The history of the Boston Red Sox begins in 1901, as one of the original franchises of the American League.
Early years.
1900–1909.
In 1900, Ban Johnson's minor Western League, based in the Midwest, declared its equality with the National League, then the only major league in baseball. Johnson changed the name of his league to the American League. Competing in the streets, the upstart placed franchises in two of the largest and most important NL cities, Philadelphia and Boston. Despite the National League club having been previously well established in the city, beginning play in 1871, the new American League club managed to immediately surpass their in-city rivals in popularity. Factors contributing to this include the signing away of many of the star players from the "Nationals" to the "Americans" to more lucrative contracts, a more accessible location of their home park, animosity between Boston baseball fans and "Nationals" owner Arthur Soden, and more efforts made by the "Americans" to attract the growing Irish-American population to their games, as opposed to the "Nationals" preferring to market themselves more to Anglo-Saxons. Playing their home games at Huntington Avenue Grounds, the Boston franchise (often called the Americans during this time) finished second and third place in their first two seasons before capturing their first pennant in 1903 and repeating the feat in 1904. These early Boston teams were led by manager and star third baseman Jimmy Collins and by pitcher Cy Young, both signings away from the NL club, whose 1901 to 1904 seasons both 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 and winning the best-of-nine series five games to three. The Americans were aided both by chants of "Tessie" from their Royal Rooters fan club and by their stronger pitching staff.
The 1904 club was almost as good as the previous year's team, but due to the emergence of the New York Highlanders as a strong contender, the Americans found themselves in a tight pennant race through the last games of the season. Foreshadowing what would eventually become a storied rivalry, the 1904 race featured such controversial moves as the trade of Patsy Dougherty to the Highlanders for Bob Unglaub.
However, the arguable climax of the season occurred during the season's final doubleheader at the Highlanders' home stadium, Hilltop Park. In order to win the pennant, New York needed to take both games from Boston. With Jack Chesbro, the Highlanders' 41-game winner, on the mound, New York seemed to have a good chance of winning the first game. However, in the top of the ninth inning with the score tied 2–2 with a man on third in the top of the ninth, a spitball got away from Chesbro allowing Boston's Lou Criger to score the go-ahead run on one of the most famous wild pitches in history. Unfortunately, the NL champion New York Giants had previously declined to play any postseason series, fearing it would give their New York rivals credibility (they had expected the Highlanders to win), but a sharp public reaction led to the two leagues immediately turning the World Series into a permanent championship, starting in 1905.
These successful times quickly ended, as the Americans would finish the 1906 season in last place in the American League with a 49-105 record. But several new star players would soon help the newly renamed Red Sox reverse their fortunes once again.
1910–1919.
By 1909, center fielder Tris Speaker had become a fixture in the Boston outfield, and the Red Sox worked their way up to third place in the American League. However, the Red Sox would not win the pennant again until their 105-win 1912 season, finishing with a club-record .691 winning percentage while anchored by an outfield considered to be among the finest in the game (Tris Speaker, Harry Hooper and Duffy Lewis). Boston was also led by superstar pitcher Smoky Joe Wood, with whom the Red Sox beat the New York Giants 4–3–1 in the 1912 World Series that has become best known for "Snodgrass's Muff". From 1913 to 1916, the Red Sox were owned by Joseph Lannin, who signed Babe Ruth, soon to become one of the best-known and most-revered baseball players ever. In Ruth's debut as a pitcher he got a win vs. the Indians, then in 1915 his first major league home run was against the Yankees, who he would ironically play for later in his career. Another 101 wins in 1915 propelled the Red Sox to the 1915 World Series, where they beat the Philadelphia Phillies four games to one. In the 1915 World Series, Harry Hooper hit two home runs, and Duffy Lewis batted .444 with a home run. The 1916 team once again earned the AL pennant, though Tris Speaker was traded to the Cleveland Indians in the off-season. His departure was more than compensated for, however, by the emergence of Babe Ruth as a star pitcher. Once again, the Red Sox won the World Series, this time defeating the Brooklyn Robins. In game two Ruth would pitch a 14 inning complete game victory. Also third baseman Larry Gardner hit a 3-run inside-the-park home run. After the Series, Lannin sold the team to New York theater producer Harry Frazee.
By 1918, the team found itself at the top of the heap again, led by Ruth to another Series championship over the Chicago Cubs. The 1918 victory for Boston was provided by the pitching of Ruth and submarine pitcher Carl Mays.
Curse of the Bambino.
Sale of Babe Ruth.
On December 26, 1919, Frazee reached an agreement to sell Babe Ruth to the rival New York Yankees for $125,000. The deal was not officially announced until January 5, 1920. In addition to the $125,000 agreed for Ruth, Frazee was given a loan of a $350,000. 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 (the play is in fact what paid off the loan).
During that period, the Red Sox, White Sox and Yankees had a détente; they were called "Insurrectos" because their actions antagonized league president Johnson. Although Frazee owned the Red Sox franchise, he did not own Fenway Park (it was owned by the Fenway Park Trust, which was in turn controlled by the Taylors), making his ownership a precarious one; Johnson could move another team into the ballpark. Frazee thus felt the need to purchase the park even though he was in debt (which he did in 1920). 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. He also needed cash to pay on the note he had used to buy the Red Sox from Lannin. 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.
The sale of Babe Ruth came to be viewed as the beginning of the Yankees – Red Sox rivalry, described as the "Greatest Rivalry on Earth" by some journalists. The sale would later be attributed as the cause of the "Curse of the Bambino", a tongue-in-cheek curse blamed for the inability of the Red Sox to win the World Series, from 1918 to 2004.
1920–1939.
The Red Sox had finished 6th in 1919, only a year after winning the World Series. Frazee intended to use the money from selling Ruth to rebuild the team. However, he ran into trouble with his theater interests from 1918 onward, leaving him without enough money to service the debts on both Fenway Park and the Red Sox. He was thus forced to sell his star players in order to stay afloat. Unfortunately for Frazee, he was all but forced to deal with the Yankees. The "Loyal Five" were still unwilling to deal with him, and the White Sox' image had taken a beating from the Black Sox Scandal, leaving the Yankees as his only realistic trading partner. Over the next three years, Frazee sent nearly all of his star players to the Yankees, earning a total of $305,000.
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, and pitchers Bullet Joe Bush and Sad Sam Jones were traded to the Yankees for Roger Peckinpaugh (who would be immediately shipped to the Washington Senators), 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, Johnny 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.
Several notable trades involving Frazee and the Yankees occurred before the Babe Ruth sale. On December 18, 1918, outstanding outfielder Duffy Lewis (mentioned above), pitcher Dutch Leonard, and pitcher 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.
With the loss of so much talent, the money Frazee earned from these trades was not nearly enough to keep the Red Sox competitive. For the next 14 years, the Red Sox were fixtures in the second division, never finishing closer than 20 games out of first. On July 11, 1923, Frazee sold the team to Bob Quinn for $1,000,000. The losses continued under the new ownership, and over an eight-year period from 1925 to 1932, the Red Sox averaged over 100 losses in a season. The team bottomed out in 1932 with a ghastly 43–111 record, 64 games out of first—still the worst record in franchise history. 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. He hired former A's and White Sox great Eddie Collins, a longtime friend, as general manager. Yawkey told Collins that he was to acquire as much talent as possible to get the Red Sox out of the American League basement. Among Collins' notable acquisitions were Lefty Grove, one of the greatest pitchers of all-time, Joe Cronin, who was one of the best hitting shortstops as well as manager, Jimmie Foxx, the slugging first baseman, and Wes Ferrell, an outstanding pitcher. Wes Ferrell's brother Rick Ferrell was an outstanding catcher whose .303 batting average is 12th on the all time Red Sox list. These moves paid off in 1934, when the Red Sox finished with their first .500 record since the 1918 World Series run, followed by their first winning record since then in 1935. The Red Sox would remain competitive for the remainder of the 1930s.
1940–1949.
In 1939, the Red Sox purchased the contract of outfielder Ted Williams from the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League, ushering in an era sometimes called the "Ted Sox". Williams