Each year, the primary focus in any professional sport is the race for a championship. Every sport has their pinnacle trophy, but none is as coveted as baseball's World Series; a best of seven contest that celebrates our national pastime. An event as important as any holiday on the calendar, it is as traditional as Thanksgiving, as patriotic as the Fourth of July and as anticipated as Christmas morning. Over the last century, the World Series has been woven into the fabric of America's culture evolving far beyond a mere baseball tournament. It has become the game of all games and has continued to provide us with an endless highlight reel of magical moments evoking childhood memories of agony and ecstasy.
How would one define the World Series? It's Willie Mays catching what can't be caught and Don Larsen being perfect where perfection is simply not possible. It's Babe Ruth telling the fans and media where he is going to deposit the next pitch and a heavily outscored team of Pirates beating the unbeatable Yankees off a ninth inning Bill Mazeroski blast. The World Series is the crushing blow of Fred Snodgrass dropping a routine fly ball and Willie McCovey hitting the final out straight to Bobby Richardson. It's the Curse of the Bambino, when loyal Red Sox fans live their entire lives without witnessing a championship and when Yankees fans witness four in five years...
Although the World Series as we know it didn't begin until 1905, Major League Baseball had several versions of a post-season championship series before that. In 1884, the Providence Grays of the National League outplayed the New York Metropolitan Club of the American Association in a three game series for what was originally called "The Championship of the United States." Several newspapers penned the Grays as "World Champions" and the new title stuck. Over the next six years, different variations took place between the National League and American Association pennant-winners, ranging in length from six to fifteen games. The American Association folded unexpectedly after the 1891 season forcing a suspension of the series. The following year, the National League absorbed four of the American Association's former franchises and expanded to twelve teams in an effort to promote the growth of baseball and maintain the public's interest. They played a split season in which the first-half winner played the second-half winner for the league championship. Many fans did not support the new system and the split season was promptly dropped in 1893.
In 1894, Pittsburgh's owner William C. Temple offered a championship trophy to the winner of a best-of-seven-game series between the National League's first and second-place teams. addition, he stated that the winning franchise would receive 65% of all ticket sales and the losing team would pocket 35%. Temple's novel idea would last for the next three years and helped to build the foundation for baseball's post-season popularity. More changes were on the horizon and in 1901, the American League was established much to the dismay of the senior circuit. Suddenly, baseball found itself engaged in a "civil war" as both rival leagues competed separately for the fan's loyalty and attention. Two years later a truce, previously known as the "National Agreement", was redefined outlining baseball's employment, salary and travel requirements. The 1903 compromise produced the business blueprint for major-league baseball and resulted in a merger that has lasted to this day. Boston and Pittsburgh, the top American and National League teams, found themselves competing against one another in an attempt at a "World Series" in 1903, but neither league was done "discussing" the postseason format, causing the 1904 contest to be cancelled (details below).
Finally, in 1905, the first official World Series was played, and only once since then has the Fall Classic not been played. A history of every World Series, as researched by Baseball Almanac , appears below, and includes every box score from every World Series game, World Series rosters, World Series stats, and more.
"World Series week indicates that baseball is one of America's major disturbances." - Syndicated Columnist Arthur "Bugs" Baer in The Greatest World Series Games: Baseball Historians Choose 26 Classics (Warren W. Wilbert, McFarland & Company Publishing, 06/07/2005, Page 2)
A Comprehensive World Series History | Postseason Picture
World SeriesWorld Series Record Books |
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World Series Career Records For Players | |
World Series Hitting Records | World Series Pitching Records |
World Series Single Game Records | |
World Series Hitting Records | World Series Pitching Records |
World Series (4,5,6,7,8 Game Series) Records | |
World Series Hitting Records | World Series Pitching Records |
World SeriesWorld Series Research Pages |
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Miscellaneous World Series Research Pages | |
World Series Ejections
Tossed From The Series |
World Series Sweeps
The Undefeated Teams |
World Series Extra Inning Games
Every Extra Inning Series Game |
World Series Team Experience
Postseason Experience Chart |
World Series Final Outs
Who, How & When |
World Series TV Ratings
1968 - 2019 |
World Series Gate Receipts
Winner & Loser Pools |
World Series Umpires
A Comprehensive List |
World Series M.V.P.'s
Both Sport & Babe Awards |
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World SeriesWorld Series Home Run Logs |
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American League | National League |
1903 - 1950 | 1903 - 1950 |
1951 - 1975 | 1951 - 1975 |
1976 - 2013 | 1976 - 2013 |
American League | National League |
World Series Historical Pages of Interest |
What happened to the 1904 World Series? The 1903 contest was a resounding success and represented the first step in healing the bruised egos of both the veteran National and fledgling American Leagues. Pittsburgh and Boston went head-to-head for eight games proving that great baseball between the two leagues was possible and that a merger would benefit the growth of the sport. Unfortunately, some owners still disagreed with the concept and in 1904, it was prematurely cancelled. John T. Brush, president of the National League champion New York Giants, refused to play the returning American League champion Boston Americans. He was quoted as stating that he refused to compete with a "representative of the inferior American League". Surprisingly, Brush regretted the decision and later that year proposed to continue with the series as originally conceived. His about-face spawned the "Brush Rules," a set of guidelines relating to the on-field play and off-field finances of the World Series which exists to this day.
On October 10, 1920 ( 1920 World Series , Game 5 ), during the fifth inning, Bill Wambsganss caught a line drive hit by Clarence Mitchell . He then stepped on second to putout Pete Kilduff and personally tagged Otto Miller who was coming from first. This unassisted triple play is probably the most amazing fielding feat to ever take place during any series game.
Did you know that through completion of the 2020 World Series , the American League has won sixty-six World Championships, the National League has won ffifty-seven World Championships, there have been three tie games, one-hundred fourteen shutouts, one perfect game and eleven instances where a team lost the first two games yet rallied to win the World Championship.