MLB (Baseball) Tickets
Chicago White Sox vs Minnesota Twins
About MLB (Baseball)
So much history, so much tradition, so many ballparks, so many legendary players, such a narrative that is embedded into American history, culture, films, poems, and storytellers. So many records, and, yes, so much statistics. And, well, there was even corruption along the way. No sports in the world had so much direct effect on the lives of a nation and individuals as Major League Baseball (MLB).
MLB represents the oldest and most popular of all four major American sports, along with basketball, football, hockey, and the recent addition of soccer. The sport is now contested by a total of 30 teams – 29 in the United States and one in Canada - playing in two leagues, the American League (AL) and National League (NL), with 15 teams in each league. The AL and NL have operated as separate legal entities from 1901 and 1876 respectively. At one time rival organizations, as of 2000, the two leagues are now under the joint administration of the office of Commissioner of Baseball.
Baseball's first professional team was founded in Cincinnati in 1869 but the sport’s popularity rose in the 1920s, after World War 1, and survived potential downturns during the Great Depression and World War II. Shortly after the war, baseball's color barrier was broken by Jackie Robinson, the first black player to appear in the majors.
Teams play 162 games each season and five teams in each league advance to a four-round postseason tournament that culminates in the World Series, a best-of-seven championship series between champions of the AL and the NL. That arrangement dates back to 1903. MLB has the highest season attendance of any sports league in the world with more than 74 million spectators in 2013.
The two leagues play under the same rules with one significant exception: the designated hitter rule adopted by the American League in 1973 which allows teams to have one player, known as the designated hitter (abbreviated DH), to bat in place of the pitcher. Since 1973, most collegiate, amateur, and professional leagues have adopted the rule or some variant. By contrast, the National League does not use a designated hitter.
The greatest teams in history can be judged by the number of World Series victories they have accumulated, as well as their winner’s pennants from their respective leagues. By this calculation, the top team would be the New York Yankees with 27 World Championships and 40 Pennants followed by the St Louis Cardinals (11 World Championships and 19 Pennants) and the Oakland Athletics (9 and 14 pennants), Boston Red Sox (9 World Championships and 13 pennants) and San Francisco Giants (8 World Series titles and 23 Pennants).
Let’s now look at some of the iconic names that have made baseball a household topic of conversation, not to mention the water coolers in the office, over the past century and more. Babe Ruth played from 1914 to 1935 a left-handed pitcher and outfielder, he was also a great slugger who hit the first-ever home run in Yankee Stadium.
He led the Yankees to seven AL pennants and four World Series crowns.
Centerfielder Willie Mays was regarded as one of the best all-around players in baseball history. The two-time NL MVP hit 660 homers during his career and is fourth on the all-time home run list.
A more recent celebrated name is more leftfield Barry Bonds who in the words of one veteran baseball commentator “the game's most electrifying player and feared hitter” holds the record of the most home runs in a single season - 73 and the most in his career - 762. Bond's name was tarnished due to an allegation of steroid usage.
Other heroes of the game were: Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, CY Young, Roger Clemens, Greg Maddox, Derek Jeter, and Hank Aaron.
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