The World Series

When a "peace treaty" was signed in early 1903 between the established National League  (founded in 1876) and the newly-created American LeagueŽ (founded in 1901), it was primarily intended to prevent the raiding of clubs for players and made no provisions for post-season play. With their clubs apparently headed toward pennants, Pittsburgh's Barney Dreyfuss and Boston's Henry Killilea agreed during the 1903 season to stage a best-of-nine postseason playoff for the "world championship." With a handshake, the World Series Championship was born. On September 16, 1903, the two signed a formal agreement covering ticket prices (50-cent minimum), team shares (the visiting club was to receive 25 cents per ticket sold) and the supplying of umpires (one was furnished by the National League and the other by the American League). 

There was no World Series in 1904 as the 1904 NL champion New York Giants refused to play Boston the following year. President of the National League champion New York Giants John T. Brush and his manager John McGraw both despised AL president Ban Johnson and considered the junior circuit to be a minor league. In the winter, however, Brush proposed the idea for an annual matchup between the league champions. His about-face spawned the "Brush Rules," a set of guidelines relating to the on-field play and off-field finances of the World Series which exists to this day.  Brush relented and proposed to make the World Series event a best-of-seven annual affair beginning in 1905 (it reverted to a best-of-nine format from 1919-21).

Perhaps the main thing about the 1903 Series, though, was that it at least cooled tempers between baseball's warring factions. That the upstart American League buried the hatchet squarely in the back of the haughty National League -- and did so with fiendish delight -- was merely a sidelight.

After surviving two World Wars and a earthquake in 1989, the World Series was cancelled only the second time in 1994 when players went on strike on Aug. 12 to protest the owners' call for revenue sharing and a salary cap. On September 14, with no hope of reaching a labor agreement to end the 34-day strike, the owners called off the remainder of the regular season and the entire postseason. The strike ended after 232 days on Mar. 31, 1995.