II.

Early History

The first contests resembling the World Series were held during the 1880s, when the leading baseball clubs of the two major leagues—the National League and the American Association—agreed to play in exhibition games following their regular seasons. The name World Championship Series arose during this period, when promoters and journalists sought to arouse interest among fans. These championship series were often unsuccessful, marked by disorganization, weak fan support, and disputes among baseball clubs. The series was not held every year and ended completely after the 1891 season, when the American Association folded.

The American League was founded in 1901 and became the chief rival of the National League. The first World Series was held in 1903, when Barney Dreyfuss, owner of the NL champion Pittsburgh Pirates, challenged Henry Killilea, owner of the AL champion Boston Americans (later renamed the Boston Red Sox), to a best-of-nine-games series. The first game was played in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 1, before a crowd of more than 16,000 fans. The Americans, led by the great pitcher Cy Young, lost the first game, but won the series five games to three.

The 1903 World Series was a tremendous success. Thousands of fans attended every game, traveling by train between the two cities, and the players responded with exciting performances. The following year, however, the series was not held. In 1904 the Americans were scheduled to play the New York Giants (later the San Francisco Giants). But Giants owner John T. Brush and manager John J. McGraw had quarreled repeatedly with the founder and president of the American League, Ban Johnson. As a result, the Giants refused to play.

Public criticism was so great that the Giants, who were again NL champions the next year, agreed to play the AL champion Philadelphia Athletics (later the Oakland Athletics) in the 1905 World Series. The two leagues created an agreement that became the foundation for modern World Series competition. The Giants won the series in five games. Christy Mathewson of the Giants pitched three games without allowing a run.

The most notorious World Series in history took place in 1919, when the Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago White Sox in eight games. The following year, seven White Sox players were accused of fixing, or intentionally losing, the series in return for bribes from professional gamblers. The seven players—Eddie Cicotte, Happy Felsch, Chick Gandil, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Fred McMullin, Swede Risberg, and Lefty Williams—were banned from baseball for life. Buck Weaver, who did not take a bribe, was banned because he knew of the fix and did not report it. The 1919 team became known as the Black Sox.

The World Series reached more fans during the 1920s with the development of radio broadcasts. By the 1930s the American and National leagues and the radio networks had arranged regular, live, play-by-play broadcasts of the World Series.

The 1920 World Series, which matched the Cleveland Indians and the Brooklyn Dodgers (later the Los Angeles Dodgers), became memorable for one of baseball's rarest feats—the unassisted triple play. In the fifth inning of the fifth game, Cleveland second baseman Bill Wambsganss put three Dodgers out in one play by catching a line drive, stepping on second base to put out a runner before he returned, and tagging a runner returning to first base.