The Saga of the Sox
1901
Funded by Cleveland entrepreneur Charles Somers, THE BOSTON AMERICANS join the fledgling American League. Third baseman Jimmy Collins, the first player signed by the new franchise, serves as player-manager.
1901 Thirty-four-year-old Cy Young goes 33--10 in his first season with Boston, leading the league in wins.
1903
Boston defeats the Pittsburgh Pirates five games to three to win the first World Series.
1904
Boston retains its title as world champ after New York Giants owner John Brush refuses to allow his team to participate in the World Series.
1907
Owner JOHN TAYLOR changes the team's name to the Red Sox.
1912
Boston's Fenway Park opens, complete with a 25-foot wooden wall in leftfield designed to prevent fans without tickets from climbing into the ballpark.
1912
First baseman Hugh Bradley is the first player to homer over the wall in leftfield.
1912
For a hot matchup between SMOKEY JOE WOOD and the Washington Senators' WALTER JOHNSON, Fenway fans are permitted to stand along the perimeter of the infield and behind home plate.
1914 The Red Sox acquire 19-year-old lefty George Herman (Babe) Ruth from the financially strapped Baltimore Orioles.
1918
Led by Ruth, who runs his record streak of scoreless World Series innings to 292/3, the Red Sox win their fourth world championship in seven years.
1919
Red Sox owner Harry Frazee agrees to sell Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $125,000 and a $300,000 loan, with Fenway Park as the security.
1925
RED RUFFING goes 9--18 in his first year in Boston's rotation. The dismal Red Sox suffer through the first of three straight 100-loss seasons.
1926
A fire breaks out shortly after a game at Fenway, causing $25,000 in damage and destroying the bleachers along the leftfield line.
1932
Red Sox first baseman DALE ALEXANDER hits .367 to win the AL batting title, but Boston loses a team-record 111 games.
1933
Thirty-year-old millionaire TOM YAWKEY purchases the Red Sox and invests $1.5 million in repairing Fenway Park.
1934
With a 37-foot leftfield wall made from 30,000 pounds of Toncan iron, a remodeled Fenway opens. (A fire earlier in the year had caused $250,000 in damage to the bleachers in centerfield.)
1935
The Red Sox purchase future Hall of Fame shortstop JOE CRONIN from the Washington Senators for $250,000 and name him player-manager.
1938
En route to winning the MVP award, first baseman Jimmie Foxx becomes the first Red Sox player to hit 50 home runs in a season.
1941
TED WILLIAMS goes 6 for 8 in Boston's season-ending doubleheader to finish with a .406 average; he is the last major leaguer to hit .400.
1942
WILLIAMS enlists as a pilot in the Navy Air Corps. He will miss the 1943, '44 and '45 seasons due to military service in World War II and most of the '52 and '53 seasons flying in the Korean War.
1946
In the Red Sox' first Series appearance since 1918, St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Enos Slaughter dashes home with the winning run in the eighth inning of Game 7.
1947
Lights are installed at Fenway Park. The Red Sox beat the White Sox 5--3 on June 13 in the park's first night game.
1953
After 77 years in Boston, the NL's Braves move to Milwaukee, leaving the Red Sox as the city's only major league franchise.
1959
Infielder Elijah (Pumpsie) Green (pictured with manager Billy Jurges) becomes the first African-American to play for the Red Sox. Boston is the final team in the majors to integrate.
1962
Red Sox righty EARL WILSON becomes the first African-American pitcher to toss a no-hitter in the AL, beating the Los Angeles Angels 2--0.
1967
Five weeks after making the All-Star team, Red Sox outfielder TONY CONIGLIARO is hit in the face by a pitch from the Angels' Jack Hamilton. Tony C will not play again until 1969 and is never the same.
1967
With a .326 average, 44 homers and 121 RBIs, Carl Yastrzemski wins the AL triple crown; no player in either league has achieved the feat since.
1967
The Sox win the pennant in the Impossible Dream season. Boston falls to the Cardinals in the Series as Bob Gibson beats JIM LONBORG in Game 7.
1971
LUIS TIANT goes 1--7 in his debut season with the Sox. El Tiante will go on to three 20-win seasons for Boston.
1973
After three years as controller for the AL, JOHN HARRINGTON is hired as Sox' treasurer.
1975
CARLTON FISK's 12th-inning home run off the leftfield foul pole at Fenway wins a classic Game 6 of the World Series. But the Red Sox fall to the Cincinnati Reds 4--3 in Game 7 the next night.
1976
The Yankees' Lou Piniella barrels into Fisk at home plate, igniting a bench-clearing brawl that rekindles one of the game's most bitter rivalries.
1978
BILL (SPACEMAN) LEE, who once called his manager Don Zimmer "a gerbil," stages a one-day strike in protest of the Red Sox' selling outfielder Bernie Carbo to the Cleveland Indians.
1978
AL MVP JIM RICE hits .315 and leads the majors with 46 homers, 139 RBIs, 406 total bases, 213 hits and a .600 slugging percentage.
1978
Bucky (Bleeping) Dent
1986
ROGER CLEMENS strikes out 20 batters in a nine-inning game vs. the Seattle Mariners, an MLB record.
1986
Bill Buckner
1988
MARGO ADAMS files a $12 million palimony suit against Red Sox third baseman WADE BOGGS, claiming that Boggs had promised her a salary and expenses during a four-year affair.
1992
JEAN YAWKEY, who ran the team since her husband's death in 1976, dies. JRY Corporation, led by Harrington, takes control.
1997
NOMAR GARCIAPARRA wins AL Rookie of the Year honors by hitting .306 with 44 doubles, 30 homers, 98 RBIs and 22 stolen bases.
1999
A banged-up PEDRO MARTINEZ pitches six no-hit innings of relief to win the decisive Game 5 of the ALDS against the Indians.
2000
Manny Ramirez signs with the Red Sox for eight years and $160 million.
2002
A group led by JOHN HENRY(right), Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino purchases the Red Sox and hires THEO EPSTEIN as G.M.
2002
Williams dies of cardiac arrest at age 83; his body is flown to the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Ariz.
2003
Aaron Boone
2003
Boston acquires ace CURT SCHILLING from the Arizona Diamondbacks.
2004
The Red Sox make history by coming back from a 3--0 deficit to beat the Yankees in the ALCS. Boston then sweeps the Cardinals to win its first World Series in 86 years. Red Sox Nation weeps with joy.
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