1901 Boston Americans season

1901 Boston Americans
Ballpark	Huntington Avenue Grounds
City	Boston, Massachusetts
Owners	Charles Somers
Managers	Jimmy Collins

The 1901 Boston Americans season was the first season for the professional baseball franchise that later became known as the Boston Red Sox, and the first season of play for the American League (AL). It resulted in the Americans finishing second in the AL with a record of 79 wins and 57 losses, four games behind the Chicago White Stockings.

The team was managed by Jimmy Collins and played its home games at Huntington Avenue Grounds.

Season summary

Team picture of the 1901 Boston Americans

The Americans were led by Buck Freeman, who hit 12 home runs and drove in 114 runs while leading the team with a .339 average. Their longest winning streak of the season came between June 14 and 22 when they defeated the Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Stockings, and Cleveland Blues until succumbing on the 23rd to the Blues. Their longest losing streak was between May 11 and 16, when they fell to the Washington Senators and Baltimore Orioles, until defeating the O's on May 17.

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Chicago White Stockings	83	53	0.610	—	49–21	34–32
Boston Americans	79	57	0.581	4	49–20	30–37
Detroit Tigers	74	61	0.548	8½	42–27	32–34
Philadelphia Athletics	74	62	0.544	9	42–24	32–38
Baltimore Orioles	68	65	0.511	13½	40–25	28–40
Washington Senators	61	72	0.459	20½	31–35	30–37
Cleveland Blues	54	82	0.397	29	28–39	26–43
Milwaukee Brewers	48	89	0.350	35½	32–37	16–52

Record vs. opponents

1901 American League record Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team	BAL	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	MIL	PHA	WSH
Baltimore	—	9–9	4–14–1	11–9	9–10	12–7–1	12–8	11–8
Boston	9–9	—	12–8	12–6	9–11–1	15–5	10–10	12–8–1
Chicago	14–4–1	8–12	—	13–7	10–10	16–4	12–8	10–8
Cleveland	9–11	6–12	7–13	—	6–14	11–9	6–14	9–9–2
Detroit	10–9	11–9–1	10–10	14–6	—	13–7	7–9	9–11
Milwaukee	7–12–1	5–15	4–16	9–11	7–13	—	6–14	10–8–1
Philadelphia	8–12	10–10	8–12	14–6	9–7	14–6	—	11–9–1
Washington	8–11	8–12–1	8–10	9–9–2	11–9	8–10–1	9–11–1	—

Opening Day lineup

Tommy Dowd	LF
Charlie Hemphill	RF
Chick Stahl	CF
Jimmy Collins	3B
Buck Freeman	1B
Freddy Parent	SS
Hobe Ferris	2B
Lou Criger	C
Win Kellum	P

Game log

Past Games Legend
Red Sox Win (#bfb)	Red Sox Loss (#fbb)	Game Postponed (#bbb)	Clinched Playoff Spot (#039)	Clinched Division (#090)
Boldface text denotes a Red Sox pitcher

Boston Americans 1901 Season Game Log — Season Record: (79–57)
April (1–3) # Date Time (ET) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Stadium Attendance Record Box/ Streak 1 April 26 Baltimore 6-10 0-1 2 April 27 Baltimore 6-12 0-2 3 April 29 @ Philadelphia 5-8 0-3 4 April 30 @ Philadelphia 8-6 1-3
May (0–0) # Date Time (ET) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Stadium Attendance Record Box/ Streak 5 May 1 Philadelphia 1-14 6 May 2 Philadelphia 23-12

National League
Opponent	Home	Away	Total	Pct.	Runs scored	Runs allowed
Pittsburgh Pirates	0–0	0–0	0–2	–	18	15
Philadelphia Phillies	0–0	0–0	0–0	–	0	0
Brooklyn Superbas	0–0	0–0	0–0	–	0	0
St. Louis Cardinals	0–0	–	0–0	–	0	0
Chicago Orphans	0–0	0–0	0–0	–	0	0
New York Giants	0–0	0–0	0–0	–	0	0
Cincinnati Reds	0–0	0–0	0–0	–	0	0
	0–0	0–0	0–0	–	0	0

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
1B	Buck Freeman	129	490	166	.339	12	114
3B	Jimmy Collins	138	564	187	.332	6	94

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Ben Beville	2	9	0	2	4.00	1

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO

References

• 1901 Boston Americans team page at Baseball Reference
• 1901 Boston Americans season at baseball-almanac.com