The New York Highlanders' 1903 season was the team's first. The team was founded as a replacement in the American League for the defunct Baltimore Orioles, was managed by Clark Griffith and played its home games at Hilltop Park (formally "American League Park"). The club was at first officially the "Greater New York" baseball club, in deference to the established New York Giants, which were based in the Polo Grounds. This was the first season for the franchise that would be later known as the now-storied New York Yankees. They finished in 4th place in the AL with a record of 72–62.
Team name The media dubbed the team as "Highlanders", due in part to playing at one of the highest points on Manhattan ("The Hilltop"), which was somewhat higher in altitude than the bulk of Manhattan and was considerably "uphill" from the Polo Grounds, the Giants' established home, which sat in the bottomland in Coogan's Hollow, a few blocks east and south of the Hilltop.
"Highlanders" was also originally short for "Gordon's Highlanders", a play on the name of the team President during 1903–1906, Joseph Gordon, along with the noted British military unit called The Gordon Highlanders. The club was also derisively called "Invaders" in 1903, presumably by writers favorable to the Giants.
The New York press was creative with analogous nicknames for teams. In addition to "Highlanders", the team would soon acquire the alternate nickname "Yankees", the name that would soon become official and more famous among baseball fans in the coming decades. That word is a synonym for "American" in general, and short for American Leaguers or "Americans" in this case. Given the media's penchant for citing popular culture, that nickname was also possibly influenced by the then-current and hugely popular America-centric George M. Cohan Broadway play, "Little Johnny Jones", and its centerpiece song, "Yankee Doodle Dandy". New York writers had similarly coined both the established nickname Brooklyn "[Trolley] Dodgers" and the nickname "Superbas" that the denizens of Flatbush carried for a while. As with the Highlanders, the latter was based on something unrelated, namely a circus act called "Hanlon's Superbas"; the Dodgers were managed by Ned Hanlon at that time.
Offseason Prior to 1903 season: Jack O'Connor jumped to the Highlanders from the Pittsburgh Pirates.Jack O'Connor page at Baseball Reference
Regular season
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Roster
1903 New York Highlanders Roster Pitchers Catchers
Infielders Outfielders Manager
Player stats
Batting
Starters by position Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI C 82 258 50 .194 0 29 1B 129 476 132 .277 3 71 2B 132 502 134 .267 3 82 3B 126 503 137 .272 1 45 SS 90 349 100 .287 0 45 OF 132 512 160 .313 0 32 OF 103 362 88 .243 5 45 OF 104 372 88 .237 0 25
Other batters Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI 79 295 66 .224 0 25 64 212 43 .203 0 12 22 80 15 .188 0 8 25 79 21 .266 1 8 6 19 1 .053 0 1 7 16 5 .313 0 1 4 13 4 .308 0 0 2 8 1 .125 0 0 1 0 0 ---- 0 0
Pitching
Starting pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO 40 324.2 21 15 2.77 147 32 239.2 15 15 3.27 106 25 213.0 14 11 2.70 69 20 148.1 6 9 2.97 48 9 60.0 4 3 3.75 14 4 25.0 0 3 5.40 6 1 2.0 0 0 9.00 0
Other pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO 25 155.2 9 6 3.53 62 3 19.0 2 0 0.95 8 2 7.0 0 0 7.71 0
Relief pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G W L SV ERA SO 1 1 0 0 0.00 3
Notes
References 1903 New York Highlanders team page at Baseball Reference 1903 New York Highlanders team page at www.baseball-almanac.com