1.
1918 World Series
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The 1918 World Series featured the Boston Red Sox, who defeated the Chicago Cubs four games to two. The Series victory for the Red Sox was their fifth in five tries, the Red Sox scored only nine runs in the entire Series, the fewest runs by the winning team in World Series history. Along with the 1906 and 1907 World Series, the 1918 World Series is one of only three Fall Classics where neither team hit a home run, the 1918 Series was played under several metaphorical dark clouds. The Series was marred by players threatening to strike due to low gate receipts, the Red Sox had played their home games in the 1915 and 1916 World Series in the more expansive Braves Field, but they returned to Fenway Park for the 1918 series. The 1918 World Series marked the first time The Star Spangled Banner was performed at a league game. During the seventh-inning stretch of Game 1, the band playing the song because the country was involved in World War I. The song would be named the national anthem of the United States in 1931, the winning pitcher of Game 1 was Babe Ruth, who pitched a shutout. The 1918 championship would be the last Red Sox win until 2004, the drought of 86 years was often attributed to the Curse of the Bambino. The alleged curse came to be when Red Sox owner Harry Frazee traded the superbly talented, the Cubs would not win their next World Series until 2016. The Red Sox, who had won the American League but lost the Series in 1946,1967,1975, of note, Ted Williams was born August 30,1918, and so was 12 days old when the Red Sox clinched the victory in this Series. He was part of Bostons next appearance in 1946, the only World Series he played in and he died in 2002, two years before the Red Sox next Series championship. After Game 6, it would be some 87 years until the Cubs, a three-game interleague matchup at Wrigley Field began June 10,2005, and was Bostons first ever visit to the park. The Cubs would not return to Fenway Park for nearly 94 years until a three-game interleague matchup beginning May 20,2011, † For the first time in the Series, all four umpires worked in the infield on a rotating basis. In previous Series from 1909 through 1917, two of the four umpires had been positioned in the outfield for each game, in addition to the plate umpire. AL Boston Red Sox vs. NL Chicago Cubs Game 1 went to the Red Sox, 1–0, stuffy McInnis knocked in the games only run, driving in Dave Shean with a fourth-inning single off Hippo Vaughn. The Cubs rebounded to knot the Series with a 3–1 victory in Game 2 the next day, tyler himself hit a two-run single in the second inning to make the score 3–0 and carried a shutout into the ninth inning, when the Red Sox scored their only run. The series remained in Chicago for Game 3 due to restrictions on travel. The Red Sox emerged victorious, 2–1, and took a 2–1 lead in the Series, wally Schang and Everett Scotts back-to-back RBI singles in the fourth inning were all Boston needed for the win
2.
American League
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The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League, is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a league based in the Great Lakes states. It is sometimes called the Junior Circuit because it claimed Major League status for the 1901 season,25 years after the formation of the National League. At the end of season, the American League champion plays in the World Series against the National League champion. Through 2016, American League teams have won 64 of the 112 World Series played since 1903, the 2016 American League champions are the Cleveland Indians. The New York Yankees have won 40 American League titles, the most in the history, followed by the Philadelphia/Kansas City/Oakland Athletics. Originally a minor league known as the Western League, the American League later developed into a major league after the American Association disbanded, in its early history, the Western League struggled until 1894, when Ban Johnson became the president of the league. Johnson led the Western League into major league status and soon became the president of the newly renamed American League, babe Ruth, noted as one of the most prolific hitters in Major League Baseball history, spent the majority of his career in the American League. The American League has one notable difference versus the National League, in 1902, the Milwaukee Brewers moved to St. Louis and were renamed the St. Louis Browns. In 1902, The Cleveland Bluebirds were also renamed the Cleveland Broncos, in 1903, the Broncos were renamed the Cleveland Naps. In 1915, the Naps were renamed the Cleveland Indians, in 1903, the Baltimore Orioles moved to New York and were renamed the New York Highlanders. In 1913, the Highlanders were renamed the New York Yankees, in 1904, the Chicago White Stockings were renamed the Chicago White Sox. In 1908, the Boston Americans were renamed the Boston Red Sox, in 1954, the St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore and were renamed as the Baltimore Orioles. In 1955, the Philadelphia Athletics moved to Kansas City and were renamed as the Kansas City Athletics, in 1961, the league expanded and added two teams as the Los Angeles Angels and the Washington Senators, expanding the league to 10 teams. The original Senators team moved to Minneapolis/St, Paul in 1961 and were renamed as the Minnesota Twins. The Angels team name changed to the California Angels in 1966, then to the Anaheim Angels in 1997, the Kansas City Royals and the Seattle Pilots were added to the American League, expanding the league to 12 teams. In 1970, the Seattle Pilots moved to Milwaukee and were renamed the Milwaukee Brewers, in 1972, the Washington Senators relocated to the Dallas/Fort Worth area and were renamed the Texas Rangers. In 1977, the league expanded to fourteen teams, when the Seattle Mariners, in 1998, the Tampa Bay Rays was added to the American League and at the same time, the Milwaukee Brewers were switched to the National League, leaving the American League with 14 teams
3.
Fenway Park
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Fenway Park is a baseball park located in Boston, at 4 Yawkey Way near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home for the Boston Red Sox and it is the oldest ballpark in MLB. It is the fourth-smallest among MLB ballparks by seating capacity, second-smallest by total capacity, Fenway has hosted the World Series ten times, with the Red Sox winning five of them, and the Boston Braves winning one. The first, in the inaugural season, was the 1912 World Series. April 20,2012, marked Fenway Parks centennial, on March 7 of that year, the park was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Former pitcher Bill Lee has called Fenway Park a shrine and it is a pending Boston Landmark which will regulate further changes to the park. Today, the park is considered to be one of the most well-known sports venues in the world, the Red Sox moved to Fenway Park from the old Huntington Avenue Grounds. In 1911, owner John I. Taylor purchased the land bordered by Brookline Avenue, Jersey Street, Van Ness Street and Lansdowne Street and developed it into a larger baseball stadium. However, given that Taylors family also owned the Fenway Realty Company, like many classic ballparks, Fenway Park was constructed on an asymmetrical block, with consequent asymmetry in its field dimensions. The General Contractor was the Charles Logue Building Company, the first game was played April 20,1912, with mayor John F. Fitzgerald throwing out the first pitch and Boston defeating the New York Highlanders, 7-6 in 11 innings. Newspaper coverage of the opening was overshadowed by continuing coverage of the Titanic sinking a few days earlier, Fenway Park has historically drawn low attendance, its lowest occurring late in the 1965 season with two games having paid attendance under 500 spectators. On Wednesday, June 17,2009, the park celebrated its 500th consecutive Red Sox sellout, according to WBZ-TV, the team joined three NBA teams which achieved 500 consecutive home sellouts. The sellout streak ended on April 11,2013, in all the Red Sox sold out 794 regular season games, the parks address was originally 24 Jersey Street. In 1977, the section of Jersey Street nearest the park was renamed Yawkey Way in honor of longtime Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey, and the parks address is now 4 Yawkey Way. Some of the include, In 1934, a hand-operated scoreboard was added, with what was then considered high-technology lights to indicate balls. The scoreboard is updated by hand today from behind the wall. The National League scores were removed in 1976, but restored in 2003, in 1946, upper deck seats were installed, Fenway Park is essentially the first double-tiered ballpark in Boston since the South End Grounds of the 1880s. In 1947, arc lights were installed at Fenway Park, the Boston Red Sox were the third-to-last team out of 16 major league teams to have lights in their home park
4.
Boston
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Boston is the capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. Boston is also the seat of Suffolk County, although the county government was disbanded on July 1,1999. The city proper covers 48 square miles with a population of 667,137 in 2015, making it the largest city in New England. Alternately, as a Combined Statistical Area, this wider commuting region is home to some 8.1 million people, One of the oldest cities in the United States, Boston was founded on the Shawmut Peninsula in 1630 by Puritan settlers from England. It was the scene of several key events of the American Revolution, such as the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Siege of Boston. Upon U. S. independence from Great Britain, it continued to be an important port and manufacturing hub as well as a center for education, through land reclamation and municipal annexation, Boston has expanded beyond the original peninsula. Its rich history attracts many tourists, with Faneuil Hall alone drawing over 20 million visitors per year, Bostons many firsts include the United States first public school, Boston Latin School, first subway system, the Tremont Street Subway, and first public park, Boston Common. Bostons economic base also includes finance, professional and business services, biotechnology, information technology, the city has one of the highest costs of living in the United States as it has undergone gentrification, though it remains high on world livability rankings. Bostons early European settlers had first called the area Trimountaine but later renamed it Boston after Boston, Lincolnshire, England, the renaming on September 7,1630 was by Puritan colonists from England who had moved over from Charlestown earlier that year in quest of fresh water. Their settlement was limited to the Shawmut Peninsula, at that time surrounded by the Massachusetts Bay and Charles River. The peninsula is thought to have been inhabited as early as 5000 BC, in 1629, the Massachusetts Bay Colonys first governor John Winthrop led the signing of the Cambridge Agreement, a key founding document of the city. Puritan ethics and their focus on education influenced its early history, over the next 130 years, the city participated in four French and Indian Wars, until the British defeated the French and their Indian allies in North America. Boston was the largest town in British America until Philadelphia grew larger in the mid-18th century, Bostons harbor activity was significantly curtailed by the Embargo Act of 1807 and the War of 1812. Foreign trade returned after these hostilities, but Bostons merchants had found alternatives for their investments in the interim. Manufacturing became an important component of the economy, and the citys industrial manufacturing overtook international trade in economic importance by the mid-19th century. Boston remained one of the nations largest manufacturing centers until the early 20th century, a network of small rivers bordering the city and connecting it to the surrounding region facilitated shipment of goods and led to a proliferation of mills and factories. Later, a network of railroads furthered the regions industry. Boston was a port of the Atlantic triangular slave trade in the New England colonies
5.
Massachusetts
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It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island to the south, New Hampshire and Vermont to the north, and New York to the west. The state is named for the Massachusett tribe, which inhabited the area. The capital of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England is Boston, over 80% of Massachusetts population lives in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, a region influential upon American history, academia, and industry. Originally dependent on agriculture, fishing and trade, Massachusetts was transformed into a manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution, during the 20th century, Massachusetts economy shifted from manufacturing to services. Modern Massachusetts is a leader in biotechnology, engineering, higher education, finance. Plymouth was the site of the first colony in New England, founded in 1620 by the Pilgrims, in 1692, the town of Salem and surrounding areas experienced one of Americas most infamous cases of mass hysteria, the Salem witch trials. In 1777, General Henry Knox founded the Springfield Armory, which during the Industrial Revolution catalyzed numerous important technological advances, in 1786, Shays Rebellion, a populist revolt led by disaffected American Revolutionary War veterans, influenced the United States Constitutional Convention. In the 18th century, the Protestant First Great Awakening, which swept the Atlantic World, in the late 18th century, Boston became known as the Cradle of Liberty for the agitation there that led to the American Revolution. The entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts has played a commercial and cultural role in the history of the United States. Before the American Civil War, Massachusetts was a center for the abolitionist, temperance, in the late 19th century, the sports of basketball and volleyball were invented in the western Massachusetts cities of Springfield and Holyoke, respectively. Many prominent American political dynasties have hailed from the state, including the Adams, both Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also in Cambridge, have been ranked among the most highly regarded academic institutions in the world. Massachusetts public school students place among the top nations in the world in academic performance, the official name of the state is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. While this designation is part of the official name, it has no practical implications. Massachusetts has the position and powers within the United States as other states. Massachusetts was originally inhabited by tribes of the Algonquian language family such as the Wampanoag, Narragansett, Nipmuc, Pocomtuc, Mahican, and Massachusett. While cultivation of crops like squash and corn supplemented their diets, villages consisted of lodges called wigwams as well as longhouses, and tribes were led by male or female elders known as sachems. Between 1617 and 1619, smallpox killed approximately 90% of the Massachusetts Bay Native Americans, the first English settlers in Massachusetts, the Pilgrims, arrived via the Mayflower at Plymouth in 1620, and developed friendly relations with the native Wampanoag people. This was the second successful permanent English colony in the part of North America that later became the United States, the event known as the First Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World which lasted for three days
6.
Harry Frazee
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Harry Herbert Frazee was an American theatrical agent, producer and director, and owner of the Major League Baseball Boston Red Sox from 1916 to 1923. He is well known for selling Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees, Harry Frazee was born June 29,1880, in Peoria, Illinois, son of William and Margaret Frazee. He attended Peoria High School, where he was a teammate of Harry Bay. At 16, Frazee became assistant manager of the Peoria Theater, within a year, he was player-coach of the Peoria Distillers semi-pro baseball club. As his theatrical endeavors continued, Frazee moved to Chicago, where he built the Cort Theater in 1907 and he also promoted a boxing match between Jess Willard and Jack Johnson on April 5,1915 in Havana, Cuba and was reported by then to be a millionaire. Frazee bought the Boston Red Sox baseball team from Joseph Lannin for a reported $500,000 after their victory in the 1916 World Series, the Sox won another World Series title in 1918. The team finished in sixth in 1919, and after the 1919 season Frazee started selling players to the New York Yankees, then he left the Red Sox in bankruptcy while continuing to make theatre productions. After the sale of Ruth, the team crashed into the American League cellar, the Red Sox would not win another pennant until 1946, and would not win another World Series until 2004, the third longest drought in MLB history. He was the subject of a portrait in Fred Liebs account of the Red Sox. This would become an element in the Curse of the Bambino. The truth is more nuanced and has as much to do with a long-running dispute between Frazee and American League founder and president Ban Johnson as it does with Frazees finances. Frazee was the first American League owner who hadnt been essentially hand-picked by Johnson, in response, Johnson began actively campaigning to yank the Red Sox from under Frazee. The dispute finally boiled over in the summer of 1919 when pitcher Carl Mays jumped the team, Johnson ordered him suspended, but Frazee instead sold him to the then-moribund Yankees. Johnson had promised Yankee owners Jacob Ruppert and Cap Huston to get better players. The Mays flap divided the American League into two factions—the Yankees, Red Sox and Chicago White Sox on one side and the five clubs, known as the Loyal Five. Under the circumstances, when Frazee finally lost patience with Ruth, under pressure from Johnson, the Loyal Five rejected Frazees overtures almost out of hand. In effect, Johnson limited Frazee to dealing with either the White Sox or the Yankees. With the note from Lannin that hed used in part to finance his purchase of the Red Sox having come due in November 1919, Frazee had little choice, Ruth became the property of the Yankees on January 5,1920
7.
Ed Barrow
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Edward Grant Barrow was an American manager and front office executive in Major League Baseball. He served as the manager of the Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox. He served as manager of the New York Yankees from 1921 to 1939 and as team president from 1939 to 1945. Barrow was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953, born in a covered wagon in Springfield, Illinois, Barrow worked as a journalist and soap salesman before entering the business of baseball by selling concessions at games. From there, Barrow purchased minor league teams, also serving as team manager. After managing the Tigers in 1903 and 1904 and returning to the leagues, Barrow became disenchanted with baseball. Barrow returned to baseball in 1910 as president of the Eastern League, after a seven-year tenure, Barrow managed the Red Sox from 1918 through 1920, leading the team to victory in the 1918 World Series. When Red Sox owner Harry Frazee began to sell his star players, during his quarter-century as their baseball operations chief, the Yankees won 14 AL pennants and 10 World Series titles. Barrow was born in Springfield, Illinois, the oldest of four children, all male, born to Effie Ann Vinson-Heller, Barrows father fought in the Ohio Volunteer Militia during the American Civil War. Following the war, Barrows parents, with Johns mother, brothers, the Barrows lived in Nebraska for six years before moving to Des Moines, Iowa. His middle name, Grant, was bestowed on him in honor of Ulysses S. Grant, Barrow worked as mailing clerk for the Des Moines News in 1887, receiving a promotion to circulation manager within a year. He became a reporter for the Des Moines Leader after graduating high school. He became city editor, earning $35 a week, in his last two years living in Des Moines, Barrow established a baseball team, which included future baseball stars Fred Clarke, Ducky Holmes, and Herm McFarland. Barrow moved to Pittsburgh in 1889, where he worked as a soap salesman, however, Barrow lost all of money in this business, and went to work as a desk clerk in a Pittsburgh hotel. Barrow partnered with Harry Stevens in 1894 to sell concessions at baseball games and he helped George Moreland form the Interstate League, a Class-C minor league, in 1894. Barrow, with Stevens and Al Buckenberger, purchased the Wheeling Nailers of the Interstate League in 1896, Barrow served as field manager until the collapse of the league that season. The team continued in the Iron and Oil League for the rest of the year, Barrow then bought the Paterson Silk Weavers of the Class-A Atlantic League, managing them for the rest of the 1896 season. Barrow discovered Honus Wagner throwing lumps of coal at a station in Pennsylvania
