The 1903 World Series

Recapturing the drama and color of this historic sporting event, Roger I. Abrams shows how the first world series (Boston Americans vs. Pittsburgh Pirates) provided a unique lens to view American life and culture at the dawn of the twentieth century. It is a fascinating story brimming with colorful, larger-than-life characters: legendary players Honus Wagner, Cy Young, Jimmy Collins, Fred Clarke, Big Bill Dineen, and Deacon Phillippe on the field; and Mike "Nuf Ced" McGreevey, "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, and the boisterous Boston Royal Rooters, cheering, chanting, and singing in the grandstands. This is also the story of how the post-season play gave disparate classes in society--Brahmins, industrialists, Irish politicians, Jewish immigrants--the rare opportunity to join in common support of their local teams and heroes.

The first World Series was a best-of-nine series between the Boston Americans and the Pittsburg Pirates, with the first three games to be played in Boston starting at the Huntington Avenue Grounds on October 1, 1903. The series started with baseball's winningest pitcher, Cy Young, throwing the first pitch, and ended with baseball's greatest hitter, Honus Wagner, striking out on the last pitch. Boston won the series, five games to three. Each game of the 1903 World Series and its key plays and players are thoroughly covered here, and the authors also pay special attention to the great significance that first World Series held for the future of baseball. Not only was the survival of the American League at stake, but baseball's place as the preeminent sport in America. The 1903 World Series drew more than 100,000 people to the ballparks, and there was no doubt about the popularity of the game. It was, as the authors point out, played by men, who, had they not been baseball players, would have been among the working class that made up most of the audience.

The year 2003 marks the 100th anniversary of the first World Series, in which the upstart Boston squad of the fledgling American League triumped over the Pittsburgh Pirates of the time-honored National League. Starring such legendary players as Boston's Cy Young and Bill Dinneen, and Pittsburgh's Honus Wagner and Deacon Phillippe, When Boston Won the World Series chronicles with stirring detail the events that led up to baseball's first Fall Classic: the 1901 creation of the American League, its roster "raids" against National League teams, the sea change of public interest that caused the American League to outsell the National by 500,000 tickets, and the subsequent concession of the Nationals. The resulting handshake deal established a season-ending series which would determine the best baseball team in the world.

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Baseball has long been dubbed America's national pastime. When the top teams face off in the World Series each season, team legacies and fans' hearts are on the line. Author Matt Doeden covers the century-long history of the World Series, from its humble beginnings to becoming a worldwide sensation. Discover the drama behind the statistics and record books that keeps the crowd enthralled!

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