1903 World Series

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1903 World Series Poster

The 1903 World Series, the first modern World Series to be played in Major League Baseball, matched the Boston "Americans" against the Pittsburgh Pirates, with Boston prevailing five games to three.

Pittsburgh pitcher Sam Leever injured his shoulder while trap-shooting, so his teammate Deacon Phillippe had to pitch five complete games for Pittsburgh. He won three of his games, but it was not enough to overcome the club from the new American League. Boston pitchers Bill Dinneen and Cy Young led Boston to victory.

Although much was made of the influence of the Boston "Royal Rooters", Boston only won two out of four at home and three of four at Pittsburgh.

The Pirates' benevolent owner Barney Dreyfuss added his share of the gate receipts to the players' share, so the losing team's players actually finished with a larger individual share than the winning team's.

Managers: Jimmy Collins (Boston), Fred Clarke (Pittsburgh)

Umpires: Hank O'Day (NL), Tommy Connolly (AL)

Summary

Matchups

The Pirates started Game 1 strong, scoring six runs in the first four innings. They extended their lead to 7-0 on a solo home run by Jimmy Sebring in the 7th, the first home run in World Series history. Boston tried to mount a comeback in the last three innings, but it was too little, too late, as they ended up losing by a score of 7-3 in the first ever World Series game. Both Phillippe and Young threw complete games, with Phillippe striking out 10 and Young fanning 5, but Young also gave up twice as many hits and allowed 3 earned runs to Phillippe's 2.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pittsburgh	4	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	7	12	2
Boston	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	3	6	4
W: Deacon Phillippe (1-0)   L: Cy Young (0-1)
HR: PIT – Jimmy Sebring (1)

Game 2, Huntington Avenue Grounds, Boston, Massachusetts

After starting out strong in Game 1, the Pirates simply shut down offensively, managing to get a meager 3 hits, all of which were singles. Pirates starter Sam Leever went only one inning and gave up 3 hits and 2 runs before being replaced by Bucky Veil in the second inning due to injury, who finished the game for Pittsburgh. Bill Dinneen struck out 11 and pitched a complete game for the Americans, while Patsy Dougherty hit home runs in the first and sixth innings to produce 2 of the Boston's 3 runs.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pittsburgh	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	2
Boston	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	X	3	8	0
W: Bill Dineen (1-0)   L: Sam Leever (0-1)
HR: BOS – Patsy Dougherty 2 (2)

Game 3, Huntington Avenue Grounds, Boston, Massachusetts

Deacon Phillippe, pitching on only one day rest, started Game 3 for the Pirates, and did not let them down as he pitched his second complete game victory of the series to put the Pirates up two games to one.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pittsburgh	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	4	7	0
Boston	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	2	4	2
W: Deacon Phillippe (2-0)   L: Tom Hughes (0-1)

Game 4, Exposition Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

After two days of rest, Deacon Phillippe was ready to pitch his second straight game. He threw his third complete game victory of the series against Bill Dinneen, who was pitching in his second start of the series. However, Phillippe's second straight victory was almost not to be, as the Americans, down 5-1 in the top of the ninth, staged a rally to bring the game within one. The comeback attempt failed, though, as Phillippe managed to put an end to it and give the Pirates a commanding 3-1 series lead.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	4	9	1
Pittsburgh	1	0	0	0	1	0	3	0	X	5	12	1
W: Deacon Phillippe (3-0)   L: Bill Dinneen (1-1)

Game 5, Exposition Park , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Game 5 was a pitcher's duel for the first five innings, with Boston's Cy Young and Pittsburgh's Brickyard Kennedy giving up no runs. That changed at the top of the sixth, however, when the Americans scored a then-record 6 runs that inning. Young, on the other hand, managed to keep his shutout intact before finally giving up a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth. He went the distance and struck out four for his first World Series win.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston	0	0	0	0	0	6	4	1	0	11	13	2
Pittsburgh	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	6	4
W: Cy Young (1-1)   L: Brickyard Kennedy (0-1)

Game 6, Exposition Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Game 6 featured a rematch between the starters of Game 2, Bill Dinneen (Boston) and Sam Leever (Pittsburgh). This time, Leever would pitch the entire game, but despite throwing a complete game he was outmatched by Dinneen, who ended up with his second complete game victory of the series. After losing three of the first four games of the World Series, the underdog Boston Americans had tied the series at three games apiece.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston	0	0	3	0	2	0	1	0	0	6	10	1
Pittsburgh	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	3	10	3
W: Bill Dinneen (2-1)  L: Sam Leever (0-2)

Game 7, Exposition Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The fourth and final game in Pittsburgh saw Deacon Phillippe start his fourth game of the series for Pittsburgh. This time, however, he wouldn't fare as well as he did in his first three starts. Cy Young, pitching in his third start of the series, would face a much more favorable fate, holding the Pirates to only three runs. The upstart Americans were now one win away from winning the first ever baseball World Series, taking three out of four at Pittsburgh's Exposition Park.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston	2	0	0	2	0	2	0	1	0	7	11	4
Pittsburgh	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	3	10	3
WP: Cy Young (2-1)  LP: Deacon Phillippe (3-1)

Game 8, Huntington Avenue Grounds, Boston, Massachusetts

The final game of the inaugural World Series started out as an intense pitcher's duel, with no runs being scored until the fourth inning - when a Hobe Ferris single scored two runners. Deacon Phillippe started his fifth and final game of the series, while Bill Dinneen started his fourth game of the series. As he did in Game 2, Dinneen threw a complete game shutout while striking out seven, leading the Boston Americans to victory, while Phillippe, who also threw a respectable game, just couldn't pitch at Dinneen's level due to wearing out his arm in the series (as a result of playing so many games in such a short time span) and gave up three runs in the defeat.

And so, the first baseball World Series had ended, with the fledgling American League's Boston Americans winning over the heavily favored Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League. Honus Wagner, the National League batting champion, ended up going only 6 for 27 at the plate (.222 batting average) in the series.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pittsburgh	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	3
Boston	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	0	X	3	8	0
W: Bill Dinneen (3-1)  L: Deacon Phillippe (3-2)

Crowd outside the 1903 World Series

Trivia

• The 1903 World Series was a best-of-nine affair. Baseball would go to a best-of-seven format when the Series was revived in 1905 (the '04 Series not being played), but would go back to best-of-nine for the 1919, 1920 and 1921 World Series before permanently deciding on best-of-seven.
• This first postseason series would also be the first time a team has come back from a 3 games to 1 deficit to win a postseason series. It would not happen again until Pittsburgh came back to defeat Washington in the 1925 World Series, and has happened only ten times in baseball history.

External Links

• [1903 World Series at Baseball-Reference.com]
• [1903 World Series at WorldSeries.com (MLB.com)]
• [1903 World Series at Baseball-Almanac.com]
• The 1903 World Series website by David Southwick contains box scores and articles by contemporary Boston sportswriter Tim Murnane. [link]
• [1903 World Series box scores and play-by-play at Retrosheet.org]

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