Red Sox fans like to moan about how their team always lets them down, but in fact it is one of the more successful franchises in the American League. It's just that they haven't won a World Championship since 1918...

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Originally called the Puritans, the franchise was quite successful in the first two decades of the American League. Their first pennant came in 1903, when Cy Young led the AL in wins and Buck Freeman led in HR and RBI, and they won the first World Series. They repeated in 1904, but Giants manager John McGraw refused to let his team play the WS. The Puritans were rebuilt over the rest of the decade, and when they won the AL flag in 1912, they featured Tris Speaker, who led AL outfielders with 35 assists and tied for the lead in HR, and Smoky Joe Wood, who had a spectacular 34-5 record that included a string of 16 straight victories. Boston won the Series from the Giants in Game Seven on errors by Snodgrass and Merkle. The Red Sox then won back-to-back World Championships in 1915 and 1916, with Babe Ruth winning the ERA title in 1916. That year, he won a 14-inning 2-1 contest in Game Two. The Red Sox' fifth World Championship in as many chances came in 1918, and Ruth set a scoreless streak record of 29.2 innings dating back to 1916.

But owners Hugh Ward (largely an absentee owner) and Harry Frazee (unfortunately quite present) suffered losses on the New York stage and made up the difference by selling off the Red Sox' most talented players. Babe Ruth had been moved to the outfield in 1919 and proceeded to set a ML record with 29 HR. That winter he was sold to the Yankees in a complicated deal that included $100,000 cash and a $300,000 mortgage on Fenway Park. He was only the first to go, and the Red Sox soon took up residence in the lower levels of the standings, finishing last nine times before Tom Yawkey bought the franchise in 1933 and brought in a new era.

Yawkey bought up established stars such as Lefty Grove, Joe Cronin, and Jimmie Foxx, who gave him an MVP season in 1938. Later in the decade GM Eddie Collins found Ted Williams and Bobby Doerr in the Pacific Coast League. These efforts produced an AL pennant in 1946 (when Ted Williams won the first of his two MVP awards) and a storied loss to the Cardinals in the World Series that began the legend of the Red Sox being fated to lose the big games. In the bottom of the eighth inning of Game Seven, Enos Slaughter scored the winning run from first on a single, while Red Sox shortstop Johnny Pesky supposedly held the ball. Actually, Pesky had his back to the play, which was fumbled by Leon Culberson; Pesky hesitated only slightly before relaying the ball to the plate, but it was too late.

The Red Sox contended for the next few seasons, losing a one-game playoff to the Indians in 1948, but by the mid-1950s slumped to mediocrity, and sometimes less than that. A continual cry for more pitching was unassuaged, and Boston fans had little to do but watch Williams, perhaps the greatest hitter of all time, until his retirement in 1960 took even that solace from them. But the rise of a younger set of stars in the 1960s, especially Carl Yastrzemski, brought the "Impossible Dream" pennant of 1967 after two straight ninth-place finishes. Yaz won the MVP award on the strength of a Triple Crown performance, the last in the majors. Once again it was the Cardinals who denied Yawkey's dreamed-of World Championship, as the Red Sox lost again in seven games.

The Red Sox once again entered a period of mediocrity, although they didn't suffer any losing seasons and contended occasionally. Once again it was the arrival of young blood that brought a pennant. Fred Lynn and Jim Rice had great rookie seasons in 1975, with Lynn capturing both MVP and Rookie of the Year honors, the only man ever to win the MVP in his first season. Rice succeeded Yastrzemski and Williams in the line of great Boston left fielders, and like them became the focus of the fans' love for and dissatisfaction with their team. Once again the Red Sox took the Series to seven games, getting there with a thrilling victory in Game Six (THE Game Six, in Boston; years later it was still referred to as such, with no confusion ever resulting from intervening sixth games of other Series). Bernie Carbo's game-tying pinch-homer in the 8th inning and Carlton Fisk's dramatic, body-English-directed shot in the 12th inning were the main ingredients. But of course the Reds won Game Seven, and the fatalism of Boston rooters became legend. Tom Yawkey, who had often been accused of pampering and overpaying his favorite stars, died the following year without ever having achieved the World Championship he desired so ardently.

Another lost playoff game in 1978 varied the motif, harking back to the loss to the Indians 30 years earlier. Lost in the disapointment was a great Red Sox comeback at the end of the season after they had been overtaken by the Yankees. After that the triumvirate ownership of Mrs. Tom Yawkey, Haywood Sullivan, and Buddy LeRoux began feuding, and the team entered another fallow period. The arrival of Wade Boggs in 1982 and Roger Clemens in 1984 brought a pennant in 1986, with a dramatic Game Five HR by instant hero Dave Henderson turning the team around. But, one strike away from a World Championship in Game Six against the Mets, reliever Bob Stanley threw a wild pitch, and then Mookie Wilson hit a roller through Bill Buckner's legs at first base. Manager John MacNamara was criticized for not replacing Buckner with a defensive substitute for sentimental reasons. The speedy Wilson would have been safe anyway, but the error allowed the winning run to score, and the Red Sox once again lost in Game Seven. The inertial MacNamara was replaced in mid-1988 by Joe Morgan, nine and a half games back in fourth place at the All-Star break. Morgan led them on a hot streak that carried them to the division title. They won 19 of his first 20 games, and won an AL-record 24 straight games at home (the first five under MacNamara). They were swept by the overwhelming A's in the LCS. (SH)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » July 27, 1906: At St. Louis, Boston Red Sox pitcher Bill Dinneen allows only an Pete O'Brien single in beating the Browns, 1-0. » June 7, 1908: The Detroit Tigers turn a triple play against the Boston Red Sox for the 2nd day in a row, but Boston wins 9-5. The two tri-killings in two games is a unique ML-record. » April 20, 1912: The Boston Red Sox open in the new Fenway Park with a 7–6, 11-inning win over the New York Yankees before 27,000 in the lidlifter of two games. Spitballer Bucky O'Brien and Sea Lion Hall top Jumbo Jim Vaughn, handing the Yankees their 6th straight loss. » April 22, 1915: A's newly acquired 2B Nap Lajoie makes five errors in a 7–6 loss to the Boston Red Sox. He is the last of six second baseman to boot that many in one game. » September 22, 1915: Having loaned the Braves the use of their larger park in 1914, the Boston Red Sox request the use of the new, larger NL park for this year's World Series. » April 11, 1916: The World Champion Boston Red Sox suffer an embarrassing 1–0 loss to Boston College. » September 29, 1916: Boston Red Sox P Babe Ruth closes the season with his 23rd win, topping New York 3–0. It is his 9th shutout and reduces his ERA to 1.75. In 324 IP he gave up no home runs. The nine shutouts is a record for lefties that will be unmatched in the AL until Ron Guidry ties it in 1978. » August 6, 1917: Boston Red Sox hurler Rube Foster allows just one hit—a double by Harris—in losing to Cleveland, 2–0. » April 4, 1918: Determined not to be a wartime casualty, the International League reorganizes. The Richmond, Montreal, and Providence franchises are replaced by Binghamton, Jersey City, and Syracuse. Expenses are slashed, causing the resignation of president Ed Barrow, who will go on to greater glory with the Boston Red Sox. The IL will be the only minor league to play its full schedule this year. » August 14, 1922: Lizzie Murphy of the Providence all-stars, plays 1B for an AL all-star team in an exhibition game against the Boston Red Sox, making her the first female to play for a major-league team. Other all-stars are Chick Shorten, Tillie Walker, Frank Bruggy, Bootnose Hoffman, Jim Bagby, Nick Altrock, and Donnie Bush. The all-stars win 3–2 when Doc Johnson triples home Pep Young in the 10th. The proceeds benefit the family of former Sox player and manager Tommy McCarthy. The future Hall of Famer passed away August 5. » May 18, 1923: At Detroit, former Tiger pitcher, Howard Ehmke pitches his Boston Red Sox team to a 6-2 victory in 10 innings. Ty Cobb is 0-for-3 and caps the day with a heated argument (under the grandstand), reportedly because Ehmke hit him with a pitch. » September 14, 1923: George Burns, 1B for the Boston Red Sox, makes an unassisted triple play in the 2nd on a line drive hit by Cleveland's Frank Brower. He tags out Rube Lutzke and rushes to 2B for the 3rd out before Riggs Stephenson returns. The Sox beat the visiting Indians, 4–3 in 12 innings. » September 22, 1925: In a doubleheader loss (11–8 and 7–2) Ramon Herrera, a Cuban IF, makes his debut with the Boston Red Sox. He will bat .385 in 10 games, but will hit only .257 in 74 games in 1926. Herrera is probably the first player of this era to play in both the major leagues and the Negro leagues. » December 1, 1930: Shano Collins, a native New Englander, is appointed manager of the perennial last-place Boston Red Sox. » March 3, 1932: In Century, Florida, Boston Red Sox P Ed Morris, 32, dies of knife wounds inflicted in a fight at a party given in his honor two days ago in Brewton, Alabama. Sox owner Bob Quinn is reported to have had a Yankee offer of almost $100,000 for the pitcher. » February 25, 1933: Multimillionaire sportsman Tom Yawkey buys the Boston Red Sox from the broke Robert Quinn. Young Tom's father, William Austin, was negotiating to buy the Tigers when he died and William Yawkey completed the deal. William Yawkey then adopted young Tom, who took on the Yawkey name and now uses his inheritance to buy the Red Sox. Yawkey intends to rebuild Fenway to boost attendance, which skidded to 182,150 last season. He also hires Eddie Collins as vice-president and GM. » December 12, 1933: Connie Mack is still selling. First he sells Lefty Grove, the A's top winner in each of the past five seasons, along with Max Bishop, and George Walberg to the Boston Red Sox for $125,000 and two players, pitcher Bob Kline and infielder Rabbit Wartsler. Then George Earnshaw and recently acquired backstop Johnny Pasek go to the White Sox for $20,000 and catcher Charlie Berry. Berry once led the NFL in scoring and will become a ML umpire in the 1940's. » October 26, 1934: Washington player-manager Joe Cronin is sold to the Boston Red Sox for $225,000 and Lyn Lary. Recently married to Mildred Robertson, Clark Griffith's niece and adopted daughter, Cronin is signed to a 5-year contract. » December 17, 1935: Heinie Manush is traded from Washington to the Boston Red Sox for Roy Johnson and Carl Reynolds. » January 4, 1936: As the 2nd part of the December 10th deal for Jimmie Foxx, the Boston Red Sox get outfielder Doc Cramer (.332) and SS Eric "Boob" McNair from the A's for Henry Johnson, Al Niemiec, and $75,000. Even with the free spending, and the presence of 20-game winners Ferrell and Grove, Boston will finish 6th in 1936. » September 28, 1936: The Boston Red Sox release Heinie Manush, and make Bing Miller a coach to replace Al Schacht, who will begin to barnstorm as the "Clown Prince of Baseball." » November 12, 1939: The youngest of the three DiMaggio brothers, Dom DiMaggio, is bought for $40,000 by the Boston Red Sox from San Francisco (PCL). » August 24, 1940: At Fenway, LF Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox pitches the last two innings in a 12–1 loss to the Detroit Tigers and Tommy Bridges. Williams allows three hits and one run scores when 3B Charlie Gelbert juggles a DP grounder. On three pitches Williams strikes out Tiger slugger Rudy York, who had driven in five Detroit runs. Joe Glenn, who caught Babe Ruth's last pitching appearance in 1933, is Williams' catcher. Pitcher Jim Bagby plays the OF for the Sox. » September 24, 1940: George Caster of the Philadelphia Athletics allows 6 HRs in one game against the Boston Red Sox. Ted Williams, Jimmie Foxx, Joe Cronin, and Jim Tabor connect in the 6th inning. Foxx's HR is his 500th. » July 25, 1941: Forty-one-year-old Lefty Grove wins his 300th game as the Boston Red Sox defeat the Cleveland Indians 10-6 before a Fenway Ladies Day crowd of 16,000. Though he will make six more starts, this will be Grove's last career win. » September 4, 1941: The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 6-3 to clinch the AL pennant, the earliest date in ML history. The Yankees need only 136 games, giving them a 91-45 record. » April 16, 1945: Under pressure from local politicians, the Boston Red Sox allow three blacks -- Marvin Williams, Sam Jethroe, and Jackie Robinson -- to work out at Fenway Park. None is signed. » August 4, 1945: Tom McBride of the Boston Red Sox drives in ML-record tying six runs in the 4th inning of the 2nd game of a doubleheader against the Senators, as the Sox score 12 runs. He doubles and triples off Santiago Ullrich and Joe Cleary, each time with the bases loaded. The Sox bat around against Cleary, who gives up seven runs on five hits and three walks. Cleary, the last major leaguer born in Ireland, gets one out, on a strikeout, but this is his only ML appearance and he'll finish with a 189. ERA. The Senators then call on Bert Shepard, who remarkably pitches five 1/3 innings giving up one run on three hits. For Shepard, who was wounded in WW2 and lost a leg, this too will be his only major league appearance. The Sox win, 15–4. » August 8, 1945: The Tigers split a pair with the Red Sox, winning 5–2 before losing 7–4 in 12 innings. In the 10th frame of the 2nd game, a line drive off the bat of Detroit's Hank Greenberg fractures the head of Boston Red Sox rookie pitcher Jim Wilson, necessitating a 2-hour operation. Wilson will return to pitch 11 more years, but won't win another ML game till 1951. » May 29, 1946: Boo Ferriss shuts out the A's, 2–0, as the Boston Red Sox start another win streak. » July 14, 1946: Player-manager Lou Boudreau of Cleveland hits four doubles and one HR, but Ted Williams wallops three HRs and drives in eight runs, as the Boston Red Sox top the Indians 11-10. In the Sox second-game win, the famous Boudreau Shift is born. Boudreau shifts all his players, except the 3B and LF, to the right side of the diamond in an effort to stop Williams. Ted grounds out and walks twice while ignoring the shift. » September 13, 1946: The Boston Red Sox clinch the AL pennant, edging the Cleveland Indians 1-0 on Ted Williams's inside-the-park HR, the only one of his career. Williams punches the ball over the shift when LF Pat Seerey pulls in behind the SS position. The Boston margin at the season's end will be 12 games. » October 9, 1946: Boo Ferriss records the 50th shutout in World Series history. He holds the opposition to only six hits, as the Boston Red Sox blank the St. Louis Cardinals 4–0. Rudy York's 3-run home run in the first is the big blow. » October 15, 1946: Enos Slaughter sprints all the way from 1B and slides into home with the winning run in the 8th inning on Harry Walker's double, as the Cardinals edge the Boston Red Sox 4–3, giving St. Louis the World Series four games to 3. Harry Brecheen wins three games for the Cardinals, including Games six and 7, the only pitcher ever to win those. Billed as the duel between the two best hitters in baseball, the Series sees Stan Musial go 6-for-27 and Ted Williams 5-for-25. With the Series held in two small ballparks and the broadcast fees now aimed at a player pension fund, the Cardinal share of $3,748 and the Red Sox portion of $2,140 is the smallest Series payoff since 1918. » June 13, 1947: The Boston Red Sox beat the Chicago White Sox 5-3 before 34,510 "first nighters" in the first night game at Fenway Park. » October 4, 1948: In a one-game playoff for the AL pennant at Fenway Park, the Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox 8-3 behind rookie knuckleballer Gene Bearden, who wins his 20th game. Player-manager Lou Boudreau gets 4 hits, including 2 HRs. Red Sox manager Joe McCarthy ignores his rotation pitchers to go with journeyman Denny Galehouse (8-7). With the score 1-1 in the 4th, Ken Keltner hits a 3-run HR over the LF fence. » October 2, 1949: The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox enter the final day of the season tied for first place. Nearly 70,000 pack Yankee Stadium to see the finale. Vic Raschi nurses a 1-0 lead into the 8th against Ellis Kinder before the Yankees score 4 against a tired Mel Parnell and an unlucky Tex Hughson. A Sox rally falls short, and the Yankees win the game and the pennant 5-3. » June 8, 1950: In the most lopsided score in history, the Boston Red Sox annihilate the St. Louis Browns at Fenway Park, 29–4. Bobby Doerr has three home runs and eight RBI; Walt Dropo, two home runs and seven RBI, and Ted Williams, two home runs and five RBI, all collecting a round tripper in the 8th inning. Pitcher Chuck Stobbs walks four times in four innings, Al Zarilla adds four doubles, including two in one inning, and a single—with no ribbies—as the Sox set a major-league record with 58 total bases. Another mark is set of most extra bases on long hits (32) in a game, and the most extra bases on long hits in consecutive games (51). The Red Sox have 28 hits, with four players collecting four hits apiece, to total a record 51 for two days against the woeful Browns. Leadoff batter Clyde Vollmer goes to the plate eight times in eight innings, the only time this has happened in history. Boston has now scored 104 runs in their last seven games and a record 49 in two straight games. » November 8, 1950: The Baseball Writers Association of America announces that slugging 1B Walt Dropo of the Boston Red Sox is the Rookie of the Year in the American League. » August 1, 1953: Ben Flowers of the Boston Red Sox sets a major-league record with eight consecutive games pitched in relief, a mark that will later be surpassed. » March 14, 1954: Henry Aaron starts his first game with the Braves, getting three hits in a spring training game against the Boston Red Sox. One of the blows is a home run, off Ike Delock, that goes over a row of trailers along the outfield fence. » August 7, 1956: The Boston Red Sox fine Ted Williams $5,000 for spitting at Boston fans, as the Red Sox edge the Yanks in 11 innings on Williams's bases-loaded walk. It is Williams's third spitting incident in three weeks. The spitting started after the crowd of 36,350, a record for night games at Fenway Park, started booing the Splendid Splinter for muffing Mickey Mantle's windblown fly in the 11th. Before the game, RF Jackie Jensen had to be restrained by teammates from going into the stands after a heckler. The previous year Jensen had challenged a fan to come out of the stands. » January 18, 1973: Orlando Cepeda signs with the Boston Red Sox, making him the first player signed by a team as a designated hitter. » July 9, 1976: Boston Red Sox owner and president Tom Yawkey dies. » July 28, 1979: At Texas, the Boston Red Sox pull off a first-inning triple play—9-4-3—against the Rangers. It's Boston's 3rd TP of the year (July 23 and May 10) tying a major-league record and it's needed as the Sox win, 1–0. Dennis Eckersley beats Fergie Jenkins. » October 1, 1980: Don Zimmer is fired as manager of the Boston Red Sox. Johnny Pesky will finish the season as interim manager. » July 28, 1982: After a 3–2 loss to the Brewers, Rangers manager Don Zimmer is fired and replaced by Darrell Johnson. During the 1976 season, Zimmer had replaced Johnson as manager of the Boston Red Sox. » February 26, 1992: Boston Red Sox majority owner Jean Yawkey dies at age 83. » July 5, 1993: Oakland OF Rickey Henderson leads off both games of the A's doubleheader against the Indians with home runs. It is the 1st time this has happened since 1913, when Harry Hooper performed the feat for the Boston Red Sox. The Athletics win the 1st game, 6-5, but the Indians come back to take the nightcap, 6-2. » May 13, 1997: Tim Belcher faces 30 hitters in pitching KC to a 9–0 win over the Red Sox. Belcher retires the first 15 batters and finished with a two-hitter as the Kansas City Royals routed the slumping Boston Red Sox. Belcher also stretches his scoreless skein to 19 innings. Before the game, the Royals release Mitch Williams; The Wild Thing was 0–1 with a 10.80 ERA in his comeback attempt. » July 14, 1997: At Fenway, Wil Cordero, homers as the Boston Red Sox collects a season-high 21 hits to rout the Detroit Tigers, 18-4. Cordero is cheered after hitting a two-run homer in the seventh. Cordero, accused of assaulting his wife June 11, has been booed on each of his previous 14 at-bats since he ended 11 games on the sidelines with a pinch-hit appearance last Thursday. » August 12, 1997: The Texas Rangers showed off for former president George Bush by routing the Boston Red Sox for the second consecutive game, 12-2, scoring 10 runs in the first four innings. Bush—whose son, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, owns the Rangers—sits next to the team's dugout with acting Massachusetts Gov. Paul Cellucci and a group of Secret Service agents. » July 9, 1999: The uniform Lou Gehrig wore when he made his famous "luckiest man on earth" speech on July 4, 1939 is sold for $451,541 at auction. Leland's spokesman Marty Appel says the flannel pinstripe uniform worn by the Hall of Fame first baseman was purchased by a south Florida man who did not want his name made public. The winning bid was made over the phone. Yesterday Carlton Fisk's home run ball that won Game Six of the 1975 World Series for the Boston Red Sox sold for $113,273. » November 11, 1999: Boston Red Sox skipper Jimy Williams is named the American League Manager of the Year. » November 16, 1999: Surprise! Boston Red Sox P Pedro Martinez is named the unanimous winner of the American League Cy Young Award. He led the AL in wins, strikeouts and ERA. Martinez also won the award in the National League, just the 3rd pitcher to do so. » October 6, 2000: Struggling to get public financing for a new ballpark, the Boston Red Sox are put up for sale by the Yawkey Trust. » February 27, 2002: The sale of the Boston Red Sox to a group headed by John Henry becomes official. » September 22, 2002: Mike Sweeney of the Kansas City Royals and Manny Ramirez of the Boston Red Sox are locked in a tight race for the American League batting title. After play today, Sweeney has a lead of less than .001 over Ramirez, .346578 to .346062. But, by Thursday, Ramirez will move ahead by .003099 after going 4–for–11 to raise his average to .3465116 while Sweeney will go 2–for–10 to put his mark at .343413.