When the calendar flipped to 2018, it ushered in the 148th consecutive season of professional baseball in Boston! 
Boston’s 148 consecutive seasons are the most in major league baseball—in fact the most in the world. Chicago is second with 146 consecutive seasons, and we can thank Mrs. O’Leary’s cow for shutting down Chicago baseball in 1872, leaving us with the world record. From 1871 to 1900, the Boston Red Stockings/Beaneaters were the dominant team in professional baseball. Then in 1901 the Boston Nationals—who became the Braves in 1912—were joined by the Boston Americans—who became the Red Sox in 1908. The two teams fought for fans’ affections for the next 52 seasons until the Braves waved the white flag of surrender and moved to Milwaukee for the 1953 season.
In the first two decades of the twentieth century Boston continued as baseball’s capital. During this time the Red Sox won five World Championships and the 1914 Miracle Braves won another.
The sale of some fellow named “Ruth” after the 1919 season kicked off two dismal decades of baseball in Boston. But the arrival of another fellow named “Williams” in 1939 kicked off a resurgence of interest.
In 1946 the Red Sox carried the St. Louis Cardinals to a seven game World Series. And in 1948 the Braves won the NL pennant while the Red Sox tied the Indians for the AL pennant. A disappointing Red Sox playoff loss to the Indians spoiled the city’s chance for a subway series and the Braves fell to the Indians in a six-game World Series.
The Red Sox bottomed-out with 90 losses and a ninth place finish in 1966, while average attendance fell to 10,000 fans per game. But the 1967 Impossible Dream team overcame 100-1 odds to win the AL pennant on the last day of the season and baseball fever returned to New England.
Seven-game defeats in the 1967, 1975, and 1986 World Series only seemed to stoke the passion of Red Sox fans. When the 2004 Red Sox staged one of the great comebacks in sports history by defeating the New York Yankees and then sweeping the Cardinals in the World Series, Red Sox Nation was in full-flower.
World Series wins in 2007 and the improbable 2013 World Championship reminds us that Boston baseball dominates the first two decades of every century!
And the challenge of going deep into the postseason ensures that the 2018 Red Sox season will give us another very exciting year!
And we have to be grateful – in spite of the Braves’ leaving Boston in 1953 without much fanfare, the Atlanta Braves still recognize their long Boston heritage and their short Milwaukee history, too. Some MLB clubs DON’T.
LOVED THIS ARTICLE I REMEMBER THE BOSTON BRAVES AND BRAVES FIELD !! MY DAD & I SWITCHED OUR ALLEGIANCE TO THE RED SOX THERE & tHEN! WE PLAYED BALL IN tHE sIDE YARD WE HAVE IDENTICAL FINGER FRACTURES TO pROVE IT!
IaLSO REMEMBER THE OLD “SKY BOXES” AT FENWAY ON THE FIRST BASE SIDE. MY AUNT AND I ENJOYED MY FIRST PRO GAME EVAH FROM tHERE! WE WERE ABLE TO DRINK OUR CC AND ALSO! SHE rEMEMBERS TED WILLIAMS PLAYING! MY DAD REMEMBERS HIM IN WWII pROUD TO SERVE aS HE DID! THX AGAIN FOR THE HISTORY!! ELEANOR M. TATRO AGE 78!!!
Thanks Eleanor for those great memories!