Until 2004, when the Boston Red Sox won their first World Series Championship in 86 years, the team had been plagued by the Curse of the Bambino, a mythical drought attributed to the team’s loss of Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees. Though Ruth was a star pitcher in Boston, he was merely continuing a 14-year tradition of the club’s strong arms and bats. With rosters that included Cy Young, Jimmy Collins, Jesse Burkett, Jack Chesbro, Big Bill Dinneen, Smoky Joe Wood and Tris Speaker, among others, the young franchise powered its way to three pennants and a couple of world championships before Babe arrived in Beantown. This book covers the team’s early years from the diamond to the executive offices.

Attorney Donald Hubbard is a member of the Boston chapter of SABR, and has also been a newspaper columnist in Boston for the past nine years.

Donald Hubbard
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 236
Bibliographic Info: 41 photos, notes, index
Copyright Date: 2009
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3911-9
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5463-1
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vi

Foreword by Peter Nash      1

Preface      3

Prologue      5

JIMMY COLLINS’ BOSTON AMERICANS

1. The Roxbury Rooters      7

2. Hugh Duffy Loves and Leaves the Boston Americans      13

3. ’02 and Out      26

4. Jimmy Collins Cracks a Smile      37

5. Tessie Wins a World Series for Boston      48

6. John I. Taylor Owns Boston      63

7. A Crab Cannot Stem the Tide      75

8. Taylor-Made Disaster      86

9. Chick      99

10. The Year of Four Managers      108

ROUGH CARRIGAN’S RED SOX

11. Red Sox Are Born      119

12. John I. Ruins the Team … Again      131

13. John I. in the Hands of an Angry Lord      141

14. The Odyssey      151

15. New Owner, New Park and a Pennant      163

16. The 1912 World Series      173

17. Smoky Joe Goes Skiing Downhill      186

18. Papists and Protestants      197

19. Jack Dunn Sells Out      201

Epilogue      213

Chapter Sources      215

Bibliography      219

Index      221