1903 Boston Americans | |
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1903 World Series Champions 1903 American League Champions | |
Boston Americans (sitting) and Pittsburgh Pirates (standing) at the 1903 World Series | |
Major League affiliations | |
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Location | |
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Results | |
Record | 91–47 (.659) |
League place | 1st |
Other information | |
Owner(s) | Henry Killilea |
Manager(s) | Jimmy Collins |
Stats | ESPN.com BB-reference |
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The 1903 Boston Americans season was the third season for the professional baseball franchise that later became known as the Boston Red Sox. The Americans finished first in the American League (AL) with a record of 91 wins and 47 losses, 14+1⁄2 games ahead of the Philadelphia Athletics. Boston went on to participate in the first World Series held between the AL and National League (NL) champions. The Americans won the 1903 World Series in eight games over the Pittsburgh Pirates. The team was managed by Jimmy Collins and played its home games at Huntington Avenue Grounds.
Prior to the regular season, the team held spring training in Macon, Georgia.[1][2] Cy Young was a coach for the Mercer University baseball team, also based in Macon.[3][4]
The team's longest losing streak was three games, which occurred twice; April 20–23 and September 22–23. The team's longest game was 12 innings, which occurred three times.
The offense was led by Buck Freeman, who hit 13 home runs and had 104 RBIs, and Patsy Dougherty with a .331 batting average. It was Freeman's third consecutive season with at least 100 RBIs. The pitching staff was led by Cy Young, who made 40 appearances (35 starts) and pitched 34 complete games with a 28–9 record and 2.08 ERA, while striking out 176 in 341+2⁄3 innings. The team had two other 20-game winners; Bill Dinneen (21–13) and Tom Hughes (20–7).
American League | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Boston Americans | 91 | 47 | 0.659 | — | 49–20 | 42–27 |
Philadelphia Athletics | 75 | 60 | 0.556 | 14½ | 44–21 | 31–39 |
Cleveland Naps | 77 | 63 | 0.550 | 15 | 49–25 | 28–38 |
New York Highlanders | 72 | 62 | 0.537 | 17 | 41–26 | 31–36 |
Detroit Tigers | 65 | 71 | 0.478 | 25 | 37–28 | 28–43 |
St. Louis Browns | 65 | 74 | 0.468 | 26½ | 38–32 | 27–42 |
Chicago White Stockings | 60 | 77 | 0.438 | 30½ | 41–28 | 19–49 |
Washington Senators | 43 | 94 | 0.314 | 47½ | 29–40 | 14–54 |
The team had three games end in a tie; July 31 at Washington, August 29 at Washington, and September 25 vs. Detroit.[5] Tie games are not counted in league standings, but player statistics during tie games are counted.[11]
Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] | |||||||||||||
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Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYH | PHA | SLB | WSH | |||||
Boston | — | 14–6 | 12–8 | 10–9–1 | 13–7 | 13–6 | 14–6 | 15–5–2 | |||||
Chicago | 6–14 | — | 10–10 | 10–9 | 7–11–1 | 6–14 | 9–11 | 12–8 | |||||
Cleveland | 8–12 | 10–10 | — | 9–11 | 14–6 | 9–11 | 11–9 | 16–4 | |||||
Detroit | 9–10–1 | 9–10 | 11–9 | — | 10–9 | 11–9 | 6–14 | 9–10 | |||||
New York | 7–13 | 11–7–1 | 6–14 | 9–10 | — | 10–8–1 | 15–5 | 14–5 | |||||
Philadelphia | 6–13 | 14–6 | 11–9 | 9–11 | 8–10–1 | — | 11–8 | 16–3–1 | |||||
St. Louis | 6–14 | 11–9 | 9–11 | 14–6 | 5–15 | 8–11 | — | 12–8 | |||||
Washington | 5–15–2 | 8–12 | 4–16 | 10–9 | 5–14 | 3–16–1 | 8–12 | — |
Patsy Dougherty | LF |
Jimmy Collins | 3B |
Chick Stahl | CF |
Buck Freeman | RF |
Freddy Parent | SS |
Candy LaChance | 1B |
Hobe Ferris | 2B |
Duke Farrell | C |
George Winter | P |
1903 Boston Americans | |||||||||
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Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers | Catchers
Infielders |
Outfielders
Other batters |
Manager |
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
C | Lou Criger | 96 | 317 | 61 | .192 | 3 | 31 |
1B | Candy LaChance | 141 | 522 | 134 | .257 | 1 | 53 |
2B | Hobe Ferris | 141 | 525 | 132 | .251 | 9 | 66 |
SS | Freddy Parent | 139 | 560 | 170 | .304 | 4 | 80 |
3B | Jimmy Collins | 130 | 540 | 160 | .296 | 5 | 72 |
OF | Buck Freeman | 141 | 567 | 163 | .287 | 13 | 104 |
OF | Patsy Dougherty | 139 | 590 | 195 | .331 | 4 | 59 |
OF | Chick Stahl | 77 | 299 | 82 | .274 | 2 | 44 |
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jack O'Brien | 96 | 338 | 71 | .210 | 3 | 38 |
Jake Stahl | 40 | 92 | 22 | .239 | 2 | 8 |
Duke Farrell | 17 | 52 | 21 | .404 | 0 | 8 |
Aleck Smith | 11 | 33 | 10 | .303 | 0 | 4 |
Harry Gleason | 6 | 13 | 2 | .154 | 0 | 2 |
George Stone | 2 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cy Young | 40 | 341+2⁄3 | 28 | 9 | 2.08 | 176 |
Bill Dinneen | 37 | 299 | 21 | 13 | 2.26 | 148 |
Tom Hughes | 33 | 244+2⁄3 | 20 | 7 | 2.57 | 112 |
Norwood Gibson | 24 | 183+1⁄3 | 13 | 9 | 3.19 | 76 |
George Winter | 24 | 178+1⁄3 | 9 | 8 | 3.08 | 64 |
Nick Altrock | 1 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 9.00 | 3 |
Boston had an 11-game winning streak from May 28 through June 8,[5] to put themselves in the AL lead. While they briefly fell into second place in mid-June, behind Philadelphia,[14] Boston then won 9-of-10 to recapture the lead, which they held through the end of the season. The Americans met the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first modern World Series, an agreement between the AL and the NL as a post-season tournament. The "Amerks" won the best-of-nine series in eight games; after falling behind, 3–1, they won four games in a row, clinching the championship at their home field, the Huntington Avenue Grounds, in Boston.
The first championship of what is now 9 for the long-running club, the series would immortalized in the 2004 remake of the team's fight song Tessie by The Dropkick Murphys, honoring the victory over the Pirates in Game 5, helped in part by that song which was adopted as an anthem by the a group of team supporters, the Royal Rooters, under saloon owner Michael T. McGreevy.
Main article: 1903 World Series |
Boston won the series, 5–3.
Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
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1 | October 1 | Pittsburgh Pirates – 7, Boston Americans – 3 | Huntington Avenue Grounds | 1:55 | 16,242[15] |
2 | October 2 | Pittsburgh Pirates – 0, Boston Americans – 3 | Huntington Avenue Grounds | 1:47 | 9,415[16] |
3 | October 3 | Pittsburgh Pirates – 4, Boston Americans – 2 | Huntington Avenue Grounds | 1:50 | 18,801[17] |
4 | October 6 | Boston Americans – 4, Pittsburgh Pirates – 5 | Exposition Park | 1:30 | 7,600[18] |
5 | October 7 | Boston Americans – 11, Pittsburgh Pirates – 2 | Exposition Park | 2:00 | 12,322[19] |
6 | October 8 | Boston Americans – 6, Pittsburgh Pirates – 3 | Exposition Park | 2:02 | 11,556[20] |
7 | October 10 | Boston Americans – 7, Pittsburgh Pirates – 3 | Exposition Park | 1:45 | 17,038[21] |
8 | October 13 | Pittsburgh Pirates – 0, Boston Americans – 3 | Huntington Avenue Grounds | 1:35 | 7,455[22] |