The First World Series Champions

On October 13, 1903, the Boston Americans beat the Pittsburgh Pirates to win the first modern World Series, five games to three, in a best-of-nine series that finished after eight games. Boston had trailed three games to one before winning four of the last five.

Pitcher Bill Dinneen won three games for Boston in the series, including the deciding game, while Cy Young, who had thrown a perfect game earlier that season, won two. The championship validated the three-year-old American League as a legitimate rival to the more established National League.

There was no World Series in 1904, after the National League champion New York Giants refused to play the American League champion, but the Series returned in 1905 and has been held every year since with the exception of 1994.