As the 1903 season drew to a close and with his team in first place, Barney Dreyfuss, the owner of Pittsburgh’s franchise, saw the potential of re-kindling fans’ interest by arranging a series of games with the rival league’s champions, Boston. Dreyfuss wrote to Boston owner Henry Killilea in August 1903 stating: “The time has come for the National League and American League to organize a World Series. It is my belief that if our clubs played a series on a best-of-nine basis, we would create great interest in baseball, in our leagues, and in our players. I also believe it would be a financial success.” The two met in Pittsburgh in early September of 1903 to draw up plans for the first World Series.
The first World Series game was played on October 1, 1903, at Boston’s Huntington Avenue Grounds, the attendance was 16,242, an enormous number for the time. In fact, it was nearly 3X of Boston’sattendancee for a regular season game. Proving Dreyfuss correct, that fans interest would be high. The game 1 starters – For Boston Cy Young, a legendary hurler vs Deacon Philippe for Pittsburgh.
The Pirates broke out for 4 runs in the first and Hall of Famer Honus Wagner drove in the first run in World Series play. The Pirates went up 7-0, in the top of the 7th when Jimmy Sebring hit the first home run in Series history, an inside the park home run. The Pilgrims scratched out 3 runs, 2 earned but it wasn’t enough as Pittsburgh took game 1, 7-3.
Tommy Leach collected 4 hits and Sebring had 3 hits and 4 RBI’s for the bucs. After game 1 this game may have convinced some the senior circuit was simply too strong for its young rival.
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Pittsburgh Pirates 7, Boston Americans 3
World Series Game 1 Played on Thursday, October 1, 1903
Venue: Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds
Attendance: 16242
Game Duration: 1:55
LINE SCORE
PIT N 4 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 – 7 12 2
BOS A 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 – 3 6 4
WP: Deacon Phillippe LP: Cy Young SV: None
Starting Lineups
Pirates
1 Ginger Beaumont CF
2 Fred Clarke LF
3 Tommy Leach 3B
4 Honus Wagner SS
5 Kitty Bransfield 1B
6 Claude Ritchey 2B
7 Jimmy Sebring RF
8 Ed Phelps C
9 Deacon Phillippe P
Americans
1 Patsy Dougherty LF
2 Jimmy Collins 3B
3 Chick Stahl CF
4 Buck Freeman RF
5 Freddy Parent SS
6 Candy LaChance 1B
7 Hobe Ferris 2B
8 Lou Criger C
9 Cy Young P
Box Scores:
Baseball-Reference
Baseball Almanac
Retrosheet
Play by Play
PIRATES 1ST: Beaumont flied out to center; Debut game for
Ginger Beaumont Debut game for Cy Young; Clarke popped to
catcher in foul territory; Debut game for Fred Clarke;
Leach tripled; Debut game for Tommy Leach; Wagner singled
to left [Leach scored]; Debut game for Honus Wagner;
Wagner stole second; Debut game for Kitty Bransfield;
Bransfield reached on an error by Ferris [Wagner to third];
Bransfield stole second [Wagner scored (error by Criger)
(unearned), Bransfield to third]; Debut game for Claude
Ritchey; Ritchey walked; Ritchey stole second; Debut game
for Jimmy Sebring; Sebring singled to left [Bransfield
scored (unearned), Ritchey scored (unearned)]; Phelps struck out
[Sebring to third, Phelps to first (error by Criger)]; Debut
game for Ed Phelps; Phillippe struck out; Debut game for
Deacon Phillippe; 4 R (1 ER), 3 H, 3 E, 2 LOB. Pirates 4,
Americans 0.
AMERICANS 1ST: Dougherty struck out; Debut game for Patsy
Dougherty; Collins struck out; Debut game for Jimmy
Collins; Stahl singled to left; Debut game for Chick
Stahl; Freeman flied out to right; Debut game for Buck
Freeman; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Pirates 4, Americans 0.
PIRATES 2ND: Beaumont struck out; Clarke singled to left [Clarke
out at second (left to second)]; Leach flied out to right; 0 R,
1 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Pirates 4, Americans 0.
AMERICANS 2ND: Parent struck out; Debut game for Freddy
Parent; LaChance struck out; Debut game for Candy
LaChance; Ferris struck out; Debut game for Hobe
Ferris; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Pirates 4, Americans 0.
PIRATES 3RD: Wagner popped to third; Bransfield tripled to
right; Ritchey struck out; Sebring singled to right [Bransfield
scored]; Phelps grounded out (pitcher to first); 1 R, 2 H, 0 E,
1 LOB. Pirates 5, Americans 0.
AMERICANS 3RD: Criger grounded out (third to first); Debut
game for Lou Criger; Young grounded out (second to first);
Dougherty flied out to center; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Pirates 5,
Americans 0.
PIRATES 4TH: Phillippe popped to shortstop; Beaumont reached on
an error by Ferris [Beaumont to first]; Clarke singled to left
[Beaumont to second]; Leach singled to center [Beaumont scored
(unearned), Clarke to second]; Wagner popped to shortstop;
Bransfield forced Leach (second to shortstop); 1 R (0 ER), 2 H,
1 E, 2 LOB. Pirates 6, Americans 0.
AMERICANS 4TH: Collins flied out to left; Stahl flied out to
center; Freeman singled to first; Parent reached on an error by
Leach [Freeman to second, Parent to first]; LaChance grounded
out (pitcher to first); 0 R, 1 H, 1 E, 2 LOB. Pirates 6,
Americans 0.
PIRATES 5TH: Ritchey grounded out (third to first); Sebring
grounded out (third to first); Phelps singled to right;
Phillippe popped to second; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Pirates 6,
Americans 0.
AMERICANS 5TH: Ferris struck out; Criger grounded out (shortstop
to first); Young flied out to left; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.
Pirates 6, Americans 0.
PIRATES 6TH: Beaumont popped to third in foul territory; Clarke
struck out; Leach singled to third; Wagner walked [Leach to
second]; Bransfield forced Wagner (second to shortstop); 0 R, 1
H, 0 E, 2 LOB. Pirates 6, Americans 0.
AMERICANS 6TH: Dougherty popped to second; Collins grounded out
(second to first); Stahl was called out on strikes; 0 R, 0 H, 0
E, 0 LOB. Pirates 6, Americans 0.
PIRATES 7TH: Ritchey grounded out (shortstop to first); Sebring
hit an inside the park homer to center; Phelps flied out to
right; Phillippe grounded out (shortstop to first); 1 R, 1 H, 0
E, 0 LOB. Pirates 7, Americans 0.
AMERICANS 7TH: Freeman tripled to right; Parent tripled to left
[Freeman scored]; LaChance flied to left [Parent scored]; Ferris
was hit by a pitch; Criger struck out; Young struck out; 2 R, 2
H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Pirates 7, Americans 2.
PIRATES 8TH: Beaumont grounded out (shortstop to first); Clarke
flied out to right; Leach tripled to right; Wagner walked; Leach
was caught stealing home (catcher to second to shortstop to
catcher); 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Pirates 7, Americans 2.
AMERICANS 8TH: Dougherty popped to shortstop; Collins grounded
out (shortstop to first); Stahl flied out to center; 0 R, 0 H, 0
E, 0 LOB. Pirates 7, Americans 2.
PIRATES 9TH: Bransfield flied out to center; Ritchey grounded
out (third to first); Sebring grounded out (second to first); 0
R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Pirates 7, Americans 2.
AMERICANS 9TH: Freeman reached on an error by Wagner [Freeman to
first]; Parent singled to left [Freeman to third]; LaChance
flied to left [Freeman scored (unearned)]; Ferris singled to
third [Parent to second]; O’BRIEN BATTED FOR CRIGER; O’Brien
struck out; Debut game for Jack O’Brien; FARRELL BATTED
FOR YOUNG; Farrell grounded out (pitcher to first); Debut
game for Duke Farrell; 1 R (0 ER), 2 H, 1 E, 2 LOB. Pirates
7, Americans 3.
Other Resources & Links
Retro Sheet PBP & Box Score
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