Following the death of George Dovey in Ohio in mid-1909, younger brother John took over the business of running their new baseball franchise the Boston Doves. But John simply wasn't cut out to own a sports team. He had gone into the business at the behest of his older brother, and with him gone, he saw little point in keeping the team. And so he sold it to William Russell and a group of Boston, Massachusetts businessmen. They played through the 1910 season as the Doves, and then were renamed the Rustlers by the Boston press - like the last change, a tribute to the new owner.

The 1911 Boston team was for the most part a repeat of the 1910 squad, with stalwart shortstop Bill Sweeny and outfielder Doc Miller leading the offense, and one-two punch of Buster Brown and Al Mattern coming off the mound. Yet Russell felt this wasn't sufficient enough, and brought back two former Boston stars to help lead the team: first baseman-manager Fred Tenney and baseball's all-time workhorse, Cy Young.

Unfortunately, the Rustlers fared even worse than they had the year prior, despite these nominal revisions. Even at 39, Tenney batted a respectable .263, and Doc Miller led the club with 7 clouts and a .333 average, but injuries riddled the lineup - only 4 starters managed to play even 100 games during the season. The team never struggled to hit, but never could seem to score, finishing first in the league in hits but fourth in runs scored.

But any chance of the offense being the weakest link was laid to rest by the abominable pitching by the entire Boston staff. No starter finished with a winning record, and the team's 5.08 ERA was dead last in the league, nearly a run and a half more than the 7th place finisher. In the end, the team managed to finish first in only one category - losses, with a whopping 44-107 record.

On November 25 of that year, unfortunately, William Russell passed away, and the remaining businessmen elected to change the team name one more time. Many of them were members of Tammany Hall, a political society that dressed up like Native Americans for special ceremonies. In honor of that organization, they chose the name "Braves" - one that would stick with the team all the way through their move to Milwaukee, and finally to Atlanta, where they remain to this day.

Team Index
Boston Red Sox | Boston Somersets