It's down to the wire. The Tigers have secured their spot, as the Mets continue to face off against the Cardinals.
As these last three teams battle it out on the field, fans of the sport often reflect on the years before...the years before the Red Sox won it again, the years before contract negotiations could get in the way of the game.
This year tragedy has again touched the championship race, with the recent plane crash involving Cory Lidle. Questions were raised as to whether the games should be postponed as they were after 911. But the lessons learned after that disaster proved that the game must go on. Baseball has once again stood to show that through all the trials and tribulations we face, sports are always there to help us rise up again.
The World Series is the pinnacle trophy in the race for the baseball post-season championship. As American as apple pie served on Thanksgiving Day, this best-of-seven contest has won the hearts of millions of viewers since it’s inception in 1903.
Though there were many versions before the 1903 “Fall Classic,” the term first showed up in the 1880s referring to The World’s Championship Series. The two major components of Major League Baseball today, the National and American Leagues, were not always present.
The National League was established in 1867. The American League was created 25 years later, and is often called the Junior Circuit because it was elevated to major league status in 1901. It was originally the Western League, a minor league in the great lakes area that challenged the monopoly of The National League in 1899 by changing its name and declaring itself a major league two years later. Major League Baseball today views the events in the 19th century as a prologue to the modern era.
In 1904, the second year of the match ups, there was no World Series. Because of the American League’s upstart status, the owner of the New York Giants to refuse to play the AL’s Boston Americans since he viewed them as inferior. There were also issues with the way the money was split.
Though it is called a “world” series, it is only comprised of the two U.S. leagues and Toronto. There is some speculation about where the name came from, a myth that is was sponsored by the New York World newspaper circulates, but has never been proven. The 1880s saw the first use of the World Championship Series, and it has persisted.
In 90 years there have been no other challenges by other leagues. Most if not all of the best players in the world play on the Major League’s rosters. The Japanese are a big contenders, when occasionally winter games are played against the other best leagues and their players around the world. However, no meaningful attempts to pit the United States against Japan or Latin American have stuck.
The Olympics have dropped baseball from the summer games as a medal sport. In fact, in 2004 there was no U.S. team as none qualified in the early try outs. Early in 2006 The World Baseball Classic was started as a response to this cancellation, to prove that it is truly a world pastime, and not just a national favorite.
Over the years a number of major adjustments have taken place that made baseball what it is today. Technology has affected the game, and so has wartime. In 1918, the entire series was played in September because of WWI. This was also the last year without a home run. And the attacks of September 11 caused the series to be pushed back to November.
The addition of lights changed when the game was played as well. 1949 was the first year that the game was finished after dark, due to artificial lights on the field. It wasn’t until 1971 that the first game was scheduled at night, and 1985 before the first series was played entirely at night.
In 1970, the first artificial turf was introduced, and 1987 saw the first indoor series game. 1991 was another first, as both series participants had finished last in their division the year before, the Minnesota Twins and the Atlanta Braves.
The Perfect Game was played in 1956: New York Yankee Don Larsen pitched the first perfect game in World Series history in 1956. By shutting down every batter the Brooklyn Dodgers pitted against him, he also set the record for the first no-hitter in baseball history. That game remains the only no-hitter in postseason baseball.
With teams like the Yankees to contend with, who have won 26 series while no one else has won more than nine, the World Series continues to be a championship that inspires devotion and excitement each year.
