Harvey Frommer /
Players
/
Red
Sox
Excerpts:Remembering
Fenway Park:
Twenties
/
Thirties
/
Forties
/
Fifties
/
Sixties
/ First
Match Up At Fenway: April 20, 1912 (From the Vault) /
Fenway
Park Flashback: All Star Game 1999
Yankees
World Series 2001
NY
Yankees '27 World Champions
Jim
Leyritz and the Great World Series Comeback: OCTOBER 23, 1996
Bill
Mazeroski's World Series Homer, October 13, 1960
The
First World Series (From the
Vault)
By Harvey Frommer
The hype, hoopla and accomplishments of the 2012 baseball season will
now belong to history along with the elongated play-offs and recent World
Series which joins the first one that took place in 1903. The world, baseball
and the World Series were very different then.
Back in the 1880s for a period of seven years there had been play-offs
between the champs of the National League and the American Association. Once
the play-offs went to 15 games - 1887 between St. Louis and Detroit. Pittsburgh
won its third straight National League pennant in 1903. Boston won the brand
new American League title that season by 14 l/2 games over the Philadelphia
Athletics.
The Pirates bragged about Honus Wagner whose .355 average earned him
the batting title. Their swashbuckling manager Fred Clarke was runner-up
with a .351 average. Boston boasted about two 20-game winners in Deacon Phillippe
and Sam Leever.
The first modern World Series came about at the suggestion of Boston
owner Henry J. Killilea and Pittsburgh's owner Barney Dreyfuss. It was called
"Championship of the United States" and it was a five of nine games affair.
The first game was October l, 1903 at Boston's Huntington Avenue Grounds
before 16,242. Deacon Phillippe pitched Pittsburgh to a 7-3 win over Boston's
Cy Young.
Throughout the game and the series Boston's rabid fans serenaded
Pittsburgh players with a popular song of the day, "Tessie," but they substituted
their own vulgar words for the regular lyrics. The routine definitely had
a negative impact on the Pittsburgh players. "It was that damn song that
caused us problems," grumbled Buc player Tommy Leach afterwards.
Deacon
Phillippe won three of the first four games of the series for Pittsburgh
but then faltered. Boston then swept the next four games. Bill Dinneen and
Cy Young won all five games for Boston in the series On October 13, only
7,455 showed up - the smallest crowd of the series. Phillippe pitched his
fifth complete game of the series but lost, 3-0
to Dinneen and Boston had the championship.
Right
after the game ended players from both clubs lined up for a combination team
photo. It was a remarkable display of good sportsmanship considering the
bitterness that had existed between the junior American League and senior
National League.
An oddity of the World Series was that the losing players received
more money that than the winners. Buc Owner Dreyfuss put his club's share
of the gate receipts into the players' pool. Each Pittsburgh player netted
$1,316 while each Boston player netted $1,182.
Deacon Phillippe - heroic
in his efforts in the series with five decisions and 44 innings pitched,
still World Series records, was given a bonus and 10 shares of stock in the
Pirates.
Oddly enough there was no World Series played in 1904. Boston was
ready, willing able. But the National League pennant winning New York Giants
were not. Their manager John J. McGraw snarled: "We are the champions of
the only major league." In 1905, the World Series resumed, fitted itself
into its best of seven format and has been with us ever since.
About the Author Dr. Harvey Frommer received his Ph.D. from New York University. Professor Emeritus, Distinguished Professor nominee, Recipient of the "Salute to Scholars Award" at CUNY where he taught writing for many years, the prolific author was cited by the Congressional Record and the New York State Legislature as a sports historian and journalist.
His sports books include autobiographies of sports legends Nolan Ryan, Red
Holzman and Tony Dorsett, the classics
"Shoeless
Joe and Ragtime Baseball,"
"New
York City Baseball: 1947-1957." The 1927 Yankees." His
"Remembering
Yankee Stadium" was published to acclaim in 2008. His latest book, a
Boston Globe Best Seller, is
"Remembering
Fenway Park." Autographed and discounted copies of all Harvey Frommer
books are available direct from the author. Please consult his home page:
http://harveyfrommersports.com/remembering_fenway/
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