This Day in Sports Business History October 1

On October 1, 1903, the first modern World Series game was played between the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League and the Boston Americans (later known as the Red Sox) of the American League. Held at Boston’s Huntington Avenue Grounds, this best-of-nine series was the result of an agreement to settle the growing rivalry between the established National League and the upstart American League, which had begun just two years earlier. The Pirates, led by Honus Wagner, won the opener 7–3, but the larger impact was the establishment of a championship format that brought together the two leagues, creating a new commercial and cultural tradition in American sports. The series drew significant crowds for the time, with more than 100,000 fans attending across the eight games, generating gate receipts that demonstrated baseball’s potential as a lucrative national business enterprise