BOSTON RED SOX

The Official History of the Boston Red Sox | Baseball Almanac

On September 11, 1918, a happy flock of 15,238 fans filed out of Fenway Park, having seen their ace right hander Carl Mays shut down the Chicago Cubs on three hits for a World Series clinching 2-1 win. It was the Red Sox fourth world championship in seven years and their fifth overall.

Little did those fans realize the ups, and mostly downs, they and generations of Sox fans yet-to-be-born would endure before a sixth world championship banner would be raised at Fenway.

Boston baseball traces its roots to the 1870's. The enthusiasm and support Bostonians gave to their National League team convinced Ban Johnson that Boston would be a strong charter entry in his new American League.

He was right. The Boston Americans began play April 26, 1901 with a 10-6 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. Boston finished second that first season, third in 1902, and then won the first World Series in 1903, defeating Pittsburgh. These teams were anchored by legendary hurler Cy Young. Already in his late 30s, Young won 33, 32 and 28 games in 1901-03.

The Americans adopted the name Red Sox late in 1907 and hit their stride with world championships in 1912-15-16-18 led by a legendary outfield — Tris Speaker, the peerless Hall of Fame center fielder, flanked by fellow Hall of Famer Harry Hooper in right and Duffy Lewis in left. The Sox also unveiled a skinny 19-year old left-handed pitcher in 1914 who went 2-1 in four games. His name was Babe Ruth, and over the next six seasons he won 89 games and posted an ERA of 2.19, making him one of the best southpaw pitchers in the league. He also began showing a prodigious talent to hit home runs and became a league phenomenon when he hit a then-unheard of 29 homers in 1919.

By the end of that year the finances of Red Sox owner Harry Frazee were spiraling downward and in trying to right his financial ship, Frazee sunk the Sox. In the most infamous transaction in baseball history, Frazee got out of debt by selling Ruth to the Yankees, giving birth to the "Curse of the Bambino," a long-lamented reason given by Sox fans for the misfortunes that always seemed to overtake their teams at crucial times and derail their efforts for a championship.

But Frazee didn't stop with Ruth. He gutted his franchise during the next few years by sending the Yankees Hall of Fame pitcher Herb Pennock, and solid players such as Joe Dugan, Everett Scott, George Pipgras, "Bullet" Joe Bush and Sam Jones without receiving adequate compensation. These transactions sparked a heated rivalry between the two franchises which continues unabated today.

Perhaps the most devastating loss for the Red Sox during this time was Ed Barrow, the era's most effective general manager. It was Barrow who brought all this talent to Boston, and when the Red Sox let the Yankees hire him away, they condemned themselves to two decades of second division mediocrity while Barrow built the Yankee dynasty.

Thomas Yawkey bought a dismal, down-and-out franchise in 1933, and immediately committed the money necessary to turn it around. He started by adding veteran stars such as Jimmy Foxx and Joe Cronin, and during the next decade he mixed in home grown talent such as Bobby Doerr, Johnny Pesky, Dom DiMaggio and a fresh-faced slugger from San Diego named Ted Williams. This lineup of sluggers became one of baseball's best teams in the 1940's.

In fact, the Red Sox have always turned out great hitting talent, beginning with Williams, considered by many the greatest natural hitter in history. In 1960, Williams passed the slugging baton to Carl Yastrzemski and a new generation of heavy hitters that included George Scott, Rico Petrocelli, Reggie Smith and Tony Conigliaro. They in turn gave way to Jim Rice, Fred Lynn, Carlton Fisk and Dwight Evans in the 1970's and '80's.

But this offensive firepower could not break the "Curse of the Bambino," and for eight decades the Red Sox fell victim to some of the most heartbreaking near-misses any team and its fans have endured. The Sox earned World Series berths in 1946, 1967, 1975 and 1986, losing each series in seven games.

Twice the Red Sox played American League tiebreakers, both times at Fenway Park. They lost them both. They tied Cleveland for the 1948 pennant, only to be clobbered 8-3 in the playoff game. They tied the Yankees for the 1978 Eastern Division title only to lose an excruciating 5-4 game at Fenway. The Sox also lost playoff series to the hated Yankees in 1999 and an especially tough one in 2003. They also lost the 1949 pennant when, with a one-game lead over the Yankees, they came to New York for the last two games of the season and lost them both.

The Sox are also one of the few American League teams to lose a regular season race by a — game. A players strike at the start of the 1972 season wiped out the first weeks of the schedule and caused each team to play a different number of games. Detroit played one more game than Boston. The Tigers won the odd game and took the American League East title with a record of 86-70 to Boston's 85-70.

Finally, 101 years after the Boston Americans won the first World Series, 86 years after Carl Mays won the 1918 World Series, and 84 years after Harry Frazee's fire sale, the Red Sox reached the promised land in spectacular fashion.

Led by ace Curt Schilling and sluggers Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, they won the franchise's eleventh pennant in 2004 by becoming the first baseball team to ever win a seven game postseason series after trailing 3-0. To make the victory sweeter, they did it against the rival Yankees. They then dispatched the Cardinals in four straight in the World Series to raise their sixth World Championship banner on the flagpole of Fenway and burying forever the Bambino's curse.

Continuing to contend throughout the decade, they returned to the Series again in 2007, vanquishing upstart Colorado in four straight, but had to settle for Wild Card titles in 2008 and 2009. After making changes to deal with an aging roster, they again contended strongly for yet another decade, winning the East in 2013, 2016, 2017, and 2018, two additional American League pennants (2013 & 2018), as well as two additional championships (2013 & 2018).

Baseball Almanac Top Quote

"Why did Johnson bat for Willoughby? Where were you when you heard Denny Galehouse was pitching against the Indians? How could Slaughter have scored from first? Why was Buckner still in the game?" - Dan Shaughnessy in The Curse of the Bambino (1990)

Boston Red Sox History

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Boston Red Sox Franchise Facts

Boston Americans Rosters | 1901 - 1907
  1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907    
Boston Red Sox Rosters | 1908 - Current
                1908 1909
1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020 2021 2022 2023            
Bold Seasons : Uniform Numbers Worn
Boston Americans Schedules | 1901 - 1907
  1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907    
Boston Red Sox Schedules | 1908 - Current
                1908 1909
1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020 2021 2022 2023            
Bold Seasons : Box Scores Online
Red Sox 100-Win Seasons
Year Record Manager
1912 105-47 Jake Stahl
1915 101-50 Bill Carrigan
1946 104-50 Joe Cronin
2018 108-54 Alex Cora
Red Sox 100-Loss Seasons
Year Record Manager
1906 49-105 Jimmy Collins
  "   "   "   " Chick Stahl
1925 47-105 Lee Fohl
1926 46-107 Lee Fohl
1927 51-103 Bill Carrigan
1930 52-102 Heinie Wagner
1932 43-111 Shano Collins
  "   "   "   " Marty McManus
1965 62-100 Billy Herman
Red Sox No-Hitters
Name IP Date
Cy Young 9.0 05-05-1904
Jesse Tannehill 9.0 08-17-1904
Bill Dinneen 9.0 09-27-1905
Cy Young 9.0 06-30-1908
Joe Wood 9.0 07-29-1911
Rube Foster 9.0 06-21-1916
Dutch Leonard 9.0 08-30-1916
Babe Ruth 0.0 06-23-1917
Ernie Shore 9.0 "    "
Dutch Leonard 9.0 06-03-1918
Howard Ehmke 9.0 09-07-1923
Mel Parnell 9.0 07-14-1956
Earl Wilson 9.0 06-26-1962
Bill Monbouquette 9.0 08-01-1962
Dave Morehead 9.0 09-16-1965
Matt Young 8.0 04-12-1992
Hideo Nomo 9.0 04-04-2001
Derek Lowe 9.0 04-27-2002
Clay Buchholz 9.0 09-01-2007
Jon Lester 9.0 05-19-2008
Bold = Perfect Game
Red Sox Cycle Hitters
Name Inn. Date
Buck Freeman 9.0 06-21-1903
Patsy Dougherty 9.0 07-29-1903
Tris Speaker 9.0 06-09-1912
Roy Carlyle 9.0 07-21-1925
Moose Solters 9.0 08-19-1934
Joe Cronin 9.0 08-02-1940
Leon Culberson 9.0 07-03-1943
Bobby Doerr 9.0 05-17-1944
Bob Johnson 9.0 07-06-1944
Ted Williams 9.0 07-21-1946
Bobby Doerr 9.0 05-13-1947
Lou Clinton 15.0 07-13-1962
Carl Yastrzemski 10.0 05-14-1965
Bob Watson 9.0 09-15-1979
Fred Lynn 9.0 05-13-1980
Dwight Evans 11.0 06-28-1984
Rich Gedman 9.0 09-18-1985
Mike Greenwell 9.0 09-14-1988
Scott Cooper 9.0 04-12-1994
John Valentin 9.0 06-06-1996
Brock Holt 9.0 06-16-2015
Mookie Betts 9.0 08-09-2018
Brock Holt 9.0 10-08-2018
Bold = Natural Cycle
Red Sox Cy Young Winners
Year Name Position
1967 Jim Lonborg RHP
1986 Roger Clemens RHP
1987 Roger Clemens RHP
1991 Roger Clemens RHP
1999 Pedro Martinez RHP
2000 Pedro Martinez RHP
2016 Rick Porcello RHP
Red Sox MVP Winners
Year Name Position
1938 Jimmie Foxx 1B
1946 Ted Williams OF
1949 Ted Williams OF
1958 Jackie Jensen OF
1967 Carl Yastrzemski OF
1975 Fred Lynn OF
1978 Jim Rice OF
1986 Roger Clemens P
1995 Mo Vaughn 1B
2008 Dustin Pedroia 2B
2018 Mookie Betts OF
Red Sox Rookies of the Year
Year Name Position
1950 Walt Dropo 1B
1961 Don Schwall P
1972 Carlton Fisk C
1975 Fred Lynn OF
1997 Nomar Garciaparra SS
2007 Dustin Pedroia 2B
Red Sox Retired Numbers
# Name Position
1 Bobby Doerr 2B
4 Joe Cronin SS
6 Johnny Pesky SS
8 Carl Yastrzemski OF
9 Ted Williams OF
14 Jim Rice OF
26 Wade Boggs 3B
27 Carlton Fisk C
34 David Ortiz DH
42 Jackie Robinson 2B
45 Pedro Martinez RHP
Red Sox Batting Champions
Year Name #
1932 Dale Alexander .367
1938 Jimmie Foxx .349
1941 Ted Williams .406
1942 Ted Williams .356
1947 Ted Williams .343
1948 Ted Williams .369
1950 Billy Goodman .354
1957 Ted Williams .388
1958 Ted Williams .328
1960 Pete Runnels .320
1962 Pete Runnels .326
1963 Carl Yastrzemski .321
1967 Carl Yastrzemski .326
1968 Carl Yastrzemski .301
1979 Fred Lynn .333
1981 Carney Lansford .336
1983 Wade Boggs .361
1985 Wade Boggs .368
1986 Wade Boggs .357
1987 Wade Boggs .363
1988 Wade Boggs .366
1999 Nomar Garciaparra .357
2000 Nomar Garciaparra .372
2002 Manny Ramirez .349
2003 Bill Mueller .326
2018 Mookie Betts .346
Red Sox ERA Champions
Year Name #
1901 Cy Young 1.62
1914 Dutch Leonard 0.96
1915 Joe Wood 1.49
1916 Babe Ruth 1.75
1935 Lefty Grove 2.70
1936 Lefty Grove 2.81
1938 Lefty Grove 3.08
1939 Lefty Grove 2.54
1949 Mel Parnell 2.78
1972 Luis Tiant 1.91
1986 Roger Clemens 2.48
1990 Roger Clemens 1.93
1991 Roger Clemens 2.62
1992 Roger Clemens 2.41
1999 Pedro Martinez 2.07
2000 Pedro Martinez 1.74
2002 Pedro Martinez 2.26
2003 Pedro Martinez 2.22
Red Sox Home Run Champions
Year Name #
1903 Buck Freeman 13
1910 Jake Stahl 10
1912 Tris Speaker 10
1918 Babe Ruth 11
1919 Babe Ruth 29
1939 Jimmie Foxx 35
1941 Ted Williams 37
1942 Ted Williams 36
1947 Ted Williams 32
1949 Ted Williams 43
1965 Tony Conigliaro 32
1967 Carl Yastrzemski 44
1977 Jim Rice 39
1978 Jim Rice 46
1981 Dwight Evans 22
1983 Jim Rice 39
1984 Tony Armas 43
2004 Manny Ramirez 43
2006 David Ortiz 54
Red Sox Strikeout Champions
Year Name #
1901 Cy Young 158
1942 Tex Hughson 113
1967 Jim Lonborg 246
1988 Roger Clemens 291
1991 Roger Clemens 241
1996 Roger Clemens 257
1999 Pedro Martinez 313
2000 Pedro Martinez 284
2001 Hideo Nomo 220
2002 Pedro Martinez 239
2017 Chris Sale 308
Red Sox Wild Cards
Year Record Manager
1998 92-70 Jimy Williams
1999 94-68 Jimy Williams
2003 95-67 Grady Little
2004 98-64 Terry Francona
2005 95-67 Terry Francona
2008 95-67 Terry Francona
2009 95-67 Terry Francona
2021 92-70 Alex Cora
Red Sox East Division Titles
Year Record Manager
1975 95-65 Darrell Johnson
1986 95-66 John McNamara
1988 89-73 John McNamara
" " Joe Morgan
1990 88-74 Joe Morgan
1995 86-58 Kevin Kennedy
2007 96-66 Terry Francona
2013 97-65 John Farrell
2016 93-69 John Farrell
2017 93-69 John Farrell
2018 108-54 Alex Cora
Red Sox A.L. Pennants
Year Record Manager
1903 91-47 Jimmy Collins
1904 95-59 Jimmy Collins
1912 105-47 Jake Stahl
1915 101-50 Bill Carrigan
1916 91-63 Bill Carrigan
1918 71-51 Ed Barrow
1946 104-50 Joe Cronin
1967 92-70 Dick Williams
1975 95-65 Darrell Johnson
1986 95-66 John McNamara
2004 98-64 Terry Francona
2007 96-66 Terry Francona
2013 97-65 John Farrell
2018 108-54 Alex Cora
Red Sox World Championships
W.S. Opponent M.V.P.
1903 Pittsburgh n/a
1912 New York n/a
1915 Philadelphia n/a
1916 Brooklyn n/a
1918 Chicago n/a
2004 St. Louis Manny Ramirez
2007 Colorado Mike Lowell
2013 St. Louis David Ortiz
2018 Los Angeles Steve Pearce
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baseball almanac fast facts

The Boston Red Sox have won more than one-hundred games during a season four times — 1912 (105-47), 1915 (101-50), 1946 (104-50), and 2018 (108-54). They have lost more than one-hundred games during a season seven times — 1906 (49-105), 1925 (47-105), 1926 (46-107), 1927 (51-103), 1930 (52-102), 1932 (43-111) and 1965 (62-100).

Boston Americans World Series
1903 World Series
Boston Red Sox World Series
1912 World Series 1946 World Series 2004 World Series
1915 World Series 1967 World Series 2007 World Series
1916 World Series 1975 World Series 2013 World Series
1918 World Series 1986 World Series 2018 World Series
Bold = World Champions

The Boston Red Sox also lost a few "big" games over the course of their history and had a curse which hung over them for nearly a century. Their history is rich, their fans are true and one must wonder why they make the best poets:

Why Red Sox Fans Make for the Best Poets
by Ian Strever

There's something too fitting, too poetic
about standing in bone-cold drizzle
staring at the weeping street sign that says "Yawkey Way,"
digging for warmth, consolation and the ticket
to the last game of the season
That's about to begin inside Fenway.

And I know it is too romantic, too contrived
to be shuffling through the turnstile on September 29th,
like a hopeful pilgrim, in search of the miracle
that will transform this meaningless
Closing Day ritual with the Devil Rays,
into
Bottomoftheninth.
Basesloaded.
Threeandtwocount.
Seasonontheline.

Yet here I find myself, too glad, too alive
beside 30,000 fellow poets,
all refusing to believe what we know is true,
all hoping that Sysyphus will eventually catch a break,
all reading Peanuts for that day
when Charlie Brown not only kicks the ball
but stops going to Lucy for therapy.

All content in Fenway's masochistic wooden seats
where we'll return again next April
because
Next Year
Is Our Year"

Source: Pine Island Journal (Reprinted with author's permission).

Did you know that the first person to hit a ball over the "Green Monster" in Fenway Park was Hugh Bradley in 1912? However, at the time the wall was twenty-five feet high and covered with advertisements.