When Boston Won the World Series

When Boston Won the World Series: A Chronicle of Boston's Remarkable Victory in the First Modern World Series of 1903 Bob Ryan Date: 18 March, 2003   —   $7.58   —   Book product page Rating:

Nonfiction, Sports

This is a baseball history for those who do not have an in-depth knowledge of the sport. I know because I am one such person, who picked out a galley copy as a present for a Red Sox fan last Christmas. In light of the historic return of Boston to the Series, I thought I'd drop in a brief review.

The 1903 World Series was not, as urban legendry goes, named after the World newspaper; the creators of the Series were attempting to push the creation of the new league. The Red Sox were not, at the time, the Red Sox; they were (if I recall correctly) the Braves. There was no fence on the outfield, and viewers could and did interfere with gameplay. (One game was so crowded that viewers were up to the diamond and special rules for hits had to be established.) Pittsburgh had a field that flooded.

And yet, and yet... with little money, donors backing out of pledges, and the possibility of one league's demise due to the rivalry with the new league, a few men crafted a tradition that endures to this day. And though baseball fanatics may find this book a bit thin on the ground (Bob Ryan relies almost exclusively on Boston Globe accounts; thankfully, the primary writer of the time was of high quality), for casual fans, this is a good window into the world of old-fashioned baseball.