1903 Boston Americans season

1903 Boston Americans
1903 World Series champions 1903 American League Champions
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Location
Huntington Avenue Grounds (since 1901)
Boston, Massachusetts (since 1901)
Other information
Owner(s)	Henry Killilea
Manager(s)	Jimmy Collins
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The Boston Americans finished first in the American League with a record of 91 wins and 47 losses. They went on to participate in the first World Series held between the American League and National League champions. They won the 1903 World Series in 8 games over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The team was managed by Jimmy Collins and played their home games at Huntington Avenue Grounds.

Regular season

Season summary

The 1903 Boston Americans won the American League championship by finishing 14½ games ahead of the Philadelphia Athletics. The Americans were led by Buck Freeman, who hit 13 home runs and drove in 104 runs, his third straight 100-RBI campaign for the Boston club. Meanwhile, they won 10 straight games in early June to put themselves in the AL lead for good. They 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 series in 8 games, winning the 8th game at Huntington Avenue Grounds to clinch the championship.

Opening Day lineup

Patsy Dougherty	LF
Jimmy Collins	3B
Chick Stahl	CF
Buck Freeman	RF
Freddy Parent	SS
Candy LaChance	1B
Hobe Ferris	2B
Duke Farrell	C
George Winter	P

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Boston Americans	91	47	0.659	—	49–20	42–27
Philadelphia Athletics	75	60	0.556	14½	44–21	31–39
Cleveland Naps	77	63	0.550	15	49–25	28–38
New York Highlanders	72	62	0.537	17	41–26	31–36
Detroit Tigers	65	71	0.478	25	37–28	28–43
St. Louis Browns	65	74	0.468	26½	38–32	27–42
Chicago White Stockings	60	77	0.438	30½	41–28	19–49
Washington Senators	43	94	0.314	47½	29–40	14–54

Record vs. opponents

1903 American League Records Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NY	PHI	STL	WSH
Boston	—	14–6	12–8	10–9–1	13–7	13–6	14–6	15–5–2
Chicago	6–14	—	10–10	10–9	7–11–1	6–14	9–11	12–8
Cleveland	8–12	10–10	—	9–11	14–6	9–11	11–9	16–4
Detroit	9–10–1	9–10	11–9	—	10–9	11–9	6–14	9–10
New York	7–13	11–7–1	6–14	9–10	—	10–8–1	15–5	14–5
Philadelphia	6–13	14–6	11–9	9–11	8–10–1	—	11–8	16–3–1
St. Louis	6–14	11–9	9–11	14–6	5–15	8–11	—	12–8
Washington	5–15–2	8–12	4–16	10–9	5–14	3–16–1	8–12	—

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = position; G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Lou Criger	96	317	61	.192	3	31
1B	Candy LaChance	141	522	134	.257	1	53
2B	Hobe Ferris	141	525	132	.251	9	66
3B	Jimmy Collins	130	540	160	.296	5	72
SS	Freddy Parent	139	560	170	.304	4	80
OF	Buck Freeman	141	567	163	.287	13	104
OF	Patsy Dougherty	139	590	195	.331	4	59
OF	Chick Stahl	77	299	82	.274	2	44

Other batters

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Jack O'Brien	96	338	71	.210	3	38
Jake Stahl	40	92	22	.239	2	8
Duke Farrell	17	52	21	.404	0	8
Aleck Smith	11	33	10	.303	0	4
Harry Gleason	6	13	2	.154	0	2
George Stone	2	2	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Cy Young	40	341.7	28	9	2.08	176
Bill Dinneen	37	299	21	13	2.26	148
Tom Hughes	33	244.7	20	7	2.57	112
Norwood Gibson	24	183.3	13	9	3.19	76
George Winter	24	178.3	9	8	3.08	64
Nick Altrock	1	8	0	1	9.00	3

World series

Huntington Avenue Grounds before the first modern World Series game vs. Pittsburgh

Main article: 1903 World Series

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Score	Record (BOS-PIT)	Attendance
1	October 1	Pittsburgh Pirates	7	Boston Americans	3	0–1	16,242
2	October 2	Pittsburgh Pirates	0	Boston Americans	3	1–1	9,415
3	October 3	Pittsburgh Pirates	4	Boston Americans	2	1–2	18,801
4	October 6	Boston Americans	4	Pittsburgh Pirates	5	1–3	7,600
5	October 7	Boston Americans	11	Pittsburgh Pirates	2	2–3	12,322
6	October 8	Boston Americans	6	Pittsburgh Pirates	3	3–3	11,556
7	October 10	Boston Americans	7	Pittsburgh Pirates	3	4–3	17,038
8	October 13	Pittsburgh Pirates	0	Boston Americans	3	5–3	7,455

References

• 1903 Boston Americans team page at Baseball Reference
• 1903 Boston Americans season at baseball-almanac.com
• 1903 Boston Americans at Fueled by Sports