The 1903 World Series: The Boston Americans, the Pittsburg Pirates, and the First Championship of the United States

The first World Series was a best-of-nine series between the Boston Americans and the Pittsburgh Pirates, with the first three games to be played in Boston at the Huntington Avenue Grounds on October 1, 1903. The series started with baseball’s winnigest 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.