The First World Series
After talking about Babe Ruth and baseball, I decided to take the opportunity to look into the origin of the World Series…
The first World Series was in 1903 between the Boston Americans and the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was the first time that the National and American Leagues had signed an agreement to be in co-existence. This agreement, however, was only confirmed for the regular season and was agreed up in the January before the 1903 season.
There wasn’t really a discussion about a post-season playoff series. It was only because these two teams were so far ahead in their respective leagues that really led to a “World Championship”. The idea of a World Series was first proposed by the owner of the Pirates, Barney Dreyfuss. He met with the Americans manager, Henry J. Killilea and they agreed on the best of 9 series. This was the beginning of the traditional World Series that we know today.
For the first World Series, it was the best of 9 games instead of 7 which is what it is today. Pittsburgh had won the 1st, 3rd, and 4th games while Boston had won the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th games. The first three games were played in Boston, the next 4 were played in Allegheny City and the last game was played in Boston.
The Boston Americans went on to win the first World Series. Now, every October, the World Series is played in a best of 7 series with the best team from the American League and the best team from the National League. From that point on, baseball would be known as the sport of America…. until football.
I found this really interesting because despite the fact that I played baseball, I never knew when it started or how the world series came to be. This was some good background information I never knew and it really makes me think that Boston must indeed be the greatest city in the world because they won the first World Series. I also now know how it came to be one American League team versus one National League team which I found pretty interesting. I'd be curious to know why they changed the number from 9 to 7 or why the started with 9.
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