Alternative Sport Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Major League Baseball
Current season, competition or edition:
File:Baseball current event.svg 1955 Major League Baseball season
Sport Baseball
Founded 1903; 121 years ago (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

^ - 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

Template:MLB Template:Professional Baseball

Advertisement