1904 World Series

1904 World Series

Team (Wins) Manager Season New York Giants (NL) John McGraw 106–47, .693, GA: 13 Boston Americans (AL) Jimmy Collins 95–59, .617, GA: 1 1⁄2
Dates:	(Not held)
Umpires:	N/A
< 1903 World Series 1905 >

In 1904, there was no World Series between the champions of the two Major League Baseball leagues, the American League and the National League. These two champions were the Boston Americans (now Boston Red Sox), who had repeated their 1903 American League championship, and the National League's New York Giants (now San Francisco Giants).

Background

Owing to business rivalry between the two leagues, especially in New York, and to personal animosity between Giants manager John McGraw and American League President Ban Johnson, the Giants declined to meet the champions of the "junior" or "minor" league. McGraw even said his Giants were already the World Champions since they were the champions of the "only real major league."

As early as July 5, 1904, as reported in Sporting Life, the Giants owner, John T. Brush, had stated publicly, and in defiance of a pre-season agreement for a World's Championship Series between the leagues, that his National League club would not play the winner of the American League "if each wins the pennant in its respective league".(The Scrapbook History of Baseball,Bobbs-Merrill,1975,p.57). At that point in the season, the Giants were comfortably on top of the NL standings, and the New York Yankees/Highlanders were just 1 1/2 games behind the Boston Americans.[1] The American League race went down to the wire, and the Highlanders temporarily took over first place on October 7 when they defeated Boston.[2] However, Boston won three of their four remaining contests and clinched the AL pennant. The Giants, who had won the NL by a wide margin, stuck to and broadened their plan, refusing to play any AL club, neither the champion Boston nor the cross-town New York team in a proposed exhibition series.(The Scrapbook History of Baseball,p.58).

Summary

Boston Americans

Boston had defeated National League champion Pittsburgh in the 1903 World series, a Series arranged by the two league champions, not by the leagues themselves.

New York Giants

The Giants maintained that the rules for the World Series were haphazardly defined. In the 1903 Series, as well as the 1880s Series' between the National League and the American Association, the rules for a given season's "World's Championship Series" had been whatever the two participating clubs had agreed upon. The World Series was not a compulsory event and was not governed by an authoritative body, thus the Giants were free to refuse to participate in such an event.

Stung by criticism from fans and writers, Brush in January 1905 drafted rules that both leagues adopted that winter. The rules compelled the two winning clubs to participate and governed the annual determination of sites, dates, ticket prices, and division of receipts. The rules essentially made the World Series the premier annual event of Major League Baseball.

Aftermath

Boston slumped in 1905, while New York repeated its NL championship and won the 1905 World Series against the Philadelphia Athletics. The Series has been played every year since except 1994, when the 232-day players' strike ended the season in mid-August.