Baseball...

So on this day in 1903 the first modern World Series was played in Major League Baseball.

I know very little about baseball but I have made a couple new friends that hopefully will teach me why it is one of America's favorite sports. I grew up watching college football mainly, we had a stint of watching professional hockey for a while but that fizzled out when the team we followed fizzled out of talent.

Anywho, back to 1903.

 {Top row: Pittsburgh Pirates; Middle row & floor: Boston Americans}

There apparently were two major leagues back in 1903, the American League and the National League. The American League was created by Ban Johnson, who was originally president of the Western League a minor league organization. Johnson began competing for all the best players and got in a little spat with National League Pittsburgh Pirate's owner Barney Dreyfuss.
In an attempt to settle the spat Dreyfuss challenged Johnson's league to a series of nine games between his Pittsburgh Pirates and Johnson's Boston Americans. This series was actually a voluntary arrangement and it would not be until 1905 until it became a compulsory event.

The Boston Americans would eventually win the series with five to three, winning the last four {much to Barney Dreyfuss' chagrin I'm sure}.


Very little of this means anything to me but here is the composite line score {thanks to Wikipedia}.

1903 World Series (5–3): Boston Americans (A.L.) over Pittsburgh Pirates (N.L.)

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston Americans	4	0	3	5	3	10	7	3	4	39	69	14
Pittsburgh Pirates	5	1	3	2	1	1	7	3	1	24	64	19
Total attendance: 100,429   Average attendance: 12,554 Winning player's share: $1,182   Losing player's share: $1,316[12]