1918 Boston Red Sox

1918 Boston Red Sox / Franchise: Boston Red Sox / BR Team Page

Record: 75-51, Finished 1st in American League (1918 AL)

Clinched Pennant: August 31, 1918, vs. Philadelphia Athletics

World Series Champs

Managed by Ed Barrow

Ballpark: Fenway Park

History, Comments, Contributions

A plaque commemorating Boston's 1918 World Series victory stands outside Fenway Park

The 1918 Boston Red Sox won the World Series in six games over the Chicago Cubs at the end of a season cut short by the United States' entry in World War I. The season ended on September 1st and the series was wrapped up on September 11th. It was famously the Red Sox's last World Series win in the 20th Century, their next triumph only coming in 2004.

Following the World Series, a team dubbing itself as the Red Sox played a stories of barnstorming games against teams on the East Coast. Only three members of the World Series-winning squad were members of that outfit, P Joe Bush, OF Amos Strunk and C Wally Schang; the rest of the team consisted of other current or former major leaguers, so while it was not the World Championship squad, it was still a good team. This was in direct contradiction of a rule edicted preventing World Series teams from barnstorming, and the three Red Sox players identified were duly punished by the league office. However, this was not before the "Red Sox" played the Hilldale Club, a prominent Negro team based in Darby, PA, on September 14th. It was the only time the Red Sox ever played a colored team in their long history. They lost the game by forfeit, as they refused to play the bottom of the 9th while holding a 4-3 lead over their opponents.

Standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB
Boston Red Sox	75	51	.595	--
Cleveland Indians	73	54	.575	2½
Washington Senators	72	56	.563	4
New York Yankees	60	63	.488	13½
St. Louis Browns	58	64	.475	15
Chicago White Sox	57	67	.460	17
Detroit Tigers	55	71	.437	20
Philadelphia Athletics	52	76	.406	24

World Series

Game	Score	Date	Location	Attendance
1	Red Sox – 1, Cubs – 0	September 5	Comiskey Park	19,274
2	Red Sox – 1, Cubs – 3	September 6	Comiskey Park	20,040
3	Red Sox – 2, Cubs – 1	September 7	Comiskey Park	27,054
4	Cubs – 2, Red Sox – 3	September 9	Fenway Park	22,183
5	Cubs – 3, Red Sox – 0	September 10	Fenway Park	24,694
6	Cubs – 1, Red Sox – 2	September 11	Fenway Park	15,238

Further Reading

• Bill Nowlin: "The One Time the 'Boston Red Sox' Played a Black Team: September 14, 1918: Hilldale Club 9, 'Boston Red Sox' 0, at Hilldale Park in Darby, Pennsylvania", in Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Vol. 50, Nr. 1 (Spring 2021), pp. 80-84.
• Tom Verducci: "Letters From the Hub: A story from the Great Beyond", Sports Illustrated, June 22, 2020. Part one, Part two, and Part three
• Thomas J. Whalen: When the Red Sox Ruled: Baseball's First Dynasty, 1912-1918, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, MD, 2011. ISBN 978-1-56663-745-9
• Allan Wood: Babe Ruth and the 1918 Red Sox, Writers Club Press, iUniverse Publishing, Lincoln, NE, 2001.
• "THE LAST ONE FOR 86 YEARS: The Red Sox win the American League Pennant" August 31, 1918, Fenwayparkdiaries.com

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