Current season, competition or edition: File:Baseball current event.svg 1955 Major League Baseball season | |
Sport | Baseball |
---|---|
Founded | 1903 (National League, 1876) (American League, 1901) |
No. of teams | 14 |
Countries | United States (16 teams) |
Headquarters | New York City, New York, United States |
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization that began in 1903 when the American League and National League merged to form one league. A total of 14 teams play in the league with all of them being in the United States.
Teams
Team | City | Founded | Joined |
---|---|---|---|
American League | |||
St. Louis Browns | St. Louis, Missouri | 1901* | |
New York Yankees | New York City, New York | 1901* | |
Chicago White Sox | Chicago, Illinois | 1901 | |
Cleveland Indians | Cleveland, Ohio | 1901 | |
Detroit Tigers | Detroit, Michigan | 1901 | |
Washington Senators | Washington, Washington DC | 1901 | |
Philadelphia Athletics | Philadelphia, California | 1901 | |
Indianapolis Hoosiers | Indianapolis, Indiana | 1932 | |
National League | |||
Boston Braves | Boston, Massachusetts | 1871* (NA) | 1876 (NL) |
Chicago Cubs | Chicago, Illinois | 1874 (NA) | 1876 (NL) |
Cincinnati Reds | Cincinnati, Ohio | 1882 (AA) | 1890 (NL) |
Philadelphia Phillies | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | 1883^ | |
Pittsburgh Pirates | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | 1882 (AA) | 1887 (NL) |
St. Louis Cardinals | St. Louis, Missouri | 1882 (AA) | 1892 (NL) |
Brooklyn Dodgers | Brooklyn, New York | 1884* (AA) | 1890 (NL) |
New York Giants | New York City, New York | 1883* |
Defunct teams | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | City | Years active | |||
Boston Red Sox | Boston, Massachusetts | 1903–1919 |
^ - The Phillies wern't part of the league between 1920 and 1932.
History
Founding
In 1901, the war between the AL and the NL kickstarted when four teams was dropped in the National Legaue (NL) which sparked out a war between the two federations in trying to keep the unity in baseball around North East America. This war which would last a whole year would finish in 1902 when NL and the AL (American League) decided to merge their leagues into one with what would be called a World Series at the post end of the season. In the first few seasons, the National League dominated the American League as they won seven of the first nine editions of the World Series with only the 1906 edition being a victory to the AL as the Chicago White Sox won the World Series 4-1 over fellow Chicago team the Cubs. During the run, the New York Giants became the first team to win back to back tournaments when they took out the 1904 and 1905 World Series before Chicago won the next three editions of the Series.
In 1911, the Philadelphia Athletics would win their first World Series as their main man in Cy Young who would become a famous pitcher for his heroics in the World Series which saw two shutouts of the Cubs. This, as well as the introduction of the foul-ball being strikes rule, saw runs plummet to record lows in what would be the called the dead ball era. The following year would see the Boston Red Sox win the World Series for the first time. This World Series would be significant as Game 2 of the series would see it go to a second day after it was called for bad light after 12 innings with the scores all tied up at 6-6. After another two innings, Larry Gardner hit the winning run to give Boston the game and what would be a critical win.
Dead-ball era
With America being neutral during the first World War, baseball started to rise in popularly with the Boston Braves winning their first World Series over the defending champions. In 1915, the Federal League was held for that single season with St Louis taking out the pennant but they weren't allowed in the World Series because of the American and National League agreement to not have any other major leagues being in the World Series which would be won by Boston as they would defend the title in the following year. The year after that, they would become the first team to win three World Series in a row after they defeated New York in the sixth game of the series as it would later be the last trophy that the team would win following on from the "Black Sox" scandal which would have the team fold in 1920 because of the scandal.
In the final season of the so-called dead-ball era, it was the Cincinnati Reds who would take out the World Series as they won the sixth game of a nine-game series to record their first MLB title. With the removal of the Boston Red Sox's because of the "Black Sox" scandal, this meant that there was an odd number of teams for the season. After a discussion which took over three hours it was said to drop the Philadelphia Phillies from the MLB for the 1920 season in which the Cleveland Indians would take home their first World Series by winning 5-2 in the nine-game series.
Baseball becomes popular
The 1921 season saw crowds starting to rise in popularity with the normal American which would see one of those games. It also saw the rise of the New York Giants who would win two consecutive World Series between 1921 and 1922 against their rivals in the New York Yankees. In 1923, the Yankees would get revenge as they dominated the 1923 World Series as they won the series 4-1 in the first of many series that had the World Series set to seven games which is what it currently is to today. Washington Senators would take the next two World Series titles as they defeated the Giants and the Pittsburgh Pirates. 1926 would see Cincinnati Reds take out their first World Series with Bubbles Hargrave being their main man going at .355 batting average as they won their first World Series in the team's history.
After the New York Yankees won the following two World Series in a clean sweep, the Philadelphia Athletics would take out the next two series. In 1931, talks started to appear on bringing the lead back up to 16 with the introduction of the Indianapolis Giants and bringing back the Philadelphia Phillies. For New York, they didn't want another team having their same name as that team. The talk would still see them joining the league with the Phillies with the team becoming the Indianapolis Hoosiers which had competed in the Federal League in 1914-15. In their debut season, they would struggle to deliver as both teams fell to the bottom of their respective division.
The Great Depression though would stop the tracks and with the 1932 season seeing lower numbers than the previous seasons. Despite the Giants getting the National League first World Series in six years, finances for the teams were diminishing with players having to have a pay-cut as they tried to stay afloat by any means necessary. Throughout the seven years before World War II, none of the MLB teams moved or folded through that time but there were talks on a possible merger with Boston and Philadelphia being the main areas of interest but nothing would happen.
World War II
Winners
Year | Winning team | Games | Losing team |
---|---|---|---|
1903 | Pittsburgh Pirates (NL) | 5-4 | Boston Americans (AL) |
1904 | New York Giants (NL) | 4-0 | Boston Americans (AL) |
1905 | New York Giants (NL) | 4-0 | Chicago White Sox (AL) |
1906 | Chicago White Sox (AL) | 4-1 | Chicago Cubs (NL) |
1907 | Chicago Cubs (NL) | 4-0 | Detroit Tigers (AL) |
1908 | Chicago Cubs (NL) | 4-0 | Cleveland Naps (AL) |
1909 | Pittsburgh Pirates (NL) | 4-3 | Detroit Tigers (AL) |
1910 | Philadelphia Athletics (AL) | 4-1 | Chicago Cubs (NL) |
1911 | Philadelphia Athletics (AL) | 4-2 | New York Giants (NL) |
1912 | Boston Red Sox (AL) | 4-2 | New York Giants (NL) |
1913 | Philadelphia Athletics (AL) | 4-0 | New York Giants (NL) |
1914 | Boston Braves (NL) | 4-1 | Philadelphia Athletics (AL) |
1915 | Boston Red Sox (AL) | 4-0 | New York Giants (NL) |
1916 | Boston Red Sox (AL) | 4-1 | Brooklyn Robins (NL) |
1917 | Boston Red Sox (AL) | 4-1 | New York Giants (NL) |
1918 | Chicago Cubs (NL) | 4-2 | Boston Red Sox (AL) |
1919 | Chicago Cubs (NL) | 5-1 | Chicago White Sox (AL) |
1920 | Cleveland Indians (AL) | 5-2 | Brooklyn Robins (NL) |
1921 | New York Giants (NL) | 5-2 | New York Yankees (AL) |
1922 | New York Giants (NL) | 5-0 | New York Yankees (AL) |
1923 | New York Yankees (AL) | 4-1 | New York Giants (NL) |
1924 | Washington Senators (AL) | 4-2 | Brooklyn Robins (NL) |
1925 | Washington Senators (AL) | 4-2 | Pittsburgh Pirates (NL) |
1926 | Cincinnati Reds (NL) | 4-3 | New York Yankees (AL) |
1927 | New York Yankees (AL) | 4-0 | Pittsburgh Pirates (NL) |
1928 | New York Yankees (AL) | 4-0 | St. Louis Cardinals (NL) |
1929 | Philadelphia Athletics (AL) | 4-1 | Chicago Cubs (NL) |
1930 | Philadelphia Athletics (AL) | 4-3 | St. Louis Cardinals (NL) |
1931 | Philadelphia Athletics (AL) | 4-2 | St. Louis Cardinals (NL) |
1932 | New York Yankees (AL) | 4-0 | Chicago Cubs (NL) |
1933 | New York Giants (NL) | 4-2 | Washington Senators (AL) |
1934 | New York Giants (NL) | 4-3 | Detroit Tigers (AL) |
1935 | Detroit Tigers (AL) | 4-1 | Chicago Cubs (NL) |
1936 | New York Yankees (AL) | 4-1 | New York Giants (NL) |
1937 | New York Yankees (AL) | 4-1 | New York Giants (NL) |
1938 | New York Yankees (AL) | 4-0 | Pittsburgh Pirates (NL) |
1939 | New York Yankees (AL) | 4-0 | Cincinnati Reds (NL) |
External Links
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