Boston Red Sox History

The Boston Red Sox are a member of the American League East Division. Founded in 1901 as the Boston Americans, the Red Sox were one of the American League's 8 charter franchises. They were subsequently known as the Boston Somersets and the Boston Pilgrims. They became the Boston Red Sox in 1907.

In the early years, the team played at the Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds ("Up the road from "Third Base" to Huntington... The boys will always sing and sway..." - Dropkick Murphys).

The Red Sox moved into their current home, Fenway Park, and played their first game on April 20, 1912, 5 days after the RMS Titanic sank. They won that game against the New York Highlanders (now the New York Yankees) 7-6 in 11 innings. Thus the tradition of close and long Red Sox/Yankees games dates back to the very beginning of Fenway Park. In their first year in Fenway Park the Red Sox took both the American League and World Series championships.

The Boston Red Sox (the Pilgrims at the time) were the winner of the first World Series in 1903, beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 5 games to 3.

They went on to 4 more World Series victories up until 1918 (1912, 1915, 1916, and 1918). What followed was the 86 year "curse of the Bambino" (referring to the sale of Babe Ruth's contract to New York in 1920) World Series drought. The drought and the alleged curse were broken with the Red Sox 4-0 World Series victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004.

Boston Red Sox in the Playoffs

The Boston Red Sox have made the post season 19 times in their history. They also have 6 World Series Championships, and 11 American League Pennants to their credit.