Encyclopedia
The
Boston Red Sox are a
Major League Baseball team in the American League. The team competes in the Eastern Division of the
American League. Its stadium,
Fenway Park, opened on April 20, 1912, making it the oldest major league ballpark still in operation. The Red Sox won the first
World Series as the Boston Americans in 1903 against the Pittsburgh Pirates. They won their latest World Series championship in 2004, after an 86-year interval. They are one of two teams in the American League with
Sox in their name, the
Chicago White Sox being the other.
Franchise history
Deadball era championship teams
After the 1900 season, the minor
American League led by Ban Johnson declared its equality with the
National League, then the only
major league. Competing in the streets, the rival placed franchises in two of the largest and most important
National League cities, Philadelphia and Boston. The Boston Americans, as they were often called, finished second and third before capturing their first pennant in 1903 and repeating next year. Those teams were led by manager and star
third baseman Jimmy Collins and by
pitcher Cy Young, whose 1901 to 1904 seasons rank among the best four-year runs ever. In addition, the Americans received significant contributions from
outfielders Chick Stahl, Buck Freeman and Patsy Dougherty. In 1903, the Americans participated in the first modern
World Series, beating the favored Pittsburgh Pirates five games to three. The Pirates, with such stars as
Honus Wagner,
Fred Clarke, and Deacon Phillippe, had run away with the
National League pennant, winning it by six and a half games. But the Americans, aided by the modified chants of "Tessie" by the Royal Rooters fan club and by its stronger pitching staff, managed to overcome the odds, winning the first ever
World Series.
These successful times soon ended, however, as the Americans lost 100 games in the 1906 season. But several new star players helped the newly renamed Red Sox improve almost immediately. By 1909, the legendary
center fielder Tris Speaker had become a fixture in the Boston outfield, and the Red Sox worked their way to third place. However, the Red Sox would not win the pennant again until their 105-win 1912 season, finishing with a club record .691 winning percentage. Anchored by an outfield considered to be among the finest in the game —
Tris Speaker,
Harry Hooper and
Duffy Lewis — and superstar pitcher
Smokey Joe Wood, the Red Sox beat the
New York Giants 4-3-1 in a classic
World Series best known for Snodgrass’s Muff. Another 101 wins in 1915 propelled the Red Sox to the
World Series again, where they beat the
Philadelphia Phillies four games to one. The 1916 team repeated the pennant, though
Tris Speaker, a fixture for six years, was traded to the
Cleveland Indians in the off-season. His departure was more than compensated for, however, by the emergence of the star pitcher
Babe Ruth. Once again, the Red Sox won the
World Series, this time defeating the
Brooklyn Robins. By 1918, the team found itself at the top of the heap again, led by
Babe Ruth to a
World Series championship over the
Chicago Cubs.
From 1913 to 1916 the Red Sox were owned by Joseph Lannin, who signed
Babe Ruth, soon the best-known and one of the best players ever.
Sale of Babe Ruth
After owning the Red Sox himself for three seasons,
Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the
New York Yankees on January 3, 1920. Ruth had just broken the single-season home run record, hitting 29 in 1919. Legend has it that Frazee did so in order to finance the Broadway play
No, No, Nanette, starring "a friend", but the play did not open on Broadway until 1925. Other circumstances actually made him decide to sell his star.
During that period, the Red Sox, White Sox and Yankees had a detente; they were called "Insurrectos" because their actions antagonized league president Johnson. Although Frazee owned the Boston Red Sox franchise, he did not own Fenway Park , making his ownership a precarious one; Johnson could move another team into the ballpark. His club was in debt, but Frazee felt the need to purchase its playing site . Further, providing the Yankees with a box office attraction would help that mediocre club, which had sided with him against Johnson and "the Loyal Five" clubs. Finally, Ruth was considered a serious disciplinary problem, a reputation to be replicated in New York. Frazee moved to stabilize finances and cut distractions. It was a straight sale, no players in return.
After New York achieved great success and Boston did not win for a few decades, the sale of Babe Ruth came to be viewed as both the beginning of the
Yankees-Red Sox rivalry and the occasion for a legendary "
Curse of the Bambino" that doomed Boston to futility. The rivalry has been called the "Greatest Rivalry on Earth" by some baseball journalists
while others have paid some attention to Boston futility for its own sake.
After the sale of
Ruth to the
Yankees,
Frazee continued to sell many of his star players. In the winter of 1920,
Wally Schang, future star pitcher
Waite Hoyt,
Harry Harper, and Mike McNally were traded to the Yankees for
Del Pratt, Muddy Ruel,
John Costello, Hank Thormahlen, Sammy Vick and cash.
The following winter, iron man
shortstop Everett Scott, Joe Bush, and Sad Sam Jones were traded to the Yankees for
Roger Peckinpaugh , Jack Quinn, Rip Collins, Bill Piercy and $50,000.
One particularly controversial deal was that of Joe Dugan and Elmer Smith, who were traded to the Yankees on July 23, 1922, for Elmer Miller, Chick Fewster, John Mitchell, and future superstar Lefty O'Doul, who was at the time a mediocre pitching prospect. The trade of Dugan helped the Yankees edge the
St. Louis Browns in a tight pennant race, and the resulting uproar helped create a June 15 trading deadline that went into effect the next year.
Perhaps an even more outrageous deal was the trade of
Herb Pennock, occurring in early 1923.
Pennock was traded by the Red Sox to the Yankees for Camp Skinner, Norm McMillan, George Murray and $50,000.
A couple of notable trades involving
Frazee and the Yankees occurred before the
Babe Ruth sale. On December 18, 1918, outstanding outfielder
Duffy Lewis , pitcher Dutch Leonard, pitcher and Ernie Shore were traded to the Yankees for pitcher Ray Caldwell, Slim Love, Roxy Walters, Frank Gilhooley and $15,000.
As all three players were well-regarded in Boston — Lewis had been a key player on the 1910s championship teams, Shore had famously relieved
Babe Ruth and retired 27 straight, and Leonard had only four years before set a modern record for earned run average — this trade was regarded as not such a good one in Boston, Then, on July 13, 1919, submarine-style pitching star Carl Mays was traded to the Yankees for Bob McGraw, Allan Russell and $40,000.
Mays would go on to have several good years for the Yankees.
As a result of these trades, the Red Sox finished in the second division with poor records in the 1920s and 1930s. Over an eight-year period from 1925 to 1932, the Red Sox averaged over 100 losses in a season. One of the few bright spots on these teams was Earl Webb, who set the all-time mark for most doubles in a season in 1931 with 67. The Red Sox’ fortunes began to change in 1933, however, when
Tom Yawkey bought the Red Sox. Yawkey would acquire
Lefty Grove, one of the greatest pitchers of all-time,
Joe Cronin, an outstanding shortstop and manager,
Jimmie Foxx, the slugging first baseman, and
Wes Ferrell, an outstanding pitcher. These moves paid off, as the Red Sox were once again competitive in the late thirties.
The Ted Williams era
In 1939, the Red Sox purchased the contract of
outfielder Ted Williams from San Diego
Pacific Coast League, ushering in an era of the team sometimes called the "Ted Sox." Williams is generally considered one of the greatest hitters of all time, because he consistently hit for both high power and high average. Stories of his ability to hold a bat in his hand and correctly estimate its weight down to the ounce have floated around baseball circles for decades. His book
The Science of Hitting is widely read by students of baseball. He is also the last player to hit over .400 for a full season, hitting .406 in 1941. Williams feuded with sports writers his whole career, and his relationship with the fans was often rocky.
With Williams, the Red Sox reached the World Series in 1946, but lost to the
St. Louis Cardinals in seven games, in part because of the use of the "Williams Shift," in which the shortstop would move to the right side of the infield to make it harder for the left-handed-hitting Williams to hit to that side of the field. Some have claimed that Williams was too proud to hit to the other side of the field, not wanting to let the Cardinals take away his game. Williams did not fare well in the series, gathering only five singles in 25 at-bats, for a .200 average. However, his performance may have been affected by an elbow injury he had received a few days before when he was hit by a pitch in an exhibition game. Williams would never play in a World Series again.
The right-field bullpens in Fenway Park were built in part for Williams' left-handed swing, and are sometimes called "Williamsburg". Before this addition to right field, Fenway park was over 400 feet deep to right field.
The Red Sox featured several other players during the 1940s, including
SS Johnny Pesky , 2B Bobby Doerr, and CF Dom DiMaggio .
The 1950s were viewed as a time of tribulation for the Red Sox. After Williams returned from the
Korean War, many of the best players from the late 1940s had retired or been traded. The stark contrast in the team led critics to call the Red Sox' daily lineup "Ted Williams and the Seven Dwarfs." Also, unlike many other teams, they refused to sign players of
African descent, even passing up chances at future Hall-of-Famers
Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays, both of whom tried out for Boston and were highly praised by team scouts. Ted Williams hit .388 at the age of 38 in 1957, but there was little else for Boston fans to root for. Williams retired at the end of the 1960 season, famously hitting a home run in his final at-bat. The Sox finally became the last Major League team to field an
African American player when they promoted infielder
Pumpsie Green from their AAA farm team in 1959.
Carl "Yaz" Yastrzemski and the Impossible Dream
The 1960s also started poorly for the Red Sox, though 1961 saw the debut of
Carl "Yaz" Yastrzemski, who developed into one of the better hitters of a pitching-rich decade.
Red Sox fans refer to 1967 as the year of the "Impossible Dream." The slogan refers to the hit song from the popular musical play "Man of La Mancha." The 1967 season is remembered as one of the great pennant races in baseball history because four teams were in the AL pennant race until almost the last game. The team had finished the 1966 season in ninth place, but they found new life with Yastrzemski as the team went to the World Series. Yastrzemski won the American League Triple Crown and put forth what is considered one of the best seasons in baseball history. But the Red Sox lost the series — again to the
St. Louis Cardinals, in seven games.
Although the Red Sox played competitive baseball for much of the next seven seasons, they never finished higher than second place in their division. The closest they came to a divisional title was 1972, when they lost by a half-game to the
Detroit Tigers in unorthodox fashion. The start of the season was delayed by a players' strike, and the Red Sox further lost a game to a rainout that was never replayed, which caused the Red Sox to lose the division by a half-game — a game, in which the Tigers won, that the Red Sox would never get to play.
The Red Sox won the AL pennant in 1975, with Yastrzemski surrounded by other players such as rookie outfielders Jim Rice and Fred Lynn, veteran outfielder
Dwight Evans, catcher Carlton Fisk, and pitchers Luis Tiant and eccentric junkballer Bill Lee. In the playoffs, the Sox swept the
Oakland A's in three games.
Game 6 of the
1975 World Series, against the
Cincinnati Reds' "Big Red Machine," is considered as one of the greatest games in baseball's postseason history. The game went to extra innings and featured dramatic home runs by
Bernie Carbo and Carlton Fisk , as well as a game-saving catch by Evans. Despite the series-tying win, the Red Sox lost Game 7.
In 1978, the Red Sox and the Yankees were involved in a tight pennant race. The Yankees were 14½ games behind the Red Sox in July, and on September 10, after completing a 4-game sweep of the Red Sox , the Yankees pulled into a tie for the divisional lead.
For the final three weeks of the season, the teams fought closely and the lead changed hands several times. By the final day of the season, the Yankees' magic number to win the division was one — which meant either a win over Cleveland or a Boston loss to Toronto would clinch the division for the Yankees. However, New York lost 9-2 and Boston won 5-1, forcing a one-game playoff to be held at Fenway Park on Monday, October 2.
Although
Bucky Dent's three-run home run in the 7th inning off Mike Torrez just over the
Green Monster — which gave the Yankees their first lead — is the most remembered moment from the game, it was
Reggie Jackson's solo home run in the 8th that proved the difference in the Yankees' 5-4 win, which ended with Yastrzemski popping out to Graig Nettles with Rick Burleson representing the tying run at third.
The '86 World Series and Morgan's Magic
After the 1978 playoff game, the Red Sox didn't reach the postseason for the next seven years, finishing no higher than third place in their division during that period. Carl Yastrzemski retired after the 1983 season, during which the Red Sox finished sixth in the seven-team AL East, posting their worst record since 1966.
However, in 1986, it appeared the slump may have been reversed. The team's offense had remained strong with Jim Rice,
Dwight Evans, Don Baylor, and future
Hall of Famer Wade Boggs.
Roger Clemens led the pitching staff, posting a 24-4 record with a 2.48 ERA to win both the
American League Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards. Clemens became the first starting pitcher to win both awards since
Vida Blue in 1971. The Red Sox won the AL East for the first time in eleven seasons, prompting a playoff series against the
California Angels in the AL Championship Series.
The Series started poorly for the Red Sox. The teams split the first two games in Boston, but the Angels won the next two games at their home stadium, taking a 3-1 lead in the series. With the Angels poised to win the series, the Red Sox trailed 5-2 heading into the ninth inning of Game 5. A two-run
homer by Don Baylor cut the lead to one. With two outs and a runner on, and one strike away from elimination, Dave Henderson homered off
Donnie Moore to put Boston up 6-5. Although the Angels tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Red Sox won in the eleventh on a Henderson sacrifice fly off Moore. The Red Sox then found themselves with six and seven run wins at
Fenway Park in Games 6 and 7 to win the American League title for the first time since 1975.
In the
1986 World Series the Red Sox played the
New York Mets. The Red Sox won the first two games in
Shea Stadium, but lost the next two at Fenway, knotting the series at 2 games apiece. After a Game 5 win in Boston, the Red Sox returned to
Flushing Meadows looking to garner their first championship in 68 years. However, Game Six would go down as one of the most devastating losses in club history. After a strong outing by Clemens, the Mets tied the game 3-3 in the eighth inning by scoring a run off
reliever Calvin Schiraldi. The game went to extra innings, where the Red Sox took a 5-3 lead in the top of the tenth. After two outs, the Red Sox were one strike away from breaking their championship drought. However, things went terribly wrong, culminating in one of the most infamous moments in major league history. After three straight singles and a wild pitch by Bob Stanley, the Mets tied the game at five. Although it looked like the Red Sox might have been able to extend the game when
Mookie Wilson hit a slow ground ball to
first baseman Bill Buckner for what would have been the final out of the inning, the ball rolled through Buckner's legs, allowing Ray Knight to score the winning run from second.
While Buckner was singled out as the biggest goat, many observers — as well as both Wilson and Buckner — have noted that even if Buckner had fielded the ball cleanly, Wilson possibly would still have been safe , leaving the game-winning run at third with two out. After dropping behind 3-0, the New York Mets then won Game 7, concluding the devastating collapse and feeding the myth that the Red Sox were actually "cursed."
The Red Sox did return to the postseason in 1988. With the club in fourth place early in the 1988 season, manager John McNamara was fired and replaced by
Joe Morgan. Immediately the club won 12 games in a row, and 19 of 20 overall, to surge to the AL East title in what would be referred to as
Morgan's Magic. But the magic was short-lived, as the team was swept by the
Oakland Athletics in the ALCS. Ironically, the MVP of that Series was former Red Sox pitcher and Baseball Hall of Fame player Dennis Eckersley, who saved all four wins for Oakland. Two years later, in 1990, the Red Sox would again win the division and face the Athletics in the ALCS. However, the outcome was the same, with the A's sweeping the Series in four.
After the Yawkeys
Tom Yawkey died in 1976, and his wife Jean Yawkey took control of the team until her death in 1992, after which their initials were placed on the
Left field wall in
Morse code. After Jean Yawkey's death, control of the team passed to the Yawkey Trust, led by John Harrington. The trust sold the team in 2002, concluding 70 years of Yawkey ownership.
In 1994, General Manager Lou Gorman was replaced by Dan Duquette, a Massachusetts native who had worked for the
Montreal Expos. Duquette revived the team's
farm system, which during his tenure produced players such as Nomar Garciaparra, Carl Pavano, and David Eckstein. Duquette also spent money on free agents, notably an eight-year, $160 million deal for
Manny Ramírez after the 2001 season.
Many fans were upset when
Roger Clemens and
Mo Vaughn left the team as free agents. After Clemens had turned 30 and then had four seasons, 1993-96, which were by his standards mediocre at best, Duquette said the pitcher was entering "the
twilight of his career." Clemens went on to pitch well for another ten years and win four more
Cy Young awards. In 1999, Duquette called Fenway Park "economically obsolete" and, along with Red Sox ownership, led a push for a new stadium. Despite support from the
Massachusetts Legislature and other politicians, issues with buying out neighboring property and steadfast opposition within Boston's city council eventually doomed the project.
On the field, the Red Sox had some success during this period, but were unable to return to the World Series. In 1995, they won the newly-realigned American League East, finishing seven games ahead of the Yankees. However, they were swept in three games in a series against the
Cleveland Indians. Their postseason losing streak reached 13 straight games, dating back to the
1986 World Series.
In 1998, the Red Sox dealt
pitchers
Tony Armas, Jr. and Carl Pavano to the
Montreal Expos in exchange for pitcher
Pedro Martínez. Martínez became the anchor of the team's pitching staff and turned in several outstanding seasons. In 1998, the team won the American League Wild Card, but again lost the American League Division Series to the Indians.
A year later, the
1999 Red Sox were finally able to overturn their fortunes against the Indians. Cleveland took a 2-0 series lead, but Boston won the next three games behind strong pitching by Derek Lowe, Pedro Martínez and his brother Ramón Martínez. Game 4's 23-7 win by the Red Sox was the highest-scoring playoff game in major league history. Game 5 began with the Indians taking a 5-2 lead after two innings, but Pedro Martínez, nursing a shoulder injury, came on in the fourth inning and pitched six innings without allowing a hit while the team's offense rallied for a 12-8 win behind two home runs from outfielder Troy O'Leary. After the ALDS victory, the Red Sox lost the American League Championship Series to the Yankees, 4 games to one.
In 2000, the Red Sox failed to take advantage of Nomar Garciaparra's career year and
Pedro Martinez's historic season. Other standouts included reliever Derek Lowe and outfielders
Carl Everett and Dante Bichette, but the rest of the team was weak, and the Red Sox stumbled to an 85-77 record.
2001 was much the same. Though the Red Sox got an outstanding performance from new acquisition
Manny Ramirez and a good year from
Trot Nixon, Garciaparra spent much of the season on the disabled list, and Martinez pitched just 116 innings. To top it off, the Red Sox fired manager Jimy Williams and replaced him with pitching coach Joe Kerrigan, under whom they went 17-26.
New ownership, new era
In 2002, the Red Sox were sold by Yawkey trustee and president John Harrington to a consortium headed by principal owner John Henry.
Tom Werner served as executive chairman,
Larry Lucchino served as president and vice chairman was CEO Les Otten. Dan Duquette was fired as GM of the club on February 28, with former Angels GM Mike Port taking the helm for the 2002 season.
Under the new ownership, the Red Sox signed outfielder
Johnny Damon and traded for outfielder Cliff Floyd and relief pitcher Alan Embree. Nomar Garciaparra,
Manny Ramirez, and Floyd all hit well, while
Pedro Martinez put up his usual outstanding numbers. Derek Lowe, newly converted into a starter, won 20 games -- becoming the first player to save 20 games and win 20 games in back-to-back seasons. The Red Sox won 93 games but they finished 10 1/2 games behind the Yankees for the division and 6 behind the Angels for the wild card.
In the offseason, Port was replaced by
Yale graduate
Theo Epstein after
Oakland's Billy Beane turned down the position. At the age of 28, Epstein became the youngest general manager in the history of the Major Leagues up to that point. He was raised in
Brookline.
2003: Cowboy Up
The 2003 team took a new image through the season. With offensively loaded players like
Manny Ramirez and Nomar Garciaparra on the team already, the 2003 Sox got surprises from 3B Bill Mueller , 1B Kevin Millar , and a future legend named
David Ortiz who started the season as a platoon player with Mueller, Shea Hillenbrand, and Jeremy Giambi. With Ortiz upset with the playing time he received he told GM Epstein he wanted to be traded. Epstein, aware of Ortiz's potential, traded Hillenbrand to the
Arizona Diamondbacks for
pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim. Though Kim fizzled, Ortiz ended up becoming a legend .
"Cowboy Up" was this team's rally cry. Whenever the team was trailing, the players would show a video from Millar's college days, showing him singing Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" rather poorly. The rally cry worked, as the Sox led the league in come from behind wins. With all of this help, the Red Sox won the Wild Card in 2003.
In the 2003 American League Division Series, the Red Sox rallied from a 2-0 series deficit against the
Oakland Athletics 
