Major League Baseball
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Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of play in professional baseball in the world. More specifically, Major League Baseball refers to the entity that operates North American professional baseball's two major leagues, the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational structure which has existed between them since 1903. On an organizational level, MLB effectively operates as a single "league", and as such it constitutes one of the major professional sports leagues of North America.
Major League Baseball is governed by the Major League Baseball Constitution, an agreement that has undergone several incarnations since 1876 then called the NL Constitution, with the most recent revisions being made in 2005. Major League Baseball, under the direction of its Commissioner, Bud Selig, hires and maintains the sport's umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, and television contracts. As is the case for most North American sports leagues, the 'closed shop' aspect of MLB effectively prevents the yearly promotion and demotion of teams into the Major League by virtue of their performance.
MLB as well maintains a unique, controlling relationship over the sport, including most aspects of minor league baseball. This is due in large part to a 1922 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Federal Baseball Club v. National League which declared baseball is not considered interstate commerce (and therefore not subject to federal antitrust law), despite baseball's own references to itself as an "industry" rather than a "sport."
The production/multimedia wing of MLB is New York-based MLB Advanced Media , which oversees MLB.com and all 30 of the individual teams' websites. Its charter states that MLB Advanced Media holds editorial independence from the League itself, but it is indeed under the same ownership group and revenue-sharing plan. MLB Productions is a similarly-structured wing of the league, focusing on video and traditional broadcast media.
Current Major Leagues
The Major League regular season runs from late March or early April to late September or early October. Players and teams prepare for the season in spring training, primarily in Florida and Arizona, during February and March. Three rounds of playoffs follow the regular season, culminating in the World Series in late October or early November.
National League
American League
Teams and schedule
At the time of writing, the Commissioner of Baseball, Bud Selig, has often floated the idea of international expansion and realignment of the major leagues. At the moment, however, the two major leagues are each split into three divisions and structured as listed in the tables above.
In all, there are 30 teams in the two leagues: 16 in the older National League ("NL") and 14 in the American League ("AL"). The leagues do not have the same number of teams because 15 teams in each league would force interleague play (or rest days) every day. Each has its teams split into three divisions grouped generally by geography. They are (number of teams in each division in parenthesis): NL East (5), NL Central (6), NL West (5), AL East (5), AL Central (5), and AL West (4).
Each team's regular season consists of 162 games, a duration established in 1961 in the American League and 1962 in the National League. From 1904 into the early 1960s, except for 1919, a 154-game schedule was played in both leagues (7 opponents X 22 games apiece). Expansion from 8 to 10 teams in each league in the early 1960s resulted in a revised schedule of 162 games (9 opponents X 18 games apiece, initially) in their expansion years, for the American League in 1961 and the National League in 1962. Although the schedule remains at 162 games to this day, the layout of games played was changed when Divisional play began in 1969, so that teams played more games against opponents within their own division than against the other division or (beginning in 1997) the other league.
Unplanned shortened seasons were played in 1918 due to the United States entering World War I, and in 1972, 1981, 1994 and 1995 due to player strikes and lockouts. A 140-game schedule (7 X 20) was played in 1919, and the schedule before 1904 varied from year to year.
Games are played predominantly against teams within each league through an unbalanced schedule which heavily favors intra-divisional play. In 1997, Major League Baseball introduced interleague play, which was criticized by the sport's purists but has since proven very popular with most fans. The interleague games are confined to the mid-summer months. Typically many intra-division games are scheduled toward the end of the season, anticipating the possibility of close divisional races and heightened fan interest.
Each year in June, Major League Baseball conducts a draft for first-year players who have never signed a Major or Minor League contract. The MLB Draft is among the least followed of the professional sports drafts in the United States.
For a detailed history of the length of the regular season, see Major League Baseball season.
Major League race and origin
At the start of the 2006 season, there were 744 players on opening rosters, of which were:
582 (78%) US-born (including Puerto Rico): 476 (64% of MLB) Caucasian, 75 (10% of MLB) Black, 31 (4% of MLB) Latino
162 (22%) foreign-born: 119 (16% of MLB) Latin American (76 from the Dominican Republic, 43 from Venezuela), 14 (2% of MLB) Asian
Team names
In American professional sports, there is a kind of standardized structure for the names of individual clubs. The structure involves two elements, the first being a geographical designator, usually the name of a city, and a nickname. This is in contrast to non-American sports, such as European soccer, in which team names need not necessarily follow a particular pattern, or Asian professional baseball, which generally follows a "corporate sponsor" name followed by a "nickname." The pattern began with National League clubs and has been extended from there to almost all U.S. professional clubs.
Originally, gentlemen's clubs and gentlemen's athletic clubs were key movers in the development of organized baseball, so early prominent teams were simply named after the clubs that formed them: Athletic Club, Mutual Club, Olympic Club, Forest City Club, Kekionga Club, Atlantic Club, Western Club. By 1871, with the formation of the National Association, clubs no longer just competed with local rivals, but with the best clubs from other cities around the northeast. Thus, geographic designators were added, establishing the now familiar pattern (only reversed): Athletics of Philadelphia, Mutuals of New York, Olympics of Washington, Forest Citys of Cleveland, Kekiongas of Fort Wayne, Atlantics of Brooklyn, Westerns of Keokuk.
By 1876, when the National League entered play, baseball clubs were no longer primarily associated with gentlemen's clubs, and most of the original teams were named after the one uniform feature that served to distinguish them on the field -- the color of their stockings. Thus: Boston Red Stockings, Chicago White Stockings, Cincinnati Red Stockings, Hartford Dark Blues, Louisville Grays, St. Louis Brown Stockings (the 1876 New York and Philadelphia clubs still held over the traditional "Mutuals" and "Athletics" names).
Throughout this period, club nicknames were ad hoc, and bestowed and used at will by sports writers and fans. Nicknames became associated with particular cities, and fans tended to refer to the local team by this name, even if it was not associated in a corporate fashion with its predecessor. Thus, multiple, unassociated teams used names such as Boston Red Stockings, Chicago White Stockings, Cincinnati Red Stockings, St. Louis Brown Stockings, Louisville Grays, Baltimore Orioles, and the like.
In the 20th century, the club nickname acquired an official status, being designated by the club ownership. However, this has not always been the case. At least three times in the early 20th century, club officials tried to change the common nickname for a club, but the press and the public largely ignored the change and the older, more popular name remained in use. Some examples include tam officials changing "Boston Braves" to "Boston Bees"; and "Philadelphia Phillies" to "Philadelphia Blue Jays," both of which never caught on. Additionally, the original Washington Senators were officially the "Washington Nationals" from 1905 onward, but use of the "Nationals" name was rare and the team officially became the "Senators" in 1956.
Major League Baseball uniforms
The official rules of Major League Baseball require that all players on a team wear matching uniforms.
Traditionally, when playing at home, teams wore uniforms that were mostly white with trim in team colors and when playing away, they wore uniforms that were mostly gray with trim in team colors. Aside from the obvious need to distinguish one team from the other, conventional wisdom held that it was more difficult to properly launder uniforms while on a road trip, thus the "road grays" helped to hide accumulated soil. This convention continued well after its original premise was nullified by the issuance of multiple uniforms and the growth of the laundromat industry. Starting in the 1970s, with the advent of synthetic fabrics, teams began using more color in their uniforms, notably the Oakland Athletics in the early 1970s and the Houston Astros in the mid-1970s. In the late 1970s, the Pittsburgh Pirates began a trend of multiple combinations of differently colored jerseys and trousers and caps (with the options of black, yellow, and white with pin stripes).
Starting in the 1990s, MLB clubs began heavily marketing licensed goods, such as caps and uniform jerseys to the public and this has resulted in a wide array of uniforms for each team. Now, some teams have not only a basic home uniform and away uniform, but also special "Sunday game" uniforms and uniforms that are worn only during batting practice and uniforms worn on singular events. On several occasions, the MLB has instituted nostalgia events, during which teams wore uniforms from the past.
The result is that it is now often difficult to say which uniform is a team's "official" one. For example, the Cincinnati Reds now wear a variety of caps: all red, red crown and black bill, black crown and red bill, and all black.
The official rules state that:
- All players on a team must wear identical uniforms during a single game.
- Numbers: All players must wear their uniform numbers on the back of the uniform
- Undershirt: If the undershirt is exposed then all the players on the team must wear matching ones. Numbers or other devices may be worn on the sleeve of the undershirt (for example, if it is worn with a sleeveless jersey), except that pitchers may not have such devices on their undershirt sleeves.
- The league office might require that each team have a single uniform for all games or requires that each team have a single, white home uniform and a single, non-white away uniform. With the elimination of the separate American League and National League administrations, it is unknown what the effectiveness of this rule now is.
- Sleeve length: The rules allow for minor variation in sleeve length, but they must be "approximately the same length" and the sleeves may not be "ragged, frayed or slit."
- No attachments: Tape or other attachments of non-matching color may not be used on uniforms.
- No images of baseballs: No "pattern that imitates or suggests the shape of a baseball" may be used on uniforms. Notably, in apparent violation of this rule, the Milwaukee Brewers for many years had a logo that incorporated the image of a baseball, and the logo has made a comeback in 2006 on the hats of the Brewers' Sunday home uniforms. (The purpose of this rule is to prevent one team from deceiving the other. The National Football League has a similar rule.)
- No glass buttons or polished metal
- No commercial advertisements on uniforms. This rule is in variance with professional sports, especially outside the United States (notably soccer), in which it is customary for uniforms to prominently display the logo of a sponsoring company.
- Names: "A league may provide that the uniforms of its member teams include the names of its players on their backs. Any name other than the last name of the player must be approved by the League President. If adopted, all uniforms for a team must have the names of its players." Again, with the elimination of separate administrations for the American and National leagues, it is unknown what the provenance of this rule is. (Currently, Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners is the only player to have his first name on the back his uniform. Vida Blue also used his first name on the back of his uniform when he played for the San Francisco Giants in the mid-1980s). The San Francisco Giants, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs do not display their players' names on their home uniforms (The Yankees also don't display them on their road uniforms), although the Dodgers will return names to the back of their home uniforms in 2007.
On game days that do not require a special uniform (either by team or MLB request) it is generally (but not always) the starting pitcher for a team that chooses the uniform to be worn for that day's game.
All-Star Game
Early July marks the midway point of the season, during which a three day break is taken when the Major League Baseball All-Star Game is staged. The All-Star game pits players from the NL, headed up by the manager of the previous NL World Series team, against players from the AL, similarly managed, in an exhibition game. The 2002 contest ended in an 11-inning tie because both teams were out of pitchers, a result which proved highly unpopular with the fans. As a result, for a two-year trial in 2003 and 2004, the league which won the game received the benefit of home-field advantage (four of the seven games of that year's World Series taking place at their home park). The 2005 contest, played in Detroit, followed this format, and it is expected that it will remain that way until the MLB says otherwise, since it has become popular with fans but has upset purists over the previous format of the two leagues alternating home-field advantage every other year. The Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox took some advantage of the rule in 2004 and 2005 respectively, as each team started the Series with two home victories, giving them good momentum for a sweep. The rule did not help the Yankees in 2003, as they lost the Series to Florida in 6 games.
Since the 1970s, the eight position players for each team who take the field initially have been voted into the game by fans. The remaining position players and all of the pitchers on each league's roster were, for a large number of years, solely at the discretion of that team's manager. In 2004, however, MLB instituted a system where some reserves and pitchers were selected by a vote of MLB players, and some were selected by the manager after consulting with the Commissioner's Office. Each person is allowed to vote 25 times. By MLB regulation, every team in the majors must have at least one designated all-star player, regardless of voting. This rule exists so that fans of every team have a player to watch for in the All-Star Game. The 2007 All-Star Game will be played in San Francisco at AT&T Park.
Post-season
When the regular season ends after the first Sunday in October (or the last Sunday in September), eight teams enter the post-season playoffs. Six teams are division champions; the remaining two "wild-card" spots are filled by the team in each league that has the best record but is not a division champion (best second-place team). Three rounds of series of games are played to determine the champion:
- American League Division Series and National League Division Series, each a best-of-five game series;
- American League Championship Series and National League Championship Series, each a best-of-seven game series played between the surviving teams from the ALDS and NLDS; and
- World Series, a best-of-seven game series played between the champions of each league.
The division winners are seeded 1-3 based on record. The wild-card team is the 4 seed, regardless of its record. The matchup for the first round of the playoffs is usually 1 seed vs. 4 seed and 2 seed vs. 3 seed, unless this would result in a matchup of two teams from the same division, in which case the matchup is 1 seed vs. 3 seed and 2 seed vs. 4 seed. In the first and second round of the playoffs, the better seeded team has home-field advantage.
In the event of a tie in the standings at the close of the regular season, league rules provide for a one-game playoff (with the home field determined by coin flip) to determine which of two teams participate in the Division Series. If three teams are involved in a tie, a two-game playoff may be played. If two teams are tied, but a tiebreaker would result in both participating in the Divison Series anyway (due to one being division champion and the other being wild card), then no one-game playoff is played and seedings are determined by head-to-head record.
The team belonging to the league that won the mid-season All-Star Game receives home-field advantage in the World Series.
MLB steroid policy
Over most of the course of Major League Baseball, steroid testing was never a major issue. However, after the BALCO steroid scandal, which involved allegations that top baseball players had used illegal performance-enhancing drugs, Major League Baseball finally decided to issue harsher penalties for steroid users. The policy, which was accepted by Major League Baseball players and owners, was issued at the start of the 2005 season and went as follows:
A first positive test resulted in a suspension of 10 games, a second positive test resulted in a suspension of 30 games, the third positive test resulted in a suspension of 60 games, the fourth positive test resulted in a suspension of one full year, and a fifth positive test resulted in a penalty at the commissioner’s discretion. Players were tested at least once per year, with the chance that several players could be tested many times per year. (See: List of Major League Baseball players suspended for steroids)
This program replaced the previous steroid testing program under which, for example, no player was even suspended in 2004. Under the old policy, which was established in 2002, a first-time offense would only result in treatment for the player, and it was likely that the player would not even be named. The 2005 agreement changed this rule so that first-time offenders were named and suspended.
In November 2005, MLB owners and players approved even tougher penalties for positive tests than the ones in place during the 2005 season. Under the new rules, a first positive test would result in a 50-game suspension, a second positive test would result in a 100-game suspension, and a third positive test would result in a lifetime suspension from MLB.
These new penalties are much harsher than the previous ones. The new steroid policy finally brings MLB closer in line with international rules, as well as with the NFL, which has long taken a tough stance on those caught using steroids.
MLB's previous reluctance to take a hard line on drugs (as many other sports featured far stricter testing and penalties) was widely seen as one of the main reasons why baseball has been dropped from the Olympics, effective in 2012.
On March 30, 2006, Bud Selig launched an investigation on the alleged steriod use by players such as Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, and Gary Sheffield as the weight of books like Game of Shadows emerged. The inquiry into steroids' use in baseball is expected to go back no further than 2002, when the MLB started testing players for performance-enhancing drugs.
MLB blackout policy
Major League Baseball has several blackout rules. Games are blacked out based on two criteria:
- A local broadcaster has priority to televise games from the team in their market over national broadcasters. For example, TBS shows many Atlanta Braves games nationally. Fox Sports Net (FSN) also shows many games in other areas. If the Braves play a team that FSN or another local broadcaster shows, the local station has the rights for their own local market, TBS will be blacked out for the duration of the game for everyone in the zip code of the market of the team playing against the Braves. A market that has a local team playing in a weekday ESPN or ESPN2 game and is shown on a local station will see ESPNEWS, another game scheduled on ESPN or ESPN2 at the same time (if ESPN or ESPN2 operates a regional coverage broadcasting and operates a game choice), or will be subject to an alternative programming feed.
- FOX has certain rights for afternoon MLB games on Saturdays, and ESPN has the same rights for night games on Sundays. Broadcasters cannot show games of in-market teams regardless of if the game is home or away if the game of the local team has a certain start time (usually there are no other games scheduled at these times). This is to make people watch the out of market game on ESPN or FOX. The reasoning is that since people will not be able to watch their favorite team, they may be willing to settle for some baseball, even if it involves teams they are not as exicted about. This results in higher ratings for the national broadcaster by pulling baseball fans away from watching their own team.
References
National broadcasts
2006
Major League Baseball's current broadcast agreements ends at the end of the 2006 season. Currently, FOX Sports has rights to the All-Star Game, Saturday afternoon telecasts, shared rights with ESPN for the Division Series round of playoffs, and exclusive rights to the American League Championship Series, National League Championship Series, and the World Series. FOX also airs This Week in Baseball, a production of Major League Baseball. ESPN currently airs Baseball Tonight, a network program providing live game highlights and analysis, Sunday Night Baseball, as well as various weekly baseball telecasts, including games on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights. ESPN also airs games on opening day and has shared rights to division series games in 2006.
A new agreement reached with TBS on July 11, 2006 will allow TBS to broadcast any tiebreakers to determine a division or wildcard champion.
2007 and beyond
Major League Baseball has three current broadcast partners for the 2007 season and beyond, and a fourth is expected to join as well.
It was announced on July 11, 2006 that FOX Sports will remain with MLB through 2013 and broadcast FOX Saturday Baseball throughout the entire season, rather than the current May to September format. FOX will also hold rights to the All-Star Game each season. FOX will also alternate League Championship Series broadcasts, broadcasting the American League Championship Series in odd-numbered years and the National League Championship Series in even-numbered years as part of the new contract. FOX will continue to broadcast all games of the World Series, which will begin on a Tuesday evening rather than the current Saturday evening format.
ESPN will continue to broadcast Major League Baseball through 2013 as well, beginning with national Opening Day coverage. ESPN will continue to broadcast Sunday Night Baseball, Baseball Tonight, and a new Monday Night Baseball program. ESPN also has rights to the Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game each July.
TBS will begin broadcasting baseball nationally in 2007. TBS currently is a broadcast partner of the Atlanta Braves, but will end its national Braves broadcasts in 2007 as it will air Sunday afternoon games from across the MLB, which can include up to 13 Braves games, nationally from 2007 to 2013 under the new contract. TBS will also have exclusive rights to any tiebreaker games that determine division or wild card champions at the end of each regular season in the event of a tie with one playoff spot remaining, as well as exclusive coverage of the Division Series round of the playoffs. TBS will continue to air 45 Braves games per season in the local Atlanta market from 2007 to 2013.
A contract with a fourth television station is still in negotiation. It is expected that it would include the remaining League Championship Series telecasts not included under FOX's television agreement.
References
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2516552 http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=mlbespn&prov=st&type=lgns http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20060711&content_id=1552548&vkey=pr_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
Historical major leagues
In 1969, the centennial of professional baseball, a commission chartered by Major League Baseball identified the following leagues as "major leagues". The list is sometimes disputed by baseball researchers. The MLB list included the following:
- 1876—: National League of Professional Baseball Clubs
- 1882–1891: American Association
- 1884: Union Association
- 1890: Players League
- 1901—: American League
- 1914–1915: Federal League
Some researchers contend that the following leagues deserve consideration as major leagues due to the caliber of player and the level of play exhibited:
- The National Association (1871–1875)
- The first year of the American League (1900)
- The Negro Leagues (primarily during the years from 1921–1946)
In general, the official stance is that game and statistical records for these particular leagues were not kept in a consistent manner and/or those leagues did not have a significant direct impact on the major leagues.
Specifically, the following can be said of these leagues:
- The NA is unquestionably recognized as the first professional league, and is the direct precursor to the NL, most of whose original eight teams came from the NA. The standard position is that the NA was a "transitional" league that was not quite up to major league standards. The NL was a wholly new entity that took the best remnants of the NA and imposed a discipline that was lacking in the failed NA.
- The AL itself asserted that it was a minor league in 1900, although it was already located in most of the cities it would be operating in the following year. However, in 1900 it operated independently and did not conduct raids on major league rosters. That changed in 1901.
- The Negro Leagues are the toughest call. Some historians have labeled their time the era of "shadow ball", a segregated parallel to the (all-white) major leagues. The fact that many young players were able to come into the majors in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and have immediate impact, possibly argues for major status. It could also be argued that the Negro Leagues were more properly equated to the highest levels of minor league ball, such as the Pacific Coast League. It is a debate that has no clear resolution, which is why most historians are content to simply regard them as a category unto themselves.
Conversely, some historians question whether the Union Association really qualifies as "major", because it really only had one major-league caliber team (St. Louis) and its membership was a revolving door. The Union's chief claim to major status would rest on having had some direct impact on the other majors, due to roster-raiding. None of the three "non-major" groups listed above could make that claim.
Other major baseball leagues
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Numerous major professional baseball leagues exist throughout the world. The most prominent of these and the most directly comparable to Major League Baseball in real terms (number of teams, organization, funding and caliber of play) are the Central League and Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball. Many Japanese baseball teams have played and continue to play exhibition games against their American counterparts, and a number of players have career numbers in both the Japan Professional Baseball League and Major League Baseball.
See also
- History of baseball, for a detailed history of the Major Leagues
- 2005 Free Agents
- 1994 baseball strike
- 1981 baseball strike
- 1972 baseball strike
- Minor League Baseball, for a list of Minor Baseball teams
- Negro League baseball
- Continental League - proposed by Branch Rickey as a "third major league"; folded before play began, but forced majors to expand
- 19th century National League teams
- Current Major League Baseball Players by Nationality
- Major League Baseball television contracts
- Major League Baseball transactions
- List of Major League Rivalries
- MLB Draft
- MLB All-Century Team
- Major League Baseball Scandals
Players, ownership, ballparks and officials
- Baseball Commissioners
- List of highest paid baseball players
- List of major league players with articles
- List of Major League Baseball principal owners
- List of Major League Baseball stadiums
- List of Major League Baseball retired numbers
- List of Free Agents 2005-2006 season
Statistics, milestones and records
- Baseball statistics: BA, ERA, etc.
- Baseball Hall of Fame
- 30-30 club and 40-40 club
- 300-300 club
- Batting title
- List of lifetime home run leaders through history
- 500 home run club
- List of major league players with 2,000 hits
- 3000 hit club
- 300 win club
- 3000 strikeout club
- Major League Baseball franchise post-season droughts
- Perfect game
- Unassisted triple play
- Triple crown
- Hitting for the cycle
- Major League Baseball titles streaks
- Major League Baseball titles leaders
- Major League Baseball attendance records
- Major League Baseball home run milestones
- List of most experienced baseball players never to play in a World Series
- List of most common Major League Baseball post-season matchups
- List of Major League Baseball no-hitters
- Active MLB players who have played entire career for only one team
- Home run in first at-bat
- Home run in final at-bat
- Sports league attendances - Major League Baseball in a global context (31,000 per match)
Post-season awards
- Comeback Player of the Year Award
- Cy Young Award
- Rawlings Gold Glove Award
- Hank Aaron Award
- Manager of the Year Award
- Most Valuable Player Award
- The Sporting News Reliever of the Year Award (prior to 2001, TSN Fireman of the Year)
- Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award
- Rookie of the Year Award
- Silver Sluggers
In-season awards
Exhibition and playoffs
- Spring training
- World Baseball Classic
- All-Star Game
- National League pennant winners 1876-1900
- American League pennant winners 1901-68
- National League pennant winners 1901-68
- MLB division winners (since 1969)
- American League Division Series (ALDS)
- National League Division Series (NLDS)
- American League Championship Series (ALCS)
- National League Championship Series (NLCS)
- World Series
External links
- Official website
- MLB America
- National Baseball Hall of Fame
- Baseball-Reference.com
- Baseball Prospectus
- Baseball Think Factory
- Around the Diamond Baseball Coverage
- All-Baseball.com
- The Hardball Times
- Ballparks.com
- ESPN.com - Baseball Index
- MLB Rankings
- Baseball Newspaper Archive
- Official Rolaids Relief Man Award Site