1903 Boston Americans season

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.

1903 Boston Americans
1903 World Series Champions
1903 American League Champions
Boston Americans (sitting) and Pittsburgh Pirates (standing) at the 1903 World Series
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record91–47 (.659)
League place1st
Other information
OwnersHenry Killilea
ManagersJimmy Collins
StatsESPN.com
BB-reference
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Offseason and Spring Training

Transactions
  • October 6, 1902: It is reported that George Stone will play for the Boston Americans.[1]
  • October 28, 1902: John McGraw, manager of the New York Giants, announces that Jack Warner of the Boston Americans had signed to play for the Giants.[2] This decision came after weeks of speculation as to the future of Jack Warner. In an interview printed on September 25, 1902, Jimmy Collins stated that he had signed Warner to a two-year contract with the Americans the previous month.[3] On October 13, 1902, Jimmy Collins had gone to New York after hearing reports that Warner had jumped to the New York Giants.[4]
  • March 18, 1903: Catcher Charles "Duke" Farrell announces that that he has accepted an offer to play for the Boston Americans.[5]

Regular season

Prior to the regular season, the team held spring training in Macon, Georgia.[6][7] Cy Young was a coach for the Mercer University baseball team, also based in Macon.[8][9]

  • April 20: The season opens with a home doubleheader against the Philadelphia Athletics, with Boston winning the first game, 9–4, and Philadelphia the second, 10–7.[10]
  • May 12: After a slow start to the season, the team has a winning record for the first time, at 10–9, with a 10–5 win over the Cleveland Naps at League Park in Cleveland.
  • June 1: With a 20–15 record, Boston moves into first place in the AL, a half-game ahead of the St. Louis Browns.[11]
  • June 9: The team's longest winning streak of the season, 11 games between May 28 and June 8, comes to an end with a loss to the visiting Detroit Tigers.[10]
  • June 16: With a 28–18 record, Boston falls a game behind Philadelphia in the AL standings.[12]
  • June 21: Buck Freeman is the first player in franchise history to hit for the cycle, in a road win at Cleveland.[13]
  • June 23: With a 33–20 record, Boston regains the AL lead,[14] which they will not relinquish through the end of the season.
  • June 30: Nick Altrock starts and pitches eight innings in a 10–3 road loss to the Chicago White Sox;[10] these are the only innings in the entire season not pitched by members of the five-man rotation, led by Cy Young.
  • July 29: Patsy Dougherty hits for the cycle against the visiting New York Highlanders.[13] It is also Boston's highest scoring game of the year, a 15–14 loss.[10]
  • September 28: The season ends with a home doubleheader against the Browns, with Boston winning both games; 8–7 and 6–0.[10]

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.

Transactions
  • May 4, 1903: It is reported that the Boston Americans had acquired University of Illinois Athlete Jake Stahl, who agrees to join the team after receiving his diploma in June.[15] Stahl would make his debut with the Americans on June 6.[16]
  • July 2: Nick Altrock is sold to the White Sox;[17] he starts against Boston on July 8, a 6–1 win by the Americans.[10]

Statistical leaders

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).

Season standings
American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Boston Americans 9147 0.659 — 49–20 42–27
Philadelphia Athletics 7560 0.556 14½ 44–21 31–39
Cleveland Naps 7763 0.550 15 49–25 28–38
New York Highlanders 7262 0.537 17 41–26 31–36
Detroit Tigers 6571 0.478 25 37–28 28–43
St. Louis Browns 6574 0.468 26½ 38–32 27–42
Chicago White Stockings 6077 0.438 30½ 41–28 19–49
Washington Senators 4394 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.[10] Tie games are not counted in league standings, but player statistics during tie games are counted.[18]

Record vs. opponents
1903 American League record

Sources:
Team BOS CWS CLE DET NYH PHA SLB WSH
Boston —14–612–810–9–113–713–614–615–5–2
Chicago 6–14—10–1010–97–11–16–149–1112–8
Cleveland 8–1210–10—9–1114–69–1111–916–4
Detroit 9–10–19–1011–9—10–911–96–149–10
New York 7–1311–7–16–149–10—10–8–115–514–5
Philadelphia 6–1314–611–99–118–10–1—11–816–3–1
St. Louis 6–1411–99–1114–65–158–11—12–8
Washington 5–15–28–124–1610–95–143–16–18–12—

Opening Day lineup
Patsy DoughertyLF
Jimmy Collins3B
Chick StahlCF
Buck FreemanRF
Freddy ParentSS
Candy LaChance1B
Hobe Ferris2B
Duke FarrellC
George WinterP

Source:[19][20]

Roster
1903 Boston Americans
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Player stats

Batting

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Starters by position
Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
CLou Criger9631761.192331
1BCandy LaChance141522134.257153
2BHobe Ferris141525132.251966
SSFreddy Parent139560170.304480
3BJimmy Collins130540160.296572
OFBuck Freeman141567163.28713104
OFPatsy Dougherty139590195.331459
OFChick Stahl7729982.274244

Other batters

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'Brien9633871.210338
Jake Stahl409222.23928
Duke Farrell175221.40408
Aleck Smith113310.30304
Harry Gleason6132.15402
George Stone220.00000

Pitching

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Starting pitchers
Player G IP W L ERA SO
Cy Young40341+2⁄32892.08176
Bill Dinneen3729921132.26148
Tom Hughes33244+2⁄32072.57112
Norwood Gibson24183+1⁄31393.1976
George Winter24178+1⁄3983.0864
Nick Altrock18019.003

World Series

Boston had an 11-game winning streak from May 28 through June 8,[10] to put themselves in the AL lead. While they briefly fell into second place in mid-June, behind Philadelphia,[21] 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 be 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 a group of team supporters, the Royal Rooters, under saloon owner Michael T. McGreevy.

Summary
Main article: 1903 World Series

Boston won the series, 5–3.

GameDateScoreLocationTimeAttendance 
1October 1Pittsburgh Pirates – 7, Boston Americans – 3Huntington Avenue Grounds1:5516,242[22] 
2October 2Pittsburgh Pirates – 0, Boston Americans – 3Huntington Avenue Grounds1:479,415[23] 
3October 3Pittsburgh Pirates – 4, Boston Americans – 2Huntington Avenue Grounds1:5018,801[24] 
4October 6Boston Americans – 4, Pittsburgh Pirates – 5Exposition Park1:307,600[25] 
5October 7Boston Americans – 11, Pittsburgh Pirates – 2Exposition Park2:0012,322[26] 
6October 8Boston Americans – 6, Pittsburgh Pirates – 3Exposition Park2:0211,556[27] 
7October 10Boston Americans – 7, Pittsburgh Pirates – 3Exposition Park1:4517,038[28] 
8October 13Pittsburgh Pirates – 0, Boston Americans – 3Huntington Avenue Grounds1:357,455[29]
Huntington Avenue Grounds before the first modern World Series game, Pittsburgh at Boston

See also

References
  1. "Baseball Notes". St. Joseph Daily News. October 6, 1902. p. 10. Retrieved June 4, 2023.
  2. "M'Graws Players: New York Manager Issues a List of Men He Has Signed". Evening Telegram. October 28, 1902. p. 8. Retrieved June 3, 2023.
  3. "Jimmy Collins On Baseball". Meriden Morning Record. September 25, 1902. p. 2. Retrieved June 4, 2023.
  4. "Collins Hears Some Bad News: Report of Warner's Desertion Shortens His Chicago Visit". The Pittsburg Press. October 14, 1902. p. 16. Retrieved June 3, 2023.
  5. "Charlie Farrell Signed". Baltimore Morning Herald. March 19, 1903. p. 4. Retrieved June 3, 2023.
  6. "Americans at Macon". The Boston Globe. March 16, 1903. p. 5. Retrieved November 4, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
  7. "Boston Americans Secure New Practice Grounds". The Boston Globe. March 18, 1903. p. 5. Retrieved November 4, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
  8. "Cy Young Biography". ESPN. Retrieved November 4, 2018.
  9. "Kept Capt. Collins Busy". The Boston Globe. March 17, 1903. p. 5. Retrieved November 4, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
  10. "The 1903 Boston Americans Regular Season Game Log". Retrosheet. Retrieved November 3, 2018.
  11. "Standings At Close of Play of June 1, 1903". Retrosheet. Retrieved November 3, 2018.
  12. "Standings At Close of Play of June 16, 1903". Retrosheet. Retrieved November 3, 2018.
  13. Smith, Christopher (June 17, 2015). "List of the 20 Boston Red Sox players who have hit for the cycle starting with Brock Holt". masslive.com. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
  14. "Standings At Close of Play of June 23, 1903". Retrosheet. Retrieved November 3, 2018.
  15. "Stahl, The Collegian, Has Signed With Boston American League This Year". Youngstown Daily Vindicator. May 4, 1903. p. 12. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  16. "Jake Stahl". www.retrosheet.org. Archived from the original on January 29, 2021. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
  17. "Nick Altrock". Retrosheet. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
  18. Hershberger, Richard (December 28, 2015). "Tie Games in Baseball". ordinary-times.com. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
  19. Murnane, T. H. (April 21, 1903). "Same Fortune. Even Break for Each Home Nine Yesterday". The Boston Globe. p. 4. Retrieved November 13, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
  20. Murnane, T. H. (April 21, 1903). "Box Score". The Boston Globe. p. 4. Retrieved November 13, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
  21. "Standings At Close of Play of June 18, 1903". Retrosheet. Retrieved November 3, 2018.
  22. "1903 World Series Game 1 – Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Boston Americans". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
  23. "1903 World Series Game 2 – Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Boston Americans". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
  24. "1903 World Series Game 3 – Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Boston Americans". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
  25. "1903 World Series Game 4 – Boston Americans vs. Pittsburgh Pirates". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
  26. "1903 World Series Game 5 – Boston Americans vs. Pittsburgh Pirates". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
  27. "1903 World Series Game 6 – Boston Americans vs. Pittsburgh Pirates". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
  28. "1903 World Series Game 7 – Boston Americans vs. Pittsburgh Pirates". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
  29. "1903 World Series Game 8 – Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Boston Americans". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
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