1903 World Series Preview

Jesse Tannehill

The Pittsburgh Pirates were coming off their most successful season of yet, by sweeping the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1902 World Series. In fact, if things swung the Pirates way against the Chicago White Sox, during the 1901 World Series (in which Pittsburgh lost the series 4-3), the Pirates could be trying for a three-peat in the 1903 World Series edition of the World Series Replays project.

For the real-life Pirates, the 1903 Pittsburgh Pirates was the beginning of the end for this group. Until the 1902-1903 off-season came around, the Pirates were relatively lucky in being able to keep players from jumping ship and trying to sign with Ban Johnson's American League teams for greener pastures. The losses of catcher Jack O'Connor, outfielder Al "Lefty" Davis & Wid Conroy were not huge losses for the Bucs. Conroy's departure set up Honus Wagner's move from right field to short. The big losses would come in the form of losing two of their big four starting pitchers in Jack Chesbro and Jesse Tannehill -- signing with the A.L.'s New York Highlanders (now known as the Yankees). Back in these days, the teams & players knew of their signings & departures, before the previous season is over. In real-life, this may have been one of the contributing factors why the Athletics took the World Series in 1903, and not the favored Pirates. The Replay edition swept the A's with flying colors for the most part, despite two games going to extras, and a comeback from behind to win Game 2.

An idea of Cobb in Pittsburgh?

The departures of the two star pitchers happened for a few reasons. There was rumors circulating that Ban Johnson was going to move his league's Detroit franchise (the Detroit Tigers) to Pittsburgh -- in fact as time has gone on, there was many reports that came out that Detroit actually came pretty close to losing the Tigers. Rumor has it that Johnson, loved the idea of a city having the two biggest superstars at the time in Ty Cobb & Honus Wagner, and the fascination of fans arguing on who was the better ballplayer? So the owner at the time, Barney Dreyfuss (of the Pirates) feared about dealing with another team stealing a little bit of their fan-base by sharing their city. The Philadelphia Phillies experienced this in 1902, in which their home attendance dropped to 67,000 less fans the next season, when the Philadelphia Athletics joined the city. Eventually, this would be the reasons for the Athletics to move to Kansas City, the Boston Braves eventual move to Milwaukee, and the St.Louis Browns move to Baltimore.

But the moves of the Bucs to save some bucks, without a doubt cut this possible dynasty short, and made it easier for powerhouses such as John McGraw's New York Giants & the Chicago Cubs to arrive onto the scene midway through the decade.

Source: "Turmoil of the 1902-1903 Off-Season" by Pirates Prospects blog.

The Boston Americans (Red Sox) come in with 91-47 record, led by Cy Young and his 28 victories. Young also had a 2.08 ERA with 176 K's (only walking 37) in 341.2 innings. Buck Freeman is their slugger with 13 HR's and 104 RBI (batting .287).

In real life, the Red Sox took Pittsburgh 5-3 in a best-of-nine, thank god they trimmed it down to best-of-seven. The Pirates also had Ed Doheny quit on them prior to the series from a mental breakdown, while Sam Leever was playing hurt (losing his two games). The series overall was dubbed an upset.