre Dame in the middle of a College Football Playoff push to take the LSU job, a move that followed a pattern he had repeated at previous stops. Kelly informed his players with a late night message and an 11-minute morning meeting to confirm it, a shocking "goodbye" that blindsided everyone involved. The timing made the frustration furious because the Irish were days away from finding out whether they had made the CFP.
Notre Dame had invested in Kelly since 2010 and expected him to be the long-term face of the program. Worse yet, this move fit Kelly's history of leaving Cincinnati before its bowl game and surprising Central Michigan staff who had no idea he was interviewing elsewhere.
21. Jimbo Fisher leaves Florida State for Texas A&M
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Signs of Jimbo FIsher's Florida State exit surfaced months before it became official in late 2017. His frustration with stalled facility upgrades grew. Recruiting stalled. By fall, many around the program believed Texas A&M had already positioned itself to land him.
The final move still stunned. On a Friday in Tallahassee, Fisher told FSU President John Thrasher he was resigning, hours after insisting he would coach that weekend. He left with an 83-23 record, a national title and multiple ACC championships, bound for an A&M program willing to pay more than seven million a year to revive its title hopes.
Florida State was suddenly back in a full coaching search for the first time since 1975 after the consecutive tenures of Bobby Bowden and Fisher. Fans felt not betrayed by the job change itself but by the repeat denials that masked the truth.
20. Adam Vinatieri Leaves Patriots for Rival Colts
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The Betrayer: Adam Vinatieri
The Betrayed: Patriots fans
Adam Vinatieri delivered some of the most important kicks in New England history. Patriots fans expected the franchise legend to finish his career with the team that supported him through Super Bowls and blizzards and every moment that required turnkey trust.
All that changed when he signed with the Indianapolis Colts in 2006. Now the team's postseason nemesis had gained an inside weapon. New England did not fault him for exercising his rights in free agency, but the sting came from watching him walk into the building of their most serious AFC rival at the time.
The Colts stood in the way of Super Bowl dreams the Patriots had. Vinatieri continued to play at a high level and helped Indianapolis win a championship. The optics between two NFL rivals made for an unforgettable divorce. Even for a kicker.
19. Chris Beard Leaves Texas Tech for In-State Rival Texas
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The Betrayer: Chris Beard
The Betrayed: Texas Tech fans and players
Texas Tech saw Chris Beard as more than a coach. After 15 years in and around the program and a run to the 2019 national title game, he felt woven into Lubbock's identity. That is why his decision to leave for Texas in 2021 hurt so bad. Especially to a fierce rival.
Beard later framed the jump as a professional evolution, the next challenge rather than a rejection of Tech. He pointed to his long tenure, the Elite Eight run, the runner up finish, the Big 12 titles, insisting he left the program better than he found it. On paper, he did.
But college basketball runs on myth as much as record. When a coach who preached loyalty crosses to a blood rival with deeper resources, emotion fills the gap. Every recruiting battle and return trip turned into a reminder of what fans felt was taken from them.
18. Chicago Trades Chris Chelios to Rival Detroit
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The Betrayer: Blackhawks front office
The Betrayed: Chicago fans and Chris Chelios
Chicago traded Chris Chelios, one of the most respected players in franchise history, to despised rival Detroit in 1999. The decision blindsided supporters because Chelios still played at an elite level and wanted to remain in Chicago.
Fans viewed it as a front office failure that handed the league's powerhouse another weapon. Detroit embraced and won with him. Chicago lost not only a star but a connection to its own history. That compounded the betrayal because it seemed to prioritize expedience over loyalty to a player who had given the organization everything he had.
17. Johnny Damon Leaves Red Sox for Rival Yankees
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The Betrayer: Johnny Damon
The Betrayed: Red Sox fans
Johnny Damon was a folk hero in Boston, the free-flowing hair and beard embodied the team that finally broke its curse in 2004 with its first championship in 86 years. He helped lift a city's burden and, for a moment, embodied everything Red Sox fans wanted to believe about loyalty and identity.
Which is why his 2006 move to the Yankees smacked the fanbase in the face. Signing in pinstripes meant stepping directly into the clubhouse that had long symbolized Boston's nemesis. Damon got a haircut. Shaved the beard. It was a visual severing, a signal that he now belonged to the "evil empire." One fans spent generations resenting.
Damon's decision was professional, rational in a market where stars shift constantly. Yet, Boston felt one of its icons had crossed to the dark side.
16. Marlins Trade Young Franchise Star Miguel Cabrera
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The Betrayer: Marlins ownership
The Betrayed: Marlins fans
Miguel Cabrera was only 24, already an elite hitter, and just beginning to reach the height of his talent. Rather than build around him, Miami traded its homegrown in a move driven by cost. Fans could and usually do acknowledge financial pressures, but sending away a player of his caliber before his true peak showed that winning wasn't the priority. You can look across all professional sports and find these kind of moves rarely work.
Cabrera went on to claim a Triple Crown and shape a Hall of Fame career, while the Marlins failed to build anything lasting in the years that followed. The decision created a lingering sense of mistrust between the fan base and ownership, and can be viewed as a distillation of the several fire sales the franchise has held over the years.
15. Rockies Jettison Nolan Arenado
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The Betrayer: Rockies front office
The Betrayed: Rockies fans
The Nolan Arenado trade exposed the Rockies' willingness to abandon their competitive spirit. Colorado had locked him into a long contract and presented him as the centerpiece of a future built around a rare combination of defense and power.
That's not the kind of player you trade. When disagreements surfaced between Arenado and team leadership, fans hoped the organization would repair the relationship, not sever it.
Instead, the Rockies shipped him to St Louis in Feb. 2021 and attached financial support that seemed to underline their own resignation. That money became the symbol of the move because it suggested the club was willing to invest more in making him someone else's solution than in maintaining him as their own. Colorado supporters were left wondering how a team in a small market could afford to lose the player who gave them their identity.
14. Ray Allen Breaks Up Celtics Big Three
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The Betrayer: Ray Allen
The Betrayed: Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Celtics fans
The Boston Celtics created a blueprint for modern roster construction with the Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen Big Three. When Allen chose Miami, the team that had become their main roadblock to a second chip, it felt like the ending of their championship legacy. No one took it harder than Garnett, the emotional leader of the Celtics. The reaction came from a sense of unfinished business. And betrayal.
Allen saw an easier path to a second title, and his former teammates interpreted that choice as a blatant smack in the face of what they had built together. It turned one of the league's most respected shooters into a figure who triggered conflicted feelings every time he returned to Boston. Garnett and Allen didn't speak publicly until Garnett's 2022 jersey retirement.
13. Deion Sanders Jumps from 49ers to Rival Cowboys
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The Betrayer: Deion Sanders
The Betrayed: 49ers fans and haters
Deion Sanders' 1994 season with the 49ers is widely viewed as the best of his career. He transformed their secondary and helped deliver a championship, yet the fit was always short-term. Sanders wanted opportunities as a two-way player, with real snaps on offense and expanded special teams work. Dallas offered that freedom.
There were cultural limits too. Sanders' oversized brand never blended neatly with the 49ers' team-first identity, and tensions with stars like Jerry Rice emerged quickly. In the early salary-cap era, committing major money to Sanders also meant sacrificing depth elsewhere, a trade the front office hesitated to make.
If he had stayed, the locker room strain and cap pressure likely would have grown. Leaving after one brilliant season allowed both sides to avoid a second year that might have revealed more problems. Still, the sting of Sanders' flip to the Niners' primary antagonist at the time was real.
12. John Tavares Spurns Islanders for Maple Leafs
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The Betrayer: John Tavares
The Betrayed: Long Island
For years, John Tavares was the closest thing the New York Islanders had to stability. He played through arena uncertainty, inconsistent rosters and front office turnover, and still managed to give the franchise a sense of direction. When his contract expired, most people on Long Island assumed loyalty would carry weight.
His decision to sign with Toronto shattered it all. The Maple Leafs offered a stronger roster and a return to the team he grew up watching. The childhood photo he posted on his social media account explained the choice plainly.
For Islanders fans, the frustration wasn't about money or ego. It was the recognition that the organization never built enough around Tavares to make staying the obvious. Toronto didn't steal him. New York failed to give him a reason to remain.
11. Lane Kiffin Dumps Tennessee, Ole Miss
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The Betrayer: Lane Kiffin
The Betrayed: Ole Miss players and fans, Tennessee fans
Lane Kiffin's name has always hovered around chaos, but his Ole Miss exit has a special air of betrayal to it. Five years after SEC commissioner Greg Sankey warned Congress that paying players would make college sports look "semi professional," Kiffin offered a clearer picture of what really damages the product.
He left an 11-1 Ole Miss team that had earned a de facto College Football Playoff spot, took the LSU job before the bracket was even set and then pushed to coach the Rebels after the move was announced. When Ole Miss refused to let its departing coach lead a playoff run while recruiting for a rival, ESPN's Mark Schlabach reported he urged staffers to follow him immediately, leaving a Top 10 team to sort through the wreckage in real time.
Let's not forget that Kiffin bailed on Tennessee after just one 7-6 season to take his "dream job" at USC in 2010, announcing it so abruptly that students rioted on campus. For Vols fans, it still feels like he used their program as a one-year stepping stone and left them holding the bag.
10. Brett Favre Signs with Vikings
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The Betrayer: Brett Favre
The Betrayed: Packers fans
For years, Brett Favre felt inseparable from Green Bay's identity. His blue-collar toughness matched the franchise's symbolism. That's why his breakup with the Packers still carries a gut punch. Favre now admits the split was largely his fault, a messy stretch of retirements and unretirements around frayed communication, forcing fans to choose sides.
The 2008 trade to the Jets hurt, but it was his move to Minnesota in 2009 that fractured the relationship. Seeing him walk into the Vikings' locker room, the Packers fiercest rival, overturned everything he once represented. He produced a brilliant season there, sure. But years later, Favre, Rodgers and the organization have worked to repair the bond, but that chapter remains one of the most complicated in Packers lore.
9. Giants Let Saquon Barkley Walk...to the Eagles
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The Betrayer: Giants front office
The Betrayed: Giants fans
Around the NFL, most people understood the cold math: When you have holes everywhere, sinking money into a running back rarely fixes a bad roster. An elite runner can push a good offense toward great; he cannot drag a broken one out of the basement. Giants fans accepted that.
What they couldn't swallow was watching the player who carried their 2022 playoff team line up for the Philadelphia Eagles. Saquon Barkley took less money to join a contender with one of the league's best lines, then delivered the kind of season he was never going to have in New York. So the arguments split in two: the front office was right to let him go, yes. But it still feels wrong as hell to let him land in Philly, of all places.
The result? Big Blue fans had to suffer through a Super Bowl-winning 2024 season for Barkley and the birds.
8. Red Sox Trade Mookie Betts to Dodgers
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The Betrayer: Red Sox front office
The Betrayed: Red Sox fans
In Boston, the Mookie Betts trade was framed as a future problem averted. The Red Sox already faced a heavy tax bill, plus too many bad salaries on the books. That was the language from the top, at least.
Chairman Tom Werner went on air saying the club had tried, that Betts wanted to test free agency, that 12 years was a burden only another team could stomach. The Red Sox talked about limits and guardrails. The Dodgers talked about possibilities. Before Betts even played an inning for them, they locked him into a 12-year, $365 million deal without blinking.
What happened next wasn't a morality play. Los Angeles absorbed the cost (and potential risk) in that 2020 deal and watched Betts elevate everything around him. Boston watched from a distance as he won three titles in L.A. with the possibility for more.
7. Bill Belichick Resigns as Jets Coach on a Napkin
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The Betrayer: Bill Belichick
The Betrayed: All of New York
Imagine for a moment, it's Jan. 4, 2000, Bill Belichick started his day like any other, grinding on a Jets treadmill before slipping out in an overcoat and briefcase that hinted something's up. Hours later and moments before a press conference meant to crown him head coach, he handed over the "HC of the NYJ" resignation note. Soon after he delivered a shaky, 50-minute news interview that only intensified the cringe.
Conspiracy theories bloomed about secret calls with Robert Kraft and a deal already in place. What we know is simple: The Jets lost the coach Bill Parcells had groomed as his successor, and the Patriots gained the architect of a dynasty. One walk off that treadmill ended up changing the balance of power in the NFL.
6. Nick Saban Denies He's Leaving Dolphins, Then Does It Anyway
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The Betrayer: Nick Saban
The Betrayed: Dolphins players and fans
Even as rumors about his future with Miami incessantly swirled, Saban pushed back with growing irritation, insisting he wasn't going anywhere. "I guess I have to say it. I'm not going to be the Alabama coach," he told reporters, a declaration meant to steady a franchise searching for direction. Players took him at his word. Fans did too. And yet, 12 days later, poof.
The moment exposed that Saban might have just been using the Miami job as a placeholder until something better in the college scene popped up. When Alabama offered him a clearer path, he took it without hesitation.
What followed became one of the starkest splits in modern sports history. Saban built a powerhouse in Tuscaloosa. Miami cycled through coaches and identities. You could say they still are. While fans stayed incensed around how absolute his denial had been.
5. Kevin Durant Signs with 73-Win Warriors
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The Betrayer: Kevin Durant
The Betrayed: Russell Westbrook, Thunder fans, the state of Oklahoma
Kevin Durant had taken the Oklahoma City Thunder to the brink of an NBA Finals appearance and created a Hall of Fame one-two punch with Russell Westbrook.
Losing a 3-1 lead to the Warriors in 2016 was painful. You could argue it was the most painful memory in the franchise's short history. Who knew it would get worse? Watching Durant join that same team weeks later sent existential tremors through Oklahoma City.
As that faithful season ended, Thunder fans could taste a championship. They had the best duo in the NBA. Which made his exit make him look like a snake in the grass. Or as Westbrook put it, a "cupcake."
Golden State was already the league's strongest team, and adding Durant in 2016 created the greatest starting five in NBA history and a real-life cheat code.
4. Oilers Trade Wayne Gretzky to Kings
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The Betrayer: Oilers ownership
The Betrayed: Oilers fans and most of Canada
The Wayne Gretzky trade sent shock waves across an entire country. Edmonton had become a powerhouse with Gretzky at the center of its success. Trading him so soon after another championship created a sense of disbelief. He was more than a player. He was a symbol of Canadian pride.
The 1988 move to Los Angeles expanded the reach of hockey in the United States and reshaped the league's future. For fans in Canada, that outcome did not offset the feeling that their greatest star had been moved for reasons that did not reflect competitive priorities. The trade became part of the national memory because it touched on identity rather than simple roster management.
3. LeBron James' Decision
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The Betrayer: LeBron James
The Betrayed: The entire state of Ohio
Cleveland Cavaliers fans packed bars, living rooms and watch parties on the night of The Decision in 2010, hoping their star would stay and bracing for whatever came next. When LeBron James announced he was leaving for the Miami Heat on national television, the city felt exposed.
There was no warning, just a public breakup in devastatingly real time. The pushback came fast. Murals were painted over, jerseys burned, not out of spite alone but from the sting of being discarded in front of everyone.
That moment reshaped how Cleveland saw its relationship to its GOAT. But as all good stories, it didn't end there. When LeBron returned and delivered the 2016 championship, the dynamic shifted again. Humiliation turned jubilee, as Bron gave the city and state its first title in generations, proof that the relationship could be repaired. Bron can now retire with a clear conscience with Cavs faithful. But that wasn't always the case.
2. Mavericks Trade Luka Dončić to Lakers
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The Betrayer: Former shoe salesman and former Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison
The Betrayed: Every single person in Dallas
The first sound was the low hum of "Fire Nico" drifting across the pavement outside the American Airlines Center, followed by a line of fans carrying a blue coffin meant to symbolize the death of their Mavericks fandom. It wasn't a stunt so much as a statement: Some decisions cross a line supporters can't walk back from. Trading Luka Dončić was the line.
Dončić wasn't just Dallas' best player. He's the figure fans have built their connection to since Nowitzki's final years. Moving him—especially to the Lakers—was blasphemy.
The trade produced protests, "Fire Nico" chants and countless signs demanding answers. Not just at the stadium, but across North Texas at bars and even Medieval Times. Even when Harrison was fired and with No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg balling out, the pain still endures. The true crime, is that pain might never heal.
1. Red Sox Sell Babe Ruth to Yankees
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The Betrayer: Red Sox ownership
The Betrayed: Generations of Red Sox fans
The Ruth sale altered baseball's balance of power for generations. Boston parted with a player whose influence extended beyond the field. He's the undisputed GOAT of baseball.
That trade reshaped America's favorite pastime and propelled the Yankees into the most popular baseball team in the world. Conversely, the Red Sox entered a drought that lasted nearly a century. Boston fans endured heartbreak after heartbreak while watching New York thrive with the superstar their franchise surrendered. Some would even call it a curse.
The sale was rooted in financial considerations, a detail that intensified the sense of betrayal. It remains the clearest example of a choice that influenced every chapter of the rivalry, and baseball history, that followed. The history of bad trades begins and ends with The Great Bambino.
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