First World Series Game 1903 Pittsburgh Pirates defeat Boston 7-3

Boston’s 28-game winner Cy Young took the mound, and promptly surrendered four runs in the top of the first. Only three of the seven runs were earned, but Deacon Phillippe and the Pirates got the 7-3 win. Phillippe had won 25 games in the regular season. But were gambling interests involved? Gambling on games was common at the time. Glenn Stout and Richard Johnson suggest in Red Sox Century: “The very first game of the very first ‘world’s series’ was, in all likelihood, thrown by Boston.” If so, perhaps it was a case of spotting the Pirates a game, while some of the Bostons cashed in a bit.