On January 12, 1903, Detroit Tigers player-manager Win Mercer commits suicide by inhaling gas in a San Francisco hotel.. The Tigers had recently named Mercer, who won 15 games in 1902, their new field manager.
Despite attempts by John T. Brush and Andrew Freedman to use their political influence to prevent the American League from finding suitable grounds in New York, league President Ban Johnson, aided by baseball writer Joe Vila, finds backers. Johnson also finds a ballpark site at 165th Street and Broadway. Frank Farrell and Bill Devery pay $18,000 for the Baltimore franchise and will build a wooden grandstand seating 15,000 on the highest point of Manhattan. The team, logically, will be called the New York Highlanders.
At Cincinnati peace talks, the National League proposes a consolidated 12-team league, which the American League rejects. An agreement is reached to coexist peacefully if the AL promises to stay out of Pittsburgh, PA. In the awarding of disputed contracts, the most hotly-contested case is that of Sam Crawford, a Reds outfielder who batted .333 and led the NL with 23 triples in 1902. Signed for 1903 by both the Tigers and the Reds, Crawford is awarded to the Tigers, having signed with them first. He will lead the AL in triples this year with 25.
Baltimore’s defunct American League franchise is sold to Frank Farrell and Bill Devery for $18,000 and will be relocated to New York to begin the season. The Manhattan team, who will play at Hilltop Park located in the northern part of the island borough, will be first known as the Highlanders before being officially renamed the Yankees in 1913.
Enjoy our free trial and start listening to games, interviews and shows! Ruth, Mantle, Aaron, and Seaver!