Pittsburgh pitcher Sam Leever injured his shoulder while trap shooting, so his teammate Deacon Phillippe pitched five complete games.

"[1]: 138 Due to overflow crowds at the Exposition Park games in Allegheny City,[note 3] if a batted ball rolled under a rope in the outfield that held spectators back, a "ground-rule triple" would be scored.

Much was made of the influence of Boston's "Royal Rooters", who traveled to Exposition Park and sang their theme song "Tessie" to distract the opposing players (especially Wagner).

Johnson and fellow owners raided the National League and signed away many star players, including Cy Young and Jimmy Collins.

[1]: 105  However, Johnson had spoken of putting a team in Pittsburgh and even attempted to raid the Pirates' roster in August 1902, which soured Dreyfuss.

At the end of the season, however, the Pirates played a group of American League All-Stars in a four-game exhibition series, winning two games to one, with one tie.

The Boston outfield, featuring Chick Stahl (.274), Buck Freeman (.287, 104 RBI) and Patsy Dougherty (.331, 101 runs scored) was considered excellent.

16-game winner Ed Doheny left the team three days later, exhibiting signs of paranoia; he was committed to an insane asylum the following month.

[1]: 124  The teams were generally thought to be evenly matched, with the Americans credited with stronger pitching and the Pirates with superior offense and fielding.

Pittsburgh starter Sam Leever went 1 inning and gave up three hits and two runs, before his ailing arm forced him to leave in favor of Bucky Veil, who finished the game.

The Americans' Patsy Dougherty led off the Boston scoring with an inside-the-park home run, the first time a lead-off batter did just that until Alcides Escobar of the Kansas City Royals duplicated the feat in the 2015 World Series, 112 years later.

Dougherty's second home run was the first in World Series history to actually sail over the fence, an incredibly rare feat at the time.

The comeback attempt failed, as Phillippe managed to put an end to it and give the Pirates a commanding 3–1 series lead.

Game 5 was a pitcher's duel for the first five innings, with Boston's Cy Young and Pittsburgh's Brickyard Kennedy giving up no runs.

The final game of this inaugural World Series started out as an intense pitcher's duel, scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when Hobe Ferris hit a two-run single.

As he did in Game 2, Dinneen threw a complete-game shutout, striking out seven and leading his Americans to victory, while Phillippe pitched respectably but could not match Dinneen because his arm had been worn out with five starts in the eight games, giving up three runs to give the first 20th-century World Championship to the Boston Americans, Honus Wagner striking out to end the Series.