Baseball Background Essay, Research Paper

In America?s favorite pastime, the game of baseball, there is one major goal

each year for every team in the league, and that is to win the World series. For

nearly one hundred years, two teams each year have competed in a best of seven

series with the champion of the American League and the champion of the National

League representing their respective leagues. The New York Yankees have won the

most titles by far, with twenty-five championships, and the St. Louis Cardinals

have the second-most with ten. Many teams have never won the World Series, and

with the small income and coverage of some teams, they may never win a series.

From 1901 to 1902, the American and National leagues were staged in war, and

there was no World Series. The American League was still very young, and many

felt that they could not compete with the powerful teams of the National League.

However, a national championship was not far away. When the Boston Pilgrims of

the American League accepted a challenge from owner Barney Dreyfuss of the

National League Pittsburgh Pirates, the modern World Series was born ( Total

World Series-Boston 1). The Pirates entered the 1903 series heavily favored to

win even with injuries to the ace of the pitching staff, Sam Leever and also to

Honus Wagner. The Pirates had also lost pitcher Ed Doheny to mental illness. In

game one of the series, Cy Young took the mound for the Pilgrims, but was

stunned in the first inning as the Pirates scored four runs and went on to take

a 1-0 series lead. In the game, the Pirates? Jimmy Sebring hit the first home

run in World Series history (Total World Series-Boston 2). After taking a

commanding 3-1 series lead, the tide began to turn on the Pirates. The Pilgrims

won the next two games, and in game seven, Bill Dinneen held the Pirates to four

hits as he shut them out for the second time in the series, giving the Boston

Pilgrims the first ever World Series Championship. The World Series continued to

grow popular for the next several years, until 1919, when members of the Chicago

White Sox were rumored to have thrown the Series. In the bottom of the first

inning of game one against the Cincinnati Reds, White Sox pitcher Eddie Cicotte

hit the first batter to face him, a prearranged signal to gamblers that ?the

fix was on? — that the Sox would throw the Series (Total World Series-White

1). There were eight members of the Chicago White Sox that were in on the fix,

including Cicotte and outfielder ?Shoeless? Joe Jackson. The White Sox lost

the first two games of the series, thanks in large part to the two starting

pitchers who were in on the fix. However, in game three, the White Sox? Dickie

Kerr, who was not in on the fix, pitched a three-hit shutout to get the Sox back

to within one game. After game three, the players who were in on the fix managed

to play poorly enough to lose the Series, and the Cincinnati Reds took home

their tainted title. In 1927, the New York Yankees won the World Series over the

Pittsburgh Pirates with perhaps the best lineup ever to take the field. With 110

regular season victories and a 19 game margin over second-place Philadelphia,

the Yankees led the American League in nearly every offensive category. Three

Yankees–Earle Combs, Lou Gehrig, and Babe Ruth–hit over .350, and divided

among them league crowns in runs, hits, doubles, triples, home runs (Ruth?s

60), RBI?s, and slugging average. The Yankees not only hit: their pitching

staff boasted the league?s lowest earned run average ( Total World Series -

New 1). The Yankees swept the Pirates out of the series for the first American

League sweep in a World Series and many still consider them to be the best team

ever. The ?Miracle Mets? of 1969 proved that magic could happen in the World

Series as they took home the World Series title with a very young, upstart team.

The heavy- hitting, slick- fielding Orioles, who also boasted the majors? top

pitching staff, entered the Series clear favorites against the New York Mets.

But the ?Miracle Mets?, after losing the opener, polished off Baltimore with

four straight wins (Total World Series-Make 1). The National League team with

the most World Series titles- The St. Louis Cardinals- won their most recent

Series in 1982 by beating the Milwaukee Brewers in seven games. The Series was

anticipated as a matchup of Cardinal speed and Brewer power. In the event,

though, St. Louis outslugged the Brewers and wound up with their tenth world

championship (Total World Series-Cards 1). The Brewers, who were competing in

their first World Series, looked unstoppable in the first game, winning 10-0.

However, the Cards managed to come back to win the next two games, one in St.

Louis, and one in Milwaukee, with the help of pitchers Bruce Sutter in game two,

and Joaquin Andujar in game three. The Brewers won the next two games at home,

which put the Cardinals down three games to two, but in game 6 in St. Louis the

Cards walked all over the Brewers 13-1, and in game 7, Joaquin Andujar got his

second win of the Series and Bruce Sutter picked up his second save of the

Series as the Cards took home their tenth World Series title. The Fall Classic

has had many exciting moments, and every year at spring training, each of the

teams in both leagues look forward to October with hopes of playing in the best

of seven Series. Every team has a fair chance to play in to October, but in the

end, only one team from each league will remain, and one of those teams will

become part of baseball history.

?Boston Bests Braves for Championship.? Total World Series. Online.

Netscape. 29 Apr 2000

. ?Cards Rock Brewers for Title.? Total World Series. Online. Netscape. 29

Apr 2000

. ?Make Way For The Marvelous Mets.? Total World Series. Online. Netscape.

29 Apr 2000

. ?New York Celebrates Clean Sweep.? Total World Series. Online. Netscape.

29 Apr 2000

. ?White Sox Fall to Reds.? Total World Series. Online. Netscape. 29 Apr

2000.