Photo: File Photo
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — In 1904, the Red Sox missed out on winning a World Series not because they lost, but because they won.
The race for the American League pennant that year was tight. The Boston Americans, who later became the Red Sox, and the New York Highlanders, who later became the Yankees, were in a dead heat that came down to the final games of the season, a doubleheader that was supposed to be played in New York, but in a crazy twist of fate, was being played in Boston.
"[New York's] owners mistakenly rented out Highland Park for college football," The Sports Museum curator Richard Johnson explained. "Back when they did the rental in the spring they didn't think they'd be contending. Now all of a sudden they forfeited home games at the end of the season where you're fighting for a pennant ... and Boston took advantage of it."
The first game came down to the ninth inning. Highlanders Ace Jack Chesbro was on the mound facing Boston's leadoff hitter Kip Selbach with Lou Criger on third base. Chesbro had won 41 games that season, but in that fateful inning, he threw a wild pitch allowing Criger to score from third. The Americans won the game and the American League pennant.
"[Chesbro] said after the game was over and his wild pitch cost them the pennant, he'd have given up all 41 wins that year to have that one pitch back," Johnson said. "There's something about it that was very 'Red Sox-ian" except it was on New York that time and not us."
The Americans now had the chance to defend the title they won in the first World Series in 1903. However, there was one problem. There was no World Series that year.
At the time the World Series was not a formal yearly event and would not become one until the next season. While the 1903 National League champion Pittsburg Pirates agreed to challenge the Americans the previous year, the 1904 NL Champ New York Giants simply refused to play. But why?
Well as the pennant race between the Highlanders and Americans got closer, both the Giants owner and Manager John McGraw were worried. Despite pressure to commit to playing in the World Series, Johnson said they did not want to lose a possible battle of New York to the Highlanders, so they refused to take part.
"The animosity between those two teams was absolutely fever pitch," Johnson said. "The Giants didn't even want the Highlanders to play in Manhattan. They worked things politically so the only piece of property the new American League team could buy was a rocky hilltop in Washington Heights."
Even after the Americans eventually won, the Giants held firm. At the time American League was looked down upon by the National League. McGraw himself considered it to be a minor league and wanted to save his team the embarrassment of losing to a perceived inferior opponent like the Pirates had the year before.
"McGraw was a bit of an egomaniac, they called him the little Napolean," Johnson said. "He did not want to be the one to suffer the indignity of losing to the new league."
Johnson said he believes this means that the Americans should have retained their title from the previous year.
"Should they be considered the World Series Champions [in 1904]? Absolutely," Johnson said. "They were the defending first World Series champions. They were there ready to play and John McGraw denied them the chance to play games that they probably would have been the favorites to win."
The 1904 Americans were no scrubs. They won 95 games that year led by legendary pitcher Cy Young, who threw the first-ever perfect game that season, along with player-manager Jimmy Collins.
"If you're imagining Jimmy Collins now it would be as though Freddie Freeman were the manager of the Dodgers," Johnson said. "That's how important a player he was."
Freeman is fresh off winning a World Series MVP and his second career championship. Collins ended his career in 1908 with 1,999 career hits, is credited with revolutionizing the position of third base, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945. Young is also a hall of fame, has the all-time record in nine major statistical categories, and is the namesake of the award given to the league's best pitcher.
While the annals of baseball history do not recognize Boston as the World Series champions that year—the 1904 banner at Fenway Park is blue, signifying only a pennant victory— Johnson said Boston's faithful gave the 1904 team the send-off they deserved.
"The fans, in typical fashion back then, got behind their team, held a banquet, and gave a trophy to player-manager Jimmy Collins," Johnson said. "They celebrated the pennant-winning team as the great champions that they were."
Johnson said he hoped one day the 1904 team could get the credit they deserved and turn the blue banner into a red one.
"I'd love to see it this spring," Johnson said. "It would sort of be 'okay, the Red Sox won another World Series in the offseason, gee how did they do that?' well they righted a wrong."
WBZ's Kyle Bray (@KyleBrayWBZ) reports.