The Curse of Barry Bonds?

PITTSBURGH — The Boston Red Sox spent more than 80 years combating the Curse of the Bambino, the mythical spell supposedly cast upon them when they dealt Babe Ruth to the hated New York Yankees.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are dealing with a troubling superstition of their own: the Curse of Barry Bonds.

Bonds, soon to be the greatest home-run hitter in major-league history, hasn't played on many big winners since joining the San Francisco Giants in 1993. But since the Pirates declined to give Bonds the few extra million dollars needed to re-sign him before the 1992 season ended, they've had exactly zero winning seasons.

They're 0 for 14 — soon to be 0 for 15 — during a streak of losing that is fast threatening to become the longest in history of any major pro sports team.

Bonds laughs at the notion he has anything to do with the Pirates' grim stretch of futility, one in which the closest they've come to a winning season was being four games under .500 in 1997.

"Naw, I don't believe that at all," Bonds said. "They've got some good players who can do some things. They just never keep the players. That's been the downfall of Pittsburgh. We all wanted to stay [in the early 1990s]. There just was no chance of us staying."

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the longest run of losing seasons in the four major pro sports was the Philadelphia Phillies' 16-season streak from 1933 to 1948. That came during a dreadful stretch of 29 losing seasons in 30 years that was interrupted only by a 78-76 record in 1932.

Unless the Pirates stage a massive turnaround in the next few weeks, they'll soon become just the third major-league team to go 15 consecutive seasons without a winning record. The Athletics also did so from 1953-67.

"Sure, it wears on you," said shortstop Jack Wilson, the most tenured current Pirates player. "Nobody likes to lose."

Through Thursday, the Pirates were a staggering 279 games below .500 since 1993 — compared to a combined 92 games over .500 while they were winning NL East championships in 1990, 1991 and 1992. They've had 89 or more losses eight times since 1993 and are on pace for a ninth such season this year.

How can one team keep doing it all wrong for so long? Easy. According to several scouts who regularly watch the Pirates, they've made the classic mistakes that perennial losers make.

They draft poorly — often selecting players based on signability rather than ability. Also, they persistently overestimate the ability of their own prospects and keep underachieving players in the majors too long. They also refuse to go after impact free agents for bottom-line reasons; when they spend some money, they do so foolishly.

The current Pirates created a glimmer of hope by winning nine of 13 before the All-Star break, but they gave that back and more by dropping 14 of their first 16 in the second half.

"It gets frustrating," Wilson said. "Every day is just like the day before. You say, 'OK, this is the day we're going to turn it around,' but you wake up the next day and go through the same day again. Two weeks goes by and you wonder where it went.

"It makes it tough to get up and enjoy going to the ballpark."