Boston Red Sox

Team information

• Inaugural season: 1901
• Home ballpark: Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts
• Owner: John Henry
• Team colors: Red, navy blue, and white

Overview

The Boston Red Sox are a Major League Baseball (MLB) team that plays in the American League East division. Initially known as the Boston Americans, the franchise was the most successful team in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Then, in a move that spawned tales of a legendary “curse,” Boston sold star player Babe Ruth to the rival New York Yankees in 1920. The fortunes of the two teams dramatically reversed, with the Yankees becoming baseball’s most dominant team, and the Red Sox experiencing almost nine decades of frustration. Despite fielding several championship-caliber teams in the twentieth century, Boston’s hopes always seemed to be dashed in the most heartbreaking ways, and the team went decades without winning a World Series. All that changed in 2004, when the Red Sox staged the biggest comeback in playoff history to advance to the World Series. Boston won the series—its first championship since 1918—and would go on to win three more titles over the next fifteen years.

History

The first professional baseball team in Boston was formed in 1871 as a member of the National Association. Because the team wore red socks, it was called the Boston Red Stockings. In 1875, the National Association folded, and Boston joined the newly formed National League. They changed their name to the Beaneaters in 1883 and would go through a series of names before becoming the Boston Braves in 1912. The franchise would eventually move to Milwaukee and later to Atlanta.

In 1901, a new baseball organization calling itself the American League formed as a rival to the National League. The American League placed one of its eight new franchises in Boston. Although not officially given a nickname, the franchise was informally called the Americans to identify it as Boston’s American League team. After the 1907 season, the Braves announced that they would stop wearing their signature red socks due to a belief that the red dye in them could cause infections. The Americans’ owner decided to capitalize on the move and adopted red socks for his team’s uniforms. As a result, the franchise officially changed its name to the Boston Red Sox in 1908.

As the Americans, Boston won the first-ever World Series played in 1903. The Red Sox opened their iconic home field, Fenway Park, in 1912 and christened the park with their second World Series championship. As of 2020, Fenway is the oldest MLB ballpark still in use and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. The Red Sox won three additional championships in 1915, 1916, and 1918, bringing their total to five in fifteen seasons.

From 1914 to 1919, the Red Sox were led by a young pitcher named Babe Ruth who posted the lowest earned run average (ERA) in the American League in 1916. While Ruth was one of the best lefthanded pitchers in baseball, he could also hit, and by 1919, he had shifted his focus toward playing the outfield. Ruth was also notoriously difficult to deal with and often got into trouble off the field. When Ruth demanded more money, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee arranged to sell his star player to the New York Yankees for $100,000 in January 1920. According to baseball lore, Frazee needed the money to finance a Broadway musical that he was trying to produce. That story is likely more myth than fact, but 1920 marked a dramatic turning point for both franchises. The Yankees won twenty-five championships over the remainder of the twentieth century; the Red Sox did not win any. This led some fans to believe that the Red Sox had been “cursed” by selling off Ruth to the Yankees.

The Red Sox did not make another World Series until 1946, when they lost in seven games. Return trips in 1967 and 1975 ended the same way, with a 4–3 series loss. In 1978, Boston seemed on the verge of another playoff appearance, leading their archrival Yankees by fourteen games in mid-July. However, Boston collapsed down the stretch and dropped a one-game playoff to New York to miss out on the postseason. The team’s most heartbreaking loss occurred in the 1986 World Series against the New York Mets, when the Red Sox were one out away from winning the series. In Game Six, Boston led 5–3 with two outs in the bottom of the tenth inning only to see the Mets rally to tie the game. A crucial error by first baseman Bill Buckner allowed the winning run to score and force a Game Seven. Boston lost that game as well, again losing a World Series 4–3.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Boston routinely finished second to the Yankees in the AL East. In 2003, the Red Sox again seemed on the verge of breaking the “curse,” when they led the Yankees 5–2 late in Game Seven of the American League Championship Series (ALCS). New York scored three runs in the eighth inning and won the game in the eleventh inning to keep Boston out of the World Series.

The teams met again in the 2004 ALCS, and history seemed destined to repeat itself as the Yankees jumped out to a 3–0 series lead. No team in MLB history had ever overcome such a deficit to win a seven-game playoff series. However, Boston stayed alive by winning three close games and finished off the Yankees with a blowout in Game Seven, helped along the way by steller performances from team greats such as David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. The Red Sox then won their first World Series title since 1918 by sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals 4–0. Boston advanced to the World Series again in 2007, winning in another sweep, this time over the Colorado Rockies. In 2013, they won a rematch of the 2004 World Series, defeating the Cardinals 4–2. During the 2018 season, the Red Sox set a franchise record with 108 regular season wins, en route to another World Series appearance. They defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 4 games to 1 to capture their fourth championship of the century. After winning the title, Boston fell on hard times, making only one playoff appearance from 2019 to 2024.

Notable players

More than forty former players, managers, and team officials associated with the Boston Red Sox have been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The first was Babe Ruth, who was elected to the inaugural Hall of Fame Class in 1936. Although Ruth found his greatest fame as a hitter with the Yankees, he won twenty or more games twice as a pitcher with Boston and is still ranked fifth in franchise history with a 2.19 ERA. In 1919, Ruth’s 29 home runs were briefly a MLB record, soon surpassed by his 54 with New York in 1920. Picher Cy Young was nearing the end of his career when he played with Boston from 1901 to 1908, but still won 33 games in 1901 and 32 in 1902. Young remains tied for the franchise lead in wins with 192 and shutouts with 38. In 22 career seasons, Young won 511 games—94 more than any pitcher in history. The annual award for best pitchers in both the American and National Leagues has been named in his honor since 1956.

Ted Williams played his entire career with the Red Sox from 1939 to 1960. Considered by many to be the greatest pure hitter in baseball history, Williams won six batting titles and holds the franchise record for most career home runs with 521 and highest lifetime batting average with .344. Williams’s numbers would have been much higher if he did not serve three full seasons with the military during World War II (1939–1945) and parts of two seasons during the Korean War (1950–1953). In that conflict, Williams flew thirty-nine combat missions as a Marine pilot.

The all-time franchise leader in hits is Carl Yastrzemski, who amassed 3,419 with the Red Sox from 1961 to 1983. Yastrzemski also holds the record for runs scored with 1,816 and is third in home runs with 452. In 1967, Yastrzemski won the AL Triple Crown, a rare feat in which a player leads the league in home runs, runs batted in (RBIs), and batting average. Jim Rice supplied the power to Boston’s lineup from 1974 to 1989. He is fourth in franchise history with 383 home runs and 1,451 RBIs. Rice was part of the 1986 World Series team along with two other Red Sox greats: Wade Boggs and Roger Clemens.

Boggs was a prolific hitter who won five batting titles with Boston from 1982 to 1992. His .338 batting average with the Red Sox is second in franchise history. Clemens was one of the most feared pitchers of his generation who won two of his five total Cy Young Awards with the Red Sox. With Boston from 1984 to 1996, Clemens holds the franchise record for strikeouts with 2,590 and is tied with Cy Young for wins (192) and shutouts (38). His 354 career wins are the ninth-most in MLB history.

Pitcher Pedro Martinez won two of his three Cy Young Awards with the Red Sox from 1998 to 2004. His .760 winning percentage with Boston is better than any other pitcher in team history. Undoubtedly, the driving force behind three of the Red Sox’s four championships in the 2000s was David Ortiz, who played in Boston from 2003 to 2016. Affectionately known as “Big Papi,” Ortiz won three RBI titles in his career and is second on the franchise home run list with 483 and third in RBIs with 1,530. It was Ortiz who had key hits in both Game Four and Game Five of the 2004 ALCS to fuel Boston’s comeback against the Yankees.

Bibliography

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McArdle, Tommy. “Why Boston’s Baseball Team Is Called the Red Sox.” Boston Globe, 2 May 2019, www.boston.com/sports/boston-red-sox/2019/05/02/how-did-the-red-sox-get-their-name. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

“National Register of Historic Places Program: Fenway Park, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts.” National Park Service, December 2011, www.nps.gov/nr/feature/highlight/fenwaypark/fenwaypark.htm. Accessed 5 May 2020.

“Red Sox History.” MLB.com, 2020, www.mlb.com/redsox/history. Accessed 5 May 2020.