 The Red Sox were one of the most successful teams in baseball from 1901 to 1918 . They won the inaugural World Series in 1903 ( as the Boston Americans ; the team changed its name to Red Sox in 1908 ) and four more between 1912 and 1918 . In 1901 , the Yankees , then known as the Baltimore Orioles , played in Maryland for two seasons before moving north . The two teams had their first meeting while the Yankees franchise was in Baltimore on April 26 , 1901 , the inaugural year of the American League . On May 7 , 1903 , both teams played for the first time after the franchise moved to New York and became the Highlanders , in reference to playing games in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan . The game was marked by a fight when Boston pitcher George Winter was knocked down . Boston would eventually go on to win the pennant and the inaugural 1903 World Series . The 1904 season featured the teams facing each other on opening day . Later in the season , the Highlanders , led by pitcher Jack Chesbro in his record @-@ setting 41 game @-@ winning season , met the Boston Americans in the season 's final game to decide the American League pennant winner . Chesbro threw a wild pitch in the top of the ninth inning , allowing the winning run to score from third base , and Boston won the game , and the pennant . The New York Giants , who had already clinched the National League pennant , refused to play in the 1904 World Series because of a perception of the " Junior Circuit " as being inferior ( and because of alleged animosity between American League founder and first president , Ban Johnson , and the hierarchy of the Giants , owner John T. Brush and his team 's Hall of Fame coach , player @-@ manager John McGraw ) ; thus , there was no World Series that year . Not until 2004 would the Red Sox again defeat the Yankees in a title @-@ deciding game . 
