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World Series
For other events named "World Series", see World Series (disambiguation). In Major League Baseball, the American League Division Series ( ALDS) determines which two teams from the American League will advance to the American In Major League Baseball, the National League Division Series ( NLDS) determine which two teams from the National League will advance to the National
Further information: List of World Series#The modern World Series

The World Series is the championship series of Major League Baseball and the culmination of the sport's postseason each September. This is a list of all the World Series matches and the recognized champions of Major League Baseball and its predecessors A playoff or final in Sports is a game or series of games played after the regular season is over with the goal of determining a league champion or a similar accolade Since the Series takes place in mid-autumn, sportswriters many years ago dubbed the event the Fall Classic; it is also sometimes known as the September Classic or simply "The Series. " It was also facetiously dubbed the "World Serious" by writer Ring Lardner. Ringgold Wilmer Lardner ( March 6 1885 – September 25 1933) was an American sports columnist and Short story writer best

The World Series is played between the champion clubs of the American League and the National League, which collectively include 29 clubs based in the United States and one club from Canada. The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League ( AL) is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the National League ( NL) is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page The "modern" World Series has been an annual event since 1903, with the exceptions of 1904 and 1994. Baseball has employed various championship formulas since the 1860s. When the term "World Series" is used by itself, it is usually understood to refer to the "modern" World Series exclusively.

The World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff. There are several different Playoff formats used in various levels of competition in Sports and Games Some of the most common are the single elimination Best-of-seven has been the format of all the modern World Series except in 1903, 1919, 1920 and 1921 when the winner was determined through a best-of-nine playoff. The 1903 World Series, the first modern World Series to be played in Major League Baseball, matched the Boston American League club against the The 1919 World Series matched the American League champion Chicago White Sox against the National League champion Cincinnati Reds. In the 1920 World Series, the Cleveland Indians beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, then known interchangeably as the Robins in reference to their manager Wilbert In the 1921 World Series, the New York Giants beat the New York Yankees 5 games to 3 There are several different Playoff formats used in various levels of competition in Sports and Games Some of the most common are the single elimination The Series winner is awarded the World Series Trophy, as well as individual World Series rings. The Series winner also receives a larger proportion of the gate receipts than does the Series loser.

The New York Yankees, of the American League, have played in 39 of the 103 Series through 2007 and have won 26 World Series championships, which is far more than any other Major League franchise. The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the borough of The Bronx, in New York City, New York. For the National League, the Dodgers have appeared in the Series the most at 18 times (9 each in Brooklyn and Los Angeles), but have won the Series only 6 times (once as Brooklyn, five times as Los Angeles). The Los Angeles Dodgers are a Major League Baseball team based in Los Angeles California, USA The St. Louis Cardinals have represented the National League 17 times and have won 10 championships, which is the most for any National League team. The St Louis Cardinals (also referred to as "the Cards " or "the Redbirds " are a professional Baseball team based in St [1]

Contents

Overview

The first modern World Series was held between the Boston Americans (as in "American Leaguers" - now the Red Sox) of the American League and the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League in 1903. The Boston Red Sox are a Professional baseball team based in Boston Massachusetts, and are the reigning (2007 World Series Champions. The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Boston won the Series 5 games to 3, helping to establish the new league's credibility. However, the next year, the National League champion New York Giants refused to play the American League champions (Boston again) because of the alleged inferiority of the American League, along with the legitimate claim that there were no formal or standard rules for this championship (a factor which had helped kill the 1880s version of the Series). The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in, that currently play in the National League West Division. In response, the World Series was instituted in 1905 as a permanent institution, through which the leagues would "meet annually in a series of games for the Professional Base Ball Championship of the World. Year 1905 ( MCMV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting "[2]

Until 1969, teams reached the Fall Classic merely by having the best records in their respective leagues. Year 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. See also List of baseball jargon Fall Classic The World Series -- the championship series of Major League Baseball, in which the If two teams were tied for the best record at the end of the scheduled season, the winner of a head-to-head "pennant playoff" game between the two teams was declared winner of the "pennant" (league championship), and thus represented the league in the Series. A one-game playoff or pennant playoff is a Tiebreaker in certain professional sports to determine which of two teams tied in the final standings will qualify

The reorganization of each league into two divisions for the 1969 season changed the road to the Series. The winners of the East and West divisions of each league would meet in a best-of-five (later best-of-seven) League Championship Series to determine the winner of the pennant. The split into two divisions was partially based on the premise that there were too many teams in the league to have one division ("you can't sell a twelfth place team"). It also ensured more "pennant races" to generate more regular-season attendance, along with more post-season revenue.

A further change occurred in 1994 with the expansion of the Major Leagues and the establishment of the Central Divisions. Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar) This created an odd number of teams in each league's playoff tournament, so a fourth playoff team was added. It was called the "wild card", patterned after the National Football League's playoff system of including the best non-divisional winner (by win-loss record) in the playoffs. The National Football League ( NFL) is the largest professional American football league. This created additional regular-season races as well as further augmenting post-season income. It also had the inevitable effect of playing the game's prime event in the latter part of October, with weather often much colder and harsher than in the early part of the month, especially in the Midwest and Northeast.

Under the current format, normally the division winner with the highest winning percentage in the league faces the wildcard in the best-of-five first round, or Division Series, and the two remaining teams face each other in the first round. However, if both the wildcard qualifier and the best divisional win-loss record come from the same division (which has happened frequently), the wildcard instead plays the division winner with the second-best record in the first round while the remaining two teams face each other. The winners of the two Division Series play in the League Championship Series for the right to play in the World Series.

In case two teams tie for the fourth playoff spot in a league, a single-game "wild-card playoff" is required to determine the final qualifier.

Although the current structure was established in 1994, the players' strike canceled the post-season events that year. Playoffs with the current structure were first played in 1995.

Structure

Home-field advantage is determined by the results of the All-Star Game. The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also popularly known as the "Midsummer Classic" is an annual Baseball game between players from the National League By virtue of the American League winning the 2007 All-Star Game, it gave home-field advantage to the Boston Red Sox in the 2007 World Series. The Series follows what is called a 2-3-2 format with the first two and last two games being played in the stadium of the club with home-field advantage. The other three games are played in the opponent's stadium.

This All-Star Game determination of home-field was instituted in 2003, following significant criticism after the 2002 All-Star Game ended in a tie. The 2002 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 73rd playing of the midsummer classic between the all-stars of the American League (AL and National League In order to prevent a future repeat of that situation, Commissioner Bud Selig decided to give the All-Star Game a more competitive element by making its result tangibly meaningful. For subsequent events Major League Baseball adopted the slogan "This one counts". Prior to 2003, home-field advantage had alternated between the leagues from year to year. The American League held the home-field edge in 2002, the last year of the "alternating" approach, and has won every All-Star Game through the 2007 season. Thus the 2007 season marks the sixth consecutive year of American League home field advantage. (The National League, winless in the All-Star game since the 1997 season, has yet to take advantage of the current format. Champions Major League Baseball World Series: Florida Marlins over Cleveland Indians (4-3 Liván Hernández, )

Since 1986, the designated hitter rule has been applied according to the rules normally in effect at the home ballpark. The 1986 World Series pitted the New York Mets against the Boston Red Sox. In Baseball, the designated hitter rule is the common name for Major League Baseball Rule 6 In an American League ballpark, both teams may use a designated hitter, a player who bats in place of the pitcher and does not play in the field himself. In a National League ballpark, all nine position players must hit. From 1976 through 1985, the designated hitter was used for all games in even-numbered years and no games in odd-numbered years. The 1976 World Series matched the defending champion Cincinnati Reds of the National League against the New York Yankees of the American League The 1985 World Series began on October 19 1985 and ended October 27. The designated hitter was not used at all prior to the 1976 Series, although the DH rule had been adopted by the AL in 1973.

A portion of the gate receipts from the World Series — and, from 1969 onward, the other rounds of postseason play preceding it — is used to fund a Players' Pool, from which descending shares are distributed to the World Series winner, the World Series loser, all the other teams qualifying for the playoffs but not reaching the World Series, and certain other teams not qualifying for the playoffs. See also List of baseball jargon gamer A player who plays particularly hard and is prone to making the right play at the right time often in big games Prior to 1969, teams finishing in the first division, or top half of the leagues' standings, received such shares; today, only the teams finishing second in their divisions but not earning a wild card receive them. First division is a term that has had various meanings at various times in the sport of Baseball: Prior to 1961 the two major baseball leagues &mdash the National League The term wild card refers broadly to a Tournament or Playoff berth awarded to an individual or team that has not qualified through normal play The shares for the actual participants are limited to the gate receipts of the minimum number of games (4) necessary to decide the Series; that rule has been in place from the beginning, to keep the games "honest" by taking away any financial incentive for conspiring to extend the number of games.

The Series has run to eight games four times: 1903, 1912, 1921, and the ill-fated 1919 Series. The 1912 Series was best-of-seven but included one tie game; the other three were best-of-nine. To tie or draw is to finish a Competition with identical or inconclusive results (The other tie games in the modern Series were in 1907 and 1922, both of which ran for five games. )

Apart from the period between 1947 and 1956 (when all the Series games were scheduled to be played on consecutive days), there has been a scheduled off day between the second and third games and another (if necessary) between the fifth and sixth games.

International impact, and explanation of the term "World" Series

The title of this championship may be confusing to some readers from countries where baseball is not a major sport (or even where it is), because the "World" Series is confined to the champions of two baseball leagues that currently operate only in the United States and Canada. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page

The explanation is that when the term "World's Championship Series" was first used in the 1880s, baseball at a highly-skilled level was almost exclusively confined to North America, especially the United States. Thus it was understood that the winner of the major league championship was the best baseball team in the world. The title of this event was soon shortened to "World's Series" and later to "World Series". "The Series", by itself, capitalized, is understood to mean "The World Series", in the appropriate context.

The United States and Canada continued to be the only professional baseball countries until some decades into the 20th century. The first Japanese professional baseball efforts began in 1920. Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of Baseball in Japan. The current Japanese leagues date from the late 1940s. Various Latin American leagues also formed around that time.

By the 1990s, baseball was played at a highly skilled level in many countries, resulting in a strong international flavor to the Series, as many of the best players from the Pacific Rim, Latin America, the Caribbean, and elsewhere now play on Major League rosters. The notable exception is Cuban nationals, due to the political situation between the USA and Cuba (despite that barrier, over the years a number of Cuba's finest ballplayers have defected to the United States to play in the American professional leagues). Cuba and the United States of America have had an interest in one another since well before either of their independence movements Players from the Japanese Leagues also have a more difficult time coming to the Major Leagues because they must first play 10 years in Japan before becoming free agents. Reaching the high-income Major Leagues tends to be the goal of many of the best players around the world.

Early in 2006, Major League Baseball conducted the inaugural World Baseball Classic, to establish a "true" world's championship in the way the term is normally used for other international sports. The World Baseball Classic, sometimes abbreviated WBC, is an international Baseball tournament first held in March 2006. Teams of professional players from 16 nations participated, and Japan won the first World Baseball Classic championship. Olympic baseball was instituted as a medal sport in 1992, but in 2005 the International Olympic Committee voted to eliminate baseball, and it will be off the Olympic program in 2012. Baseball at the Summer Olympics had its unofficial debut at the 1904 Summer Games and has been contested in 12 Olympiads (including

The World Series itself retains a US-oriented atmosphere. The title of the event is often presented on television as merely a "brand name" in the same sense as the "Super Bowl", and thus the term "World Series Championship" is sometimes used. However, the origin of the term lives on, as with these words of Frank Thomas in the Chicago White Sox victory celebration in 2005: "We're world's champions, baby!" At the close of the 2006 Series, Commissioner Bud Selig pronounced the St. Frank Edward Thomas (born May 27 1968 is a Major League Baseball Designated hitter for the Oakland Athletics. The Chicago White Sox are a professional Baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois. Louis Cardinals "champions of the world". Likewise, the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine for November 6, 2006, features Series MVP David Eckstein and is subtitled "World Champions". Sports Illustrated is an American Sports Magazine owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Events 355 - Roman Emperor Constantius II promotes his cousin Julian to the rank of Caesar, entrusting him with Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. David Mark Eckstein (born January 20, 1975 in Sanford Florida) nicknamed " X Factor " is a Major League Baseball

Champions prior to and precursors to the modern World Series (1857-1902)

Further information: List of World Series#The original World Series

The original World Series

Until the formation of the American Association in 1882 as a second major league, the National Association and then the National League represented the top level of organized baseball in the United States. This is a list of all the World Series matches and the recognized champions of Major League Baseball and its predecessors This article refers to the former Baseball major league that existed from 1882 to 1891 The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NAPBBP or simply the National Association (NA was founded in 1871 and lasted through the 1875 season The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the National League ( NL) is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball All championships went to whoever had the best record at the end of the season, without a postseason series being played. In 1882, the champions of the American Association and National League played a series of exhibition games at the end of the season, but the winner of the series was not recognized as the champion of both leagues. Starting in 1884 and going through 1890, the National League and the American Association played an official series of games at the end of the season to determine an overall champion.

Although these series were promoted and referred to as the "The Championship of the United States",[3] "World's Championship Series", or "World's Series" for short, they are not officially recognized as part of World Series history by Major League Baseball. [4] Major League Baseball, in general, regards 19th century events as a prologue to the Modern Era of baseball, which is defined by the two current major leagues.

It is worth pointing out, however, that until about the 1960s, the 19th century Series were often considered to have equal merit with the modern Series, particularly in encyclopedias such as Ernest Lanigan's Baseball Cyclopedia from 1922, and Turkin and Thompson's Encyclopedia of Baseball series throughout the 1950s. Ernest John Lanigan ( January 4, 1873 - February 6, 1962) was an American sportswriter and historian on the subject The Sporting News Record Book, by contrast, which began publishing in the 1930s, only listed the modern Series, although the TSN record books then and now do include regular-season achievements for all the 19th century leagues. Sporting News (previously The Sporting News, and known colloquially as TSN) is an American -based Sports

1892–1900: "The Monopoly Years"

Further information: List of World Series#1892-1900: "The Monopoly Years"

Following the collapse of the American Association after the 1891 season, four of its clubs were admitted to the National League. This is a list of all the World Series matches and the recognized champions of Major League Baseball and its predecessors The league championship was awarded in 1892 by a playoff between half-season champions. This scheme was abandoned after one season. Beginning in 1893 — and continuing until divisional play was introduced in 1969 — the pennant was awarded to the first-place club in the standings at the end of the season. For four seasons, 1894-97, the league champions played the runners-up in the post season championship series called the Temple Cup. The Temple Cup was a Trophy awarded to the winner of a best-of-seven post-season Major League Baseball championship series that was conducted for four seasons in A second attempt at this format was the Chronicle-Telegraph Cup series, which was played only once, in 1900. The Chronicle-Telegraph Cup was the trophy awarded to the winner of a Postseason competition in American professional Baseball in 1900.

In 1901 the American League was formed as a second major league. The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League ( AL) is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in No championship series would be played in 1901 or 1902 as the National and American Leagues fought each other for business supremacy.

The modern World Series (1903-present)

Crowd outside Huntington Avenue Grounds before a game during the 1903 World Series
Crowd outside Huntington Avenue Grounds before a game during the 1903 World Series

The first attempt

After two years of bitter competition and player raiding, the National and American Leagues made peace and, as part of the accord, several pairs of teams squared off for interleague exhibition games after the 1903 season. Huntington Avenue American League Base Ball Grounds is the full name of the Baseball Stadium that formerly stood in Boston Massachusetts and was home These series were arranged by the participating clubs, as the 1880s World's Series matches had been. One of them matched the two pennant winners, Pittsburgh Pirates of the NL and Boston of the AL (later known as the Red Sox); that one is known as the 1903 World Series. The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Boston Red Sox are a Professional baseball team based in Boston Massachusetts, and are the reigning (2007 World Series Champions. The 1903 World Series, the first modern World Series to be played in Major League Baseball, matched the Boston American League club against the It had been arranged well in advance by the two owners, as both teams were league leaders by large margins. Boston upset Pittsburgh by 5 games to 3, winning with pitching depth behind Cy Young and Bill Dinneen and with the support of the band of Royal Rooters. Denton True "Cy" Young (March 29 1867 – November 4 1955 was an American Baseball player who pitched for five different major league William Henry Dinneen, alternately spelled Dineen ( April 5 1876 - January 13 1955) was an American right-handed The original Royal Rooters were a fan club for the Boston Red Sox in the early 20th century The Series brought much civic pride to Boston and proved the new American League could beat the Nationals on the field.

The boycott of 1904

The 1904 Series would have been between the AL's Boston Americans (Boston Red Sox) and the NL's New York Giants (San Francisco Giants). The 1904 World Series was a championship series that never occurred in Major League Baseball. The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in, that currently play in the National League West Division. The Giants' owner, John T. Brush, refused to allow his team to play, citing the "inferiority" of the upstart American League. John McGraw, the Giants' manager, even went so far as to say that his Giants were already world champions since they were the champions of the "only real major league". At the time of the announcement, their new cross-town rivals, the New York Highlanders (previously known as the Baltimore Orioles and eventually NY Yankees), were leading the AL, and the prospect of facing the Highlanders did not please Giants management. The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the borough of The Bronx, in New York City, New York. Boston won on the last day of the season, and the leagues had previously agreed to hold a World's Championship Series in 1904, but it was not binding, and Brush stuck to his original decision. In addition to political reasons, Brush also factually cited the lack of rules under which money would be split, where games would be played, and how they would be operated and staffed. During the winter of 1904/05, however, feeling the sting of press criticism, Brush had a change of heart and proposed what came to be known as the "Brush Rules", under which the series would be played subsequently.

One rule was that player shares would come from a portion of the gate receipts for the first four games only. This was to discourage teams from "fixing" early games in order to prolong the series and make more money. Receipts for later games would be split among the two clubs and the National Commission, the governing body for the sport, which was able to cover much of its annual operating expense from World Series revenue.

Most importantly, the now-official and compulsory World's Series matches would be operated strictly by the National Commission itself, not by the participating clubs.

The list of post-season rules evolved over time. In 1925, Brooklyn owner Charles Ebbets convinced others to adopt as a permanent rule the 2-3-2 pattern used in 1924. See Charles C Ebbets the photographer Charles Hercules Ebbets ( October 29, 1859 &ndash April 18, 1925 Prior to 1924, the pattern had been to alternate by game or to make another arrangement convenient to both clubs.

1919: The fix

Main article: Black Sox Scandal

Gambling and game-fixing had been a problem in baseball from the beginning; star pitcher Jim Devlin was banned for life in 1877, when the National League was just two years old. The Black Sox Scandal refers to a number of events that took place around and during the play of the 1919 World Series. James Alexander Devlin ( June 6, 1849 - October 10, 1883) was a Baseball pitcher in the early National League Baseball's gambling problems came to a head in 1919, when the Chicago White Sox conspired to throw the 1919 World Series. The Chicago White Sox are a professional Baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois. The 1919 World Series matched the American League champion Chicago White Sox against the National League champion Cincinnati Reds.

The Sox had won the Series in 1917 and were heavy favorites to beat the Cincinnati Reds in 1919, but first baseman Chick Gandil had other plans. In the 1917 World Series, the Chicago White Sox beat the New York Giants four games to two The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati Ohio, USA Charles Arnold "Chick" Gandil ( January 19, 1888 &ndash December 13, 1970) was a Professional American Gandil, in collaboration with gambler Joseph "Sport" Sullivan, approached his teammates and got six of them to agree to throw the Series: starting pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Lefty Williams, shortstop Swede Risberg, left fielder Shoeless Joe Jackson, center fielder Happy Felsch, and utility infielder Fred McMullin. Edward Victor "Eddie" Cicotte ( June 19 1884 &ndash May 5 1969) (pronounced Sigh-Cottie nicknamed "Knuckles" was an Claude Preston "Lefty" Williams ( March 9, 1893 - November 4, 1959) was an American left-handed Pitcher in Charles August "Swede" Risberg (Reisberg ( 13 October 1894 - 13 October 1975) was an American Baseball Joseph Jefferson Jackson ( July 16, 1888 &ndash December 5, 1951) nicknamed "Shoeless Joe", was an American Oscar Emil "Happy" Felsch ( August 22, 1891 &ndash August 17, 1964) was an American Center fielder in Frederick William McMullin ( October 13, 1891 - November 20, 1952) was an American Baseball player. Third baseman Buck Weaver knew of the fix but declined to participate. George Daniel "Buck" Weaver ( August 18 1890 - January 31 1956) was an American Shortstop and Third baseman The Sox, who were promised $100,000 for cooperating, proceeded to lose the Series in eight games, pitching poorly, hitting poorly and making many errors. Though he took the money, Jackson insisted to his death that he played to the best of his ability in the series. After rumors circulated for nearly a year, the players were suspended in September 1920.

The "Black Sox" were acquitted in a criminal conspiracy trial. However, baseball in the meantime had established the office of Commissioner in an effort to protect the game's integrity, and the first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, banned all of the players involved, including Weaver, for life. The Commissioner of Baseball is the chief executive of Major League Baseball. Kenesaw Mountain Landis ( November 20 1866 &ndash November 25 1944) was an American Jurist who served as a federal The White Sox would not win a World Series again until 2005. The 2005 World Series, the 101st Major League Baseball championship series saw the American League champion Chicago White Sox sweep the National League

The events of the 1919 Series, segueing into the "live ball" era, marked a point in time of change of the fortunes of a number of teams. Today's two most prolific winners, the Yankees and the Cardinals, did not win their first championship until the 1920s; and three of the teams that were highly successful prior to 1920 (the Red Sox, White Sox and Cubs) went the rest of the 20th century without another World Series win. The Red Sox and White Sox finally won again in 2004 and 2005, respectively. The Cubs are still waiting for their next trophy.

The 1989 earthquake

When the 1989 World Series began, it was notable chiefly for being the first ever World Series matchup between the two San Francisco Bay Area teams, the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics. The 1989 World Series was played between the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants. The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, or the Bay, is a geographically and ethnically diverse metropolitan region that surrounds the The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in, that currently play in the National League West Division. The Oakland Athletics are a professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. Oakland won the first two games at home, and the two teams crossed the bridge to San Francisco to play Game 3 on Tuesday, October 17. The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city Events 539 BC - King Cyrus The Great of Persia marches into the city of Babylon, releasing the Jews from almost ABC's broadcast of Game 3 began at 5 p. The American Broadcasting Company ( ABC) is an American Television network. m. local time, approximately 30 minutes before the first pitch was scheduled. At 5:04, while broadcasters Al Michaels and Tim McCarver were narrating highlights and the teams were warming up, the Loma Prieta earthquake occurred (magnitude 6. Alan Richard Michaels (born November 12, 1944) is an American Television Sportscaster. James Timothy McCarver (born October 16, 1941) is an American former Major League Baseball Catcher, and a current The Loma Prieta earthquake, also known as the Quake of '89 and the World Series Quake, was a major Earthquake that struck the San Francisco Bay 9 with an epicenter ten miles (16 km) northeast of Santa Cruz, CA). The earthquake caused a great deal of destruction in the Bay Area and killed 62 people.

Television viewers saw the video signal deteriorate and heard Michaels say "I'll tell you what, we're having an earth--" before the feed from Candlestick Park was lost. Candlestick Park (also commonly referred to as Candlestick or The Stick) is an outdoor sports and entertainment stadium located in San Francisco California Fans filing into the stadium saw Candlestick sway visibly during the quake. Television coverage later resumed, using backup generators, with Michaels becoming a news reporter on the unfolding disaster. Commissioner Fay Vincent ordered the game to be postponed approximately 30 minutes after the earthquake, and fans, workers, and the teams evacuated a blacked out Candlestick. Francis Thomas "Fay" Vincent Jr (born May 29, 1938 in Waterbury Connecticut) is a former entertainment lawyer and sports executive who served Game 3 was finally played on October 27, and Oakland won that day and the next to complete a four-game sweep. Events 312 - Constantine the Great is said to have received his famous Vision of the Cross.

The 1994 strike

Main article: 1994 Major League Baseball strike

After the boycott of 1904, the World Series was played faithfully every year despite World War I, the global influenza pandemic of 1918-19, the Great Depression of the 1930s, America's involvement in World War II, and even an earthquake in the host city of the 1989 World Series. The 1994 Major League baseball strike was the eighth work stoppage in Baseball history as well as the fourth in-season work stoppage World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The 1989 World Series was played between the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants. However, it would not be played in 1994 because of money.

As the labor talks began, baseball franchise owners demanded a salary cap in order to limit payrolls, the elimination of salary arbitration, and the right to retain free agent players by matching a competitor's best offer. In Professional Sports, a salary cap (often called a wage cap in the United Kingdom) is a limit on the amount of money a team can spend on player Arbitration, a form of Alternative dispute resolution (ADR is a legal technique for the resolution of Disputes outside the Courts wherein the The Major League Baseball Players Association refused to agree to limit payrolls, noting that the responsibility for high payrolls lay with those owners who were voluntarily offering contracts. The Major League Baseball Players Association (or MLBPA) is the union of professional major-league baseball players One difficulty in reaching a settlement was the absence of a commissioner. The Commissioner of Baseball is the chief executive of Major League Baseball. When Fay Vincent was forced to resign in 1992, owners did not replace him, electing instead to make Milwaukee Brewers owner Bud Selig acting commissioner. Francis Thomas "Fay" Vincent Jr (born May 29, 1938 in Waterbury Connecticut) is a former entertainment lawyer and sports executive who served The Milwaukee Brewers are a Major League Baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which plays in the Central Division of the National League Allan Huber "Bud" Selig Jr (born July 30, 1934 in Milwaukee Wisconsin) is the Commissioner of Major League Baseball and has Thus the commissioner, responsible for insuring the integrity and protecting the welfare of the game, was an interested party rather than a neutral arbiter, and baseball headed into the 1994 work stoppage without an independent commissioner for the first time since the office was founded in 1920.

The previous collective bargaining agreement expired on Dec. 31, 1993, and baseball began the 1994 season without a new agreement. Owners and players negotiated as the season progressed, but owners refused to give up the idea of a salary cap and players refused to accept one. On August 12, 1994, the players went on strike. Events 1099 - First Crusade: Battle of Ascalon - Crusaders under the command of Godfrey of Bouillon defeat Fatimid Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar) After a month passed with no progress in the labor talks, Selig canceled the rest of the 1994 season and the postseason on Sept. 14. The World Series would not be played for the first time in 90 years.

The labor dispute would last into the spring of 1995, with owners beginning spring training with replacement players. In Major League Baseball, spring training is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the Regular season. However, the MLBPA returned to work on April 2, 1995 after a federal judge ruled that the owners had engaged in unfair labor practices. Events 68 - Galba, Governor of Hispania, names himself legatus senatus populique Romani, breaking the line of Year 1995 ( MCMXCV) was a Common year starting on Sunday. Events of 1995 The season started on April 25 and the 1995 World Series would be played as scheduled, with Atlanta beating Cleveland four games to two. Events 1607 - Eighty Years' War: The Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar. The 1995 World Series matched the Atlanta Braves against the Cleveland Indians, with the Braves winning in six games to capture its third World Championship in

World Series appearances (modern) by franchise

Further information: List of World Series#World Series (modern) appearances by franchise

"Feast and famine" (frequent success / frequent failure)

This information is up to date through the 2007 World Series:

Image gallery

Rooftop view of a 1903 World Series game in Boston

Game action in the 1906 Series in Chicago (the only all-Chicago World Series to date)

Bill Wambsganss completes his unassisted triple play in 1920

Washington's Bucky Harris scores his home run in the fourth inning of Game 7 (October 10, 1924)

Montage of Mazeroski's World Series winning home run
(October 13, 1960)

See also

References

  1. ^ List of World Series
  2. ^ Business of Baseball - 1905 World Series Regulations, accessed October 23, 2006
  3. ^ World Series: A Comprehensive History of the World Series. William Adolf Wambsganss ( March 19, 1894 - December 8, 1985) was a Second baseman in Major League Baseball. Stanley Raymond "Bucky" Harris ( November 8, 1896 – November 8, 1977) was a Major League Baseball player manager William Stanley Mazeroski (born September 5 1936 in Wheeling West Virginia) nicknamed "Maz" is a former Major League Baseball player who spent his entire This list of sports films is a compilation of Films in the genre covering Sports activities The World Series MVP Award is given to the player who most contributes to his team's success in the World Series - the Most Valuable Player. The wild card was established for Major League Baseball 's playoffs in 1994 with the intention of helping the best teams that did not win their division to still have The wild card was established for Major League Baseball 's playoffs in 1994 with the intention of helping the best teams that did not win their division to still have This is a list of Major League Baseball franchise postseason and World Series droughts through the most recently completed baseball season (2008 The following players have played or pitched in the most regular season Major League Baseball games without appearing in the World Series. The following is a list of teams that have won the World Series, and how many they have won The following chart lists Starting pitchers for each Major League Baseball World Series game MLB teams representatives from each division 1994-Present Division Series League Championship Series World The Caribbean Series is a Baseball tournament the brainchild of the Venezuelans Oscar "El Negro" Prieto and Pablo Morales, who devised the idea The College World Series or CWS is a Baseball Tournament held in Omaha Nebraska that is the culmination of the NCAA Division I Baseball The Negro League World Series was a post-season Baseball tournament which was held from 1924-1927 and from 1942-1948 between the champions of the Negro Leagues, matching or is a seven-game championship played by the teams of Japan 's two professional baseball leagues (the Central League and Pacific League) The Korean Series is the championship series of the Korea Baseball Organization. The Asia Series (officially known as the Konami Cup for sponsorship reasons is an international Baseball tournament in East Asia that was first held between The Baseball World Cup is an international tournament in which national Baseball teams from around the world compete The World Baseball Classic, sometimes abbreviated WBC, is an international Baseball tournament first held in March 2006. This is a list of all the World Series matches and the recognized champions of Major League Baseball and its predecessors Events 4004 BC - Creation of the world begins according to the calculations of Archbishop James Ussher 42 BC - Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Baseball Almanac. Retrieved on 28 October 2006.
  4. ^ World Series Summary, Major League Baseball website, accessed 24 October 2006

Source books

Other sources

External links

Dictionary

World Series

-proper noun

  1. (US) (baseball) The best of seven game series played annually to determine the championship of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, played between the National League and the American League
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