The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball
team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and are the reigning 2007
World Series Champions. The Red Sox are a member and current champions
of both the Major League Baseballs American League Eastern
Division and of the American League itself. From 1912 to the present,
the Red Sox have played in Fenway Park.
The "Red Sox" name originates
from the iconic uniform feature. They are sometimes nicknamed
the BoSox, a combination of "Boston" and "Sox"
(as opposed to the "ChiSox", or the lesser-known "PawSox"),
the Crimson Hose, and the Olde Towne Team.
One of the American League's eight charter
franchises, the club was founded in Boston in 1901. They were
a dominant team in the early 20th century, defeating the Pittsburgh
Pirates in the first World Series in 1903. They won four more
championships by 1918, and then went into one of the longest championship
droughts in baseball history. Many attributed the phenomenon to
the "Curse of the Bambino" said to have been caused
by the trade of Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1920. The
drought was ended and the "curse" reversed in 2004,
when the team won their sixth World Series Championship.
The Red Sox led all MLB teams in average
road attendance in 2007, while the small capacity of Fenway caused
them to rank 11th in home attendance. Every home game since May
15, 2003 has been sold outa span of over four years.