Managed by Harry Wright, Cincinnati adopted a uniform with white knickers and red stockings and earned the famous nickname, a year or two before hiring the first fully professional team in 1869.

Newspaper writers of the time used other nicknames for the club, including "Somersets" (for owner Charles Somers), "Plymouth Rocks", "Beaneaters", the "Collinsites" (for manager Jimmy Collins)", and "Pilgrims".

[21] The name shown on a door near the main entrance to Fenway Park, "Boston American League Baseball Company",[22] was used prior to the team's reorganization as a limited partnership on May 26, 1978.

[51][52] Anchored by an outfield including Tris Speaker, Harry Hooper and Duffy Lewis, and pitcher Smoky Joe Wood, the Red Sox beat the New York Giants 4–3–1 in the 1912 World Series best known for Snodgrass's Muff.

[77] In the December 1920, Wally Schang, Waite Hoyt, Harry Harper and Mike McNally were traded to the Yankees for Del Pratt, Muddy Ruel, Hank Thormahlen, Sammy Vick.

Curiously, manager Joseph McCarthy chose journeyman Denny Galehouse to start the playoff game when the young lefty phenom Mel Parnell was available to pitch.

Williams retired at the end of the 1960 season, famously hitting a home run in his final at-bat as memorialized in the John Updike story "Hub fans bid Kid adieu."

He was named the league's Most Valuable Player, just one vote shy of a unanimous selection as a Minnesota sportswriter placed Twins center fielder César Tovar first on his ballot.

He was struck just above the left cheek bone by a fastball thrown by Jack Hamilton of the California Angels on Friday, August 18, 1967, and sat out the entire next season with headaches and blurred vision.

In the top of the 11th inning, right fielder Dwight Evans made a spectacular catch of a Joe Morgan line drive and doubled off Ken Griffey at first base to preserve the tie.

The game went to extra innings, where the Red Sox took a 5–3 lead in the top of the 10th on a solo home run by Henderson, a double by Boggs and an RBI single by second baseman Marty Barrett.

The Red Sox could not score off Mariano Rivera over the last three innings and eventually lost the game 6–5 when Yankee third baseman Aaron Boone hit a solo home run off Tim Wakefield.

Some placed the blame for the loss on manager Grady Little[117] for failing to remove starting pitcher Martínez in the 8th inning after some observers believe he began to show signs of tiring.

The Red Sox joined the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1975 New York Islanders as the only North American professional sports teams in history at the time to win a best-of-seven games series after being down 3–0.

To add a final, surreal touch to Boston's championship season, on the night of Game 4 a total lunar eclipse colored the moon red over Busch Stadium.

On November 14, MLB announced that Boston had won the bid for the rights to negotiate a contract with Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball superstar pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Manager Terry Francona refused to bench him and his patience paid off as Pedroia eventually won the AL Rookie of the Year Award for his performance that season, which included 165 hits and a .317 batting average.

On the mound, Josh Beckett emerged as the ace of the staff with his first 20-win season, as fellow starting pitchers Schilling, Matsuzaka, Wakefield and Julián Tavárez all struggled at times.

Down the stretch, outfielder Manny Ramirez became embroiled in controversy surrounding public incidents with fellow players and other team employees, as well as criticism of ownership and not playing, which some claimed was due to laziness and nonexistent injuries.

The front office decided to move the disgruntled outfielder at the July 31 trade deadline, shipping him to the Dodgers in a three-way deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates that landed them Jason Bay to replace him in left field.

On April 20, the day after the alleged bombers were captured, David Ortiz gave a pre-game speech following a ceremony honoring the victims and the local law enforcement, in which he stated, "This is our fucking city!

Following their victory in the 2013 World Series, the first one clinched at home in Fenway Park since 1918, Red Sox players Jonny Gomes and Jarrod Saltalamacchia performed a ceremony during the team's traditional duck boat victory parade, in which they placed the World Series trophy and the custom 617 jersey on the Boston Marathon finish line on Boylston Street, followed by a moment of silence and the singing of "God Bless America".

[137] The Red Sox finished with a 108–54 (.667) record, winning the American League East division title for the third consecutive season, eight games ahead of the second-place New York Yankees,[138] and were the first team to clinch a berth in the 2018 postseason.

[153] On February 10, a trade of Mookie Betts and David Price to the Los Angeles Dodgers was made official,[154] in a move seen as a salary dump by analysts,[155] although denied by Red Sox executives.

Several local television stations, including the original WHDH-TV, WNAC-TV (now the current WHDH), WBZ-TV, WSBK-TV, WLVI, WABU, and WFXT, broadcast Red Sox games prior to 2006, when NESN became the exclusive home of the team.

[200] The tune saw a resurgence in popularity when a new version by Boston area band The Dropkick Murphys was featured in the 2005 film Fever Pitch, which tells the story of an obsessive Red Sox fan.

In commemoration of Jackie Robinson Day, MLB invited players to wear the number 42 for games played on April 15, which Coco Crisp (CF), David Ortiz (DH), and DeMarlo Hale (Coach) did in 2007 and again in 2008.

[215][216] Nonetheless, since Conigliaro's last full season in Boston, 1970, the number has never been taken out of circulation and issued to multiple players—notably Troy O'Leary from 1995 to 2001—along with coach Dwight Evans in 2002 and manager Bobby Valentine in 2012.

Luis Aparicio Adrián Beltré Wade Boggs * Lou Boudreau Jesse Burkett Orlando Cepeda Jack Chesbro Jimmy Collins * Joe Cronin *Andre Dawson Bobby Doerr * Dennis Eckersley Rick Ferrell * Carlton Fisk Jimmie Foxx Lefty Grove Rickey Henderson Harry Hooper * Waite Hoyt Ferguson Jenkins George Kell Heinie Manush Juan Marichal Pedro Martínez * Joe McCarthy David Ortiz * Herb Pennock Tony Pérez Jim Rice * Red Ruffing Babe Ruth Tom Seaver Al Simmons Lee Smith John Smoltz Tris Speaker Billy Wagner Dick Williams Ted Williams * Carl Yastrzemski * Tom Yawkey * Cy Young Joe Castiglione Curt Gowdy Bob Murphy Ken Harrelson Several baseball writers, professionally based in Boston while writing about the Red Sox, have been recipients of the BBWAA Career Excellence Award (formerly the J. G. Taylor Spink Award), given for "meritorious contributions to baseball writing".

On October 8, 2018, Brock Holt became the first player in MLB history to hit for the cycle in the postseason, doing so in a 16–1 win over the New York Yankees in Game 3 of the 2018 American League Division Series.