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 with a record of 91 wins and 47 losses, 14½ games ahead of the Philadelphia Athletics. Boston went on to participate in the first World Series held between the AL and National League champions. The Americans won the 1903 World Series in eight games over the Pittsburgh Pirates. The team was managed by Jimmy Collins and played their home games at Huntington Avenue Grounds.

Regular season

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

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 and pitched 34 complete games with a 28–9 record and 2.08 ERA, while striking out 176 in innings. The team had two other 20-game winners; Bill Dinneen and Tom Hughes.

Season standings

The team had three games end in a tie; July 31 at Washington, August 29 at Washington, and September 25 vs. Detroit. Tie games are not counted in league standings, but player statistics during tie games are counted.

Record vs. opponents

Opening Day lineup

Source:

Roster

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

Other batters

Pitching

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

Starting pitchers

Other pitchers

World Series

Boston had an 11-game winning streak from May 28 through June 8, to put themselves in the AL lead. While they briefly fell into second place in mid-June, behind Philadelphia, 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.

Summary