Crowd outside the 1903 World Series
Posted on 10/01/2006 9:22:01 AM PDT by yankeedame
After two years of bitter competition and player raiding, the National and American Leagues made peace and, as part of the accord, several pairs of teams squared off for interleague exhibition games after the 1903 regular season.
1903 World Series Poster mockup
(the team was not actually called
the Red Sox until 1908)
These series were arranged by the individual teams, not by the leagues directly, the same as the 1880s World's Series matches had been. One of these series at the end of 1903 was a meeting between the two pennant winners, Pittsburgh (usually spelled "Pittsburg" at that time) Pirates of the NL and Boston Americans (later known as Red Sox) of the AL, and is known as the 1903 World Series.
It had been arranged well in advance by the owners of the respective teams, as both were league leaders by large margins.
In the first championship, Boston upset Pittsburgh by 5 games to 3, winning with pitching depth behind Cy Young and Bill Dinneen and with the support of the band of Royal Rooters. The Series brought much civic pride to Boston and proved the new American League can beat the Nationals on the field.
External links:
World Series.Com -- Offical website
Sporting News -- History of the World Series
Honus Wagner was on that Pirate team. ....one of the best ever. I'd like to see the box score of this series.
why aren't the previous ones in the 1800s considered first?
But for some reason I could only find the box score to game 1. When I clicked on the box scores to games 2, 3, etc. it linked me straight back to the 1st game.
Really? They're opening up fine for me.
When I was a kid I took the Baseball Almanac out of my school library so I could copy down each World Series game box score. To say the least my hand got tired.
History of the World Series - 1903
After going at each other viciously for two years, the established National League and fledgling American League buried the hatchet, at least temporarily, in 1903 -- thanks in large part to the owners of the NL's Pittsburgh club and the AL's Boston team.
With their clubs apparently headed toward pennants, Pittsburgh's Barney Dreyfuss and Boston's Henry Killilea agreed during the 1903 season to stage a best-of-nine postseason playoff for the "world championship." The accommodation came in the wake of open hostilities -- punctuated player raids -- that had existed between the National League and American League since the junior's entry on the major-league scene in 1901.
Dreyfuss' Pirates appeared to be stellar representatives for the league, whose history dated to 1876. Pittsburgh had third consecutive pennant in '03. Boston also seemed a worthy competitor in this first modern World Series, having won the AL flag by 14 1/2 games.
That's strange. I get the line scores to all the games, but only one box score (game 1). Would you link me up to the game 2 box score? Thanks.
http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/history/postseason/mlb_ws.jsp
Major League Baseball site on the world series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Series
The winners in the 1800s.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.