1918 Boston Red Sox season
The 1918 Boston Red Sox season was the eighteenth season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished first in the American League (AL) with a record of 75 wins and 51 losses, in a season cut short due to World War I. The team then faced the National League (NL) champion Chicago Cubs in the 1918 World Series, which the Red Sox won in six games to capture the franchise's fifth World Series. This would be the last World Series championship for the Red Sox until 2004.
1918 Boston Red Sox | |
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1918 World Series Champions 1918 American League Champions | |
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Other information | |
Owner(s) | Harry Frazee |
Manager(s) | Ed Barrow |
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The season was first shortened to 140 games (instead of the usual 154) to show solidarity with soldiers. Then in July 1918, many rosters were ravaged by the draft. So the season was shortened by two more weeks to 126-127 games. While a season typically ends in late September or early October, this season ended on September 2, and the world series ended on September 11. World War I ended on November 11, 1918.
The Red Sox' pitching staff, led by Carl Mays and Bullet Joe Bush, allowed the fewest runs in the league. Babe Ruth was the fourth starter and also spent significant time in the outfield, as he was the best hitter on the team, leading the AL in home runs and slugging percentage.
Regular season
Season standings
American League | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
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Boston Red Sox | 75 | 51 | 0.595 | — | 49–21 | 26–30 |
Cleveland Indians | 73 | 54 | 0.575 | 2½ | 38–22 | 35–32 |
Washington Senators | 72 | 56 | 0.562 | 4 | 41–32 | 31–24 |
New York Yankees | 60 | 63 | 0.488 | 13½ | 37–29 | 23–34 |
St. Louis Browns | 58 | 64 | 0.475 | 15 | 23–30 | 35–34 |
Chicago White Sox | 57 | 67 | 0.460 | 17 | 30–26 | 27–41 |
Detroit Tigers | 55 | 71 | 0.437 | 20 | 28–29 | 27–42 |
Philadelphia Athletics | 52 | 76 | 0.406 | 24 | 35–32 | 17–44 |
Record vs. opponents
1918 American League Records Sources: | |||||||||||||
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Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHI | STL | WSH | |||||
Boston | — | 12–7 | 10–10 | 13–5 | 6–11 | 13–6 | 14–5 | 7–7 | |||||
Chicago | 7–12 | — | 10–11 | 6–10 | 12–6 | 11–10 | 5–5 | 6–13 | |||||
Cleveland | 10–10 | 11–10 | — | 10–3 | 11–7–1 | 13–7–1 | 10–6 | 8–11 | |||||
Detroit | 5–13 | 10–6 | 3–10 | — | 9–10–1 | 9–11 | 10–10 | 9–11–1 | |||||
New York | 11–6 | 6–12 | 7–11–1 | 10–9–1 | — | 8–4 | 10–10–1 | 8–11 | |||||
Philadelphia | 6–13 | 10–11 | 7–13–1 | 11–9 | 4–8 | — | 8–10 | 6–12–1 | |||||
St. Louis | 5–14 | 5–5 | 6–10 | 10–10 | 10–10–1 | 10–8 | — | 12–7 | |||||
Washington | 7–7 | 13–6 | 11–8 | 11–9–1 | 11–8 | 12–6–1 | 7–12 | — |
Opening Day lineup
Harry Hooper | RF |
Dave Shean | 2B |
Amos Strunk | CF |
Dick Hoblitzel | 1B |
Stuffy McInnis | 3B |
George Whiteman | LF |
Everett Scott | SS |
Sam Agnew | C |
Babe Ruth | P |
Roster
1918 Boston Red Sox | |||||||||
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Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers | Catchers
Infielders
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Outfielders
Other batters |
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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 |
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C | Sam Agnew | 72 | 199 | 33 | .166 | 0 | 6 |
1B | Stuffy McInnis | 117 | 423 | 115 | .272 | 0 | 56 |
2B | Dave Shean | 115 | 425 | 112 | .264 | 0 | 34 |
SS | Everett Scott | 126 | 443 | 98 | .221 | 0 | 43 |
3B | Fred Thomas | 44 | 144 | 37 | .257 | 1 | 11 |
OF | George Whiteman | 71 | 214 | 57 | .266 | 1 | 28 |
OF | Amos Strunk | 114 | 413 | 106 | .257 | 0 | 35 |
OF | Harry Hooper | 126 | 474 | 137 | .289 | 1 | 44 |
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 |
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Babe Ruth | 90 | 317 | 95 | .300 | 11 | 66 |
Wally Schang | 88 | 225 | 55 | .244 | 0 | 20 |
Dick Hoblitzel | 25 | 69 | 11 | .159 | 0 | 4 |
George Cochran | 24 | 60 | 7 | .117 | 0 | 3 |
Jack Stansbury | 20 | 47 | 6 | .128 | 0 | 2 |
Wally Mayer | 26 | 49 | 11 | .224 | 0 | 5 |
Jack Coffey | 15 | 44 | 7 | .159 | 1 | 2 |
Frank Truesdale | 15 | 36 | 10 | .278 | 0 | 2 |
Walter Barbare | 13 | 29 | 5 | .172 | 0 | 2 |
Hack Miller | 12 | 29 | 8 | .276 | 0 | 4 |
Heinie Wagner | 3 | 8 | 1 | .125 | 0 | 0 |
Eusebio González | 3 | 5 | 2 | .400 | 0 | 0 |
Red Bluhm | 1 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
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 |
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Carl Mays | 35 | 293.1 | 21 | 13 | 2.21 | 114 |
Joe Bush | 36 | 272.2 | 15 | 15 | 2.11 | 125 |
Sam Jones | 24 | 184 | 16 | 5 | 2.25 | 44 |
Babe Ruth | 20 | 166.1 | 13 | 7 | 2.22 | 40 |
Dutch Leonard | 16 | 125.2 | 8 | 6 | 2.72 | 47 |
Lore Bader | 5 | 27 | 1 | 3 | 3.33 | 10 |
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 |
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Jean Dubuc | 2 | 10.2 | 0 | 1 | 4.22 | 1 |
Dick McCabe | 3 | 9.2 | 0 | 1 | 2.79 | 3 |
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 |
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Walt Kinney | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.80 | 4 |
Vince Molyneaux | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.38 | 1 |
Bill Pertica | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.00 | 1 |
Weldon Wyckoff | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 |
Awards and honors
League top ten finishers
- #3 strikeouts (125)
- #5 earned run average (2.11)
- #3 runs scored (81)
- #3 wins (21)
- #5 strikeouts (114)
- #1 home runs (11)
- #1 slugging percentage (.555)
- #2 on-base percentage (.411)
- #3 runs batted in (66)
1918 World Series
AL Boston Red Sox (4) vs. NL Chicago Cubs (2)
Game | Score | Date | Location | Attendance |
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1 | Red Sox – 1, Cubs – 0 | September 5 | Comiskey Park | 19,274 |
2 | Red Sox – 1, Cubs – 3 | September 6 | Comiskey Park | 20,040 |
3 | Red Sox – 2, Cubs – 1 | September 7 | Comiskey Park | 27,054 |
4 | Cubs – 2, Red Sox – 3 | September 9 | Fenway Park | 22,183 |
5 | Cubs – 3, Red Sox – 0 | September 10 | Fenway Park | 24,694 |
6 | Cubs – 1, Red Sox – 2 | September 11 | Fenway Park | 15,238 |
External links
- 1918 Boston Red Sox team page at Baseball Reference
- 1918 Boston Red Sox season at baseball-almanac.com