A Structuralist Analysis Of Boston Red Sox Symbol

The Red Sox logo in essence is very simple, concise and informative. It is a baseball with two red socks encircled with the words “Boston Red Sox.” This logo provides the admirer with the most basic information, needed to comprehend the symbol’s meaning. The ball in the center of the logo signifies that the logo is of athletic nature, at least to those who are minimally familiar with a baseball and/or the sport. The words are relatively easily deciphered as the name and the city of a team -- this is once again under the assumption that the admirer has been exposed to a culture familiar with professional sports. This simple analysis is of the manifest image only and is incomplete. Through the use of Barthes’s structuralist analysis method this essay aims to present a much more complete interpretation of the mythological meanings associated with the logo and discuss how these associations are arbitrary, as well as establish a relationship of the mythological meanings to the history of the team. For the sake of differentiating mythological meanings as a by-product of its context they will be presented from

However, in the peculiar case of the Red Sox there is a greater allusion to the history which in some cases reinforces the different signifieds. To avoid contradiction of previous statements at this point in the discussion a recapitulation of Red Sox history is in order. The most relevant fact about the Red Sox past is the Championship drought that lasted from 1918 to 2004. The eighty-six year drought is one of the longest in MLB history and is attributed to the legendary trade of the player phenom by the name of Babe Ruth. After the trade took place, it is believed that a curse was placed on the Red Sox. [1] The Curse of the Bambino (named after Ruth’s nickname) is solely responsible for the identity of the Red