CINCINATTI REDS POSTER ILLUSTRATION FRAMED APPROXIMATELY 18 3/4 X 213/4 INCHES FEATURING THE 1919 WORLD SERIS CHAMPIONS FROM NEEDLE MASTER NEEDLE MOLDED CLOTHES TAILORING. EXTREMELY RARE FEATURING A TEAM PHOTO OF THE 1919 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS
The 1919 Cincinnati Reds season was a season in American baseball. The Reds won the National League pennant, then went on to win the 1919 World Series. The team's accomplishments were overshadowed by the subsequent Black Sox Scandal, when it was discovered that their American League opponents, the Chicago White Sox had conspired to throw the series.
The 1919 Cincinnati Reds season was a season in American baseball. The Reds won the National League pennant, then went on to win the 1919 World Series. The team's accomplishments were overshadowed by the subsequent Black Sox Scandal, when it was discovered that their American League opponents, the Chicago White Sox had conspired to throw the series.
The 1919 Cincinnati Reds season was a season in American baseball. The Reds won the National League pennant, then went on to win the 1919 World Series. The team's accomplishments were overshadowed by the subsequent Black Sox Scandal, when it was discovered that their American League opponents, the Chicago White Sox had conspired to throw the series.
Off-season
Reds manager Christy Mathewson, who left the club late in the 1918 season to enlist in the United States Army for World War I, was accidentally gassed during a chemical training exercise and subsequently developed tuberculosis. Mathewson served with the American Expeditionary Force until February 1919 and was discharged later that month, however, it became apparent that he was too sick to manage the Reds. Cincinnati replaced Mathewson with Pat Moran. Moran had previously managed the Philadelphia Phillies from 1915 until 1918, leading the team to a 323–257 record, and won the National League pennant in 1915. In the 1915 World Series, the Phillies lost to the Boston Red Sox.
On February 1, the Reds traded away outfielder Tommy Griffith to the Brooklyn Robins in exchange for first baseman Jake Daubert. Daubert, who had spent his entire nine-year career with Brooklyn, hit .308 with two home runs, 47 RBI and a league high 15 triples in 108 games during the 1918 season. Daubert was named the National League Most Valuable Player during the 1913 season, when he led the league with a .350 batting average, two home runs, 52 RBI in 139 games.
With Daubert now playing first base, the Reds traded away first baseman Hal Chase to the New York Giants for first baseman Walter Holke and catcher Bill Rariden. Holke was then shipped to the Boston Braves for infielder/outfielder Jimmy Smith. Rariden batted .224 with 17 RBI in 69 games with the Giants during the 1918 season, while Smith hit .225 with a home run and 14 RBI in 34 games with the Braves.
In March, the Reds selected pitchers Ray Fisher from the New York Yankees and Slim Sallee from the New York Giants on waivers. Fisher, who spent the 1918 enlisted in the United States Army, had pitched with New York from 1910–1917, earning a 76–78 record with a 2.91 ERA in 219 games pitched. His best season was in 1915, as Fisher had a record of 18–11 with a 2.11 ERA in 30 games. Sallee, who broke into the league with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1908, had an 8–8 record and a 2.25 ERA in 18 games with the Giants in 1918.
Regular season
The Reds, who were looking to build off of a solid 68–60 record during the 1918 season, their highest winning percentage since 1904, started off the 1919 season with seven consecutive wins, and nine wins in their first 10 games, to take an early lead in the National League standings. The Reds did slump over their next 26 games, going 11–15 to drop their overall record to 20–16, and slipped into second place, four games behind the New York Giants.
Cincinnati put together a record of 24–7 in their next 31 games, moving to a 44–23 record and into first place in the National League, just ahead of the Giants. By the end of July, despite a very strong 59–28 record, the Reds and Giants were tied for first place. In August, the Reds begin to pull away from the Giants, as on August 26, Cincinnati had a record of 81-34 and had built a nine-game lead over New York. Also in August, there were accusations that the teams playing the Reds were throwing their games to allow the Reds to win.[1] The Reds continued to win in the last month of the season, and on September 18, Cincinnati defeated the Brooklyn Robins 2–0 to win their 93rd game of the season, which set a team record, besting the 92 wins the club had in 1898. Overall, Cincinnati finished the season with a 96–44 record, cruising to the National League pennant, as the team finished in first place for the first time since 1882. The Reds qualified for the 1919 World Series, as they would face the American League champions, the Chicago White Sox.
Outfielder Edd Roush led the National League with a .321 batting average, and he added four home runs, a team high 71 RBI and 20 stolen bases in 133 games. Third baseman Heinie Groh batted .310 with a team high five home runs, 63 RBI and 21 stolen bases in 122 games. Newly acquired first baseman Jake Daubert hit .276 with two home runs and 44 RBI. Outfielder Greasy Neale led the Reds with 28 stolen bases, while batting .242 with a home run and 54 RBI in 139 games.
Pitcher Hod Eller anchored the pitching staff, as he recorded a 19–9 record with a 2.39 ERA, leading the club with 248.1 innings pitched and 137 strikeouts in 38 games. Dutch Ruether led the National League in winning percentage, as he finished the season with a 19–6 record and a team best 1.82 ERA in 33 games. Slim Sallee, who the Reds picked up off of waivers from the New York Giants before the season began, led the club in victories, as he finished the season with a 21–7 record and a 2.06 ERA and had a team high 22 complete games in 29 games. Ray Fisher, another Reds waiver pickup prior to the season, had a solid 14–5 record with a 2.17 ERA in 26 games.
With the successful season on the field, the Reds set a club record for attendance, as they drew 532,501 fans to their home games, breaking the team record of 424,643 set in the 1909 season.
Season standings
vteNational League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cincinnati Reds 96 44 0.686 — 51–19 45–25
New York Giants 87 53 0.621 9 46–23 41–30
Chicago Cubs 75 65 0.536 21 40–31 35–34
Pittsburgh Pirates 71 68 0.511 24½ 39–31 32–37
Brooklyn Robins 69 71 0.493 27 36–34 33–37
Boston Braves 57 82 0.410 38½ 29–38 28–44
St. Louis Cardinals 54 83 0.394 40½ 34–35 20–48
Philadelphia Phillies 47 90 0.343 47½ 26–44 21–46
Record vs. opponents
1919 National League recordvte
Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS BR CHC CIN NYG PHI PIT STL
Boston — 7–13 7–13 4–16 6–14 15–5 8–11 10–10–1
Brooklyn 13–7 — 9–11 7–13 8–12 12–8–1 9–11 11–9
Chicago 13–7 11–9 — 8–12 6–14 13–7 11–9 13–7
Cincinnati 16–4 13–7 12–8 — 12–8 15–5 14–6 14–6
New York 14–6 12–8 14–6 8–12 — 14–6 11–9 14–6
Philadelphia 5–15 8–12–1 7–13 5–15 6–14 — 6–14 10–7
Pittsburgh 11–8 11–9 9–11 6–14 9–11 14–6 — 11–9
St. Louis 10–10–1 9–11 7–13 6–14 6–14 7–10 9–11 —
Roster
1919 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers
Hod Eller
Ray Fisher
Ed Gerner
Dolf Luque
Roy Mitchell
Mike Regan
Jimmy Ring
Dutch Ruether
Slim Sallee
Catchers
Nick Allen
Bill Rariden
Ivey Wingo
Infielders
Jake Daubert
Heinie Groh
Larry Kopf
Morrie Rath
Hank Schreiber
Jimmy Smith
Outfielders
Rube Bressler
Manuel Cueto
Pat Duncan
Sherry Magee
Greasy Neale
Wally Rehg
Edd Roush
Charlie See
Billy Zitzmann
Manager
Pat Moran
Player stats
Batting
Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Ivey Wingo 76 245 67 .273 0 27
1B Jake Daubert 140 537 148 .276 2 44
2B Morrie Rath 138 537 142 .264 1 29
3B Heinie Groh 122 448 139 .310 5 63
SS Larry Kopf 135 503 136 .270 0 58
OF Edd Roush 133 504 162 .321 4 71
OF Greasy Neale 139 500 121 .242 1 54
OF Rube Bressler 61 165 34 .206 2 17
Other batters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Bill Rariden 74 218 47 .216 1 24
Sherry Magee 56 163 35 .215 0 21
Pat Duncan 31 90 22 .244 2 17
Manuel Cueto 29 88 22 .250 0 4
Hank Schreiber 19 58 13 .224 0 4
Jimmy Smith 28 40 11 .275 1 10
Nick Allen 15 25 8 .320 0 5
Charlie See 8 14 4 .286 0 1
Wally Rehg 5 12 2 .167 0 3
Billy Zitzmann 2 1 0 .000 0 0
Pitching
Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player G IP W L ERA SO
Hod Eller 38 248.1 19 9 2.39 137
Dutch Ruether 33 242.2 19 6 1.82 78
Slim Sallee 29 227.2 21 7 2.06 24
Ray Fisher 26 174.1 14 5 2.17 41
Other pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player G IP W L ERA SO
Jimmy Ring 32 183.0 10 9 2.26 61
Dolf Luque 30 106.0 10 3 2.63 40
Rube Bressler 13 41.2 2 4 3.46 13
Ed Gerner 5 17.0 1 0 3.18 2
Relief pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player G W L SV ERA SO
Roy Mitchell 7 0 1 1 2.32 10
Mike Regan 1 0 0 0 0.00 1
1919 World Series
Main article: 1919 World Series
Game 1
October 1, 1919, at Redland Field in Cincinnati, Ohio
The Reds opened the 1919 World Series at home in front of 30,511 fans at Redland Field, the first World Series game in club history. Dutch Ruether got the start for the Reds, against Eddie Cicotte of the Chicago White Sox.
After a scoreless top half of the first inning, the Reds Morrie Rath led off the bottom of the inning and was hit by a pitch. Jake Daubert then hit a single, moving Rath to third base, and Heinie Groh then hit a sacrifice fly, bring Rath home and giving Cincinnati a 1–0 lead. The White Sox tied the game in the top of the second inning as a Chick Gandil single scored Shoeless Joe Jackson.
The Reds retook the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning, when Ivey Wingo singled to right field, scoring Larry Kopf. With two men on base, pitcher Dutch Ruether helped his own cause, hitting a triple, scoring Greasy Neale and Wingo, opening up the Reds lead to 4–1. Morrie Rath then doubled to center field, scoring Ruether, increasing the Cincinnati lead to 5–1, followed by a Jake Daubert single, scoring Rath, giving Cincinnati a 6-1 and knocking Eddie Cicotte out of the game.
With Roy Wilkinson in the ballgame, the Reds added two more runs in the seventh inning, as Heinie Groh singled home Jake Daubert, and Pat Duncan drove in Groh on a groundout, giving Cincinnati an 8–1 lead. In the eighth inning, the Reds took a 9–1 lead as Dutch Ruether hit his second triple of the game off of Grover Lowdermilk, driving home Greasy Neale.
Dutch Ruether finished the complete game with a perfect ninth inning, as the Reds took an early 1–0 series lead.
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chicago (A) 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 1
Cincinnati (N) 1 0 0 5 0 0 2 1 x 9 14 1
W: Walter "Dutch" Reuther (1–0) L: Eddie Cicotte (0–1)
Game 2
October 2, 1919, at Redland Field in Cincinnati, Ohio
The second game of the series was played in front of 29,698 fans at Redland Field, with Slim Sallee getting the start for the Reds, against Lefty Williams of the Chicago White Sox.
After three scoreless innings to start the game, the Reds opened the scoring in the bottom of the fourth inning, as Morrie Rath led off the inning with a walk. Jake Daubert moved Rath to second base with a sacrifice bunt. Heinie Groh then walked, followed by a single by Edd Roush, which drove home Rath, giving the Reds a 1–0 lead. Roush was caught stealing second, making it two outs, however, Pat Duncan walked, the third Reds player to walk in the inning. Larry Kopf then tripled to center field, scoring Groh and Duncan, giving the Reds a 3–0 lead.
In the sixth inning, the Reds extended their lead to 4-0 after Edd Roush led off the inning with a walk, and came around to score after a single by Greasy Neale.
The White Sox cut into the Reds lead in the seventh inning, as Ray Schalk singled home Swede Risberg. Schalk scored on the play after two throwing errors by the Reds, as the White Sox cut the Reds lead in half to 4–2.
Slim Sallee finished the game with a scoreless ninth inning, getting the complete game, as Cincinnati held on for a 4–2 win, and took a 2–0 series lead.
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chicago (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 10 1
Cincinnati (N) 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 x 4 4 3
W: Harry "Slim" Sallee (1–0) L: Lefty Williams (0–1)
Game 3
October 3, 1919, at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois
The series shifted over to Comiskey Park in Chicago for the third game. Ray Fisher got the start for Cincinnati, against Dickey Kerr for the White Sox in front of 29,126 fans.
The White Sox opened the scoring in the second inning, as Chick Gandil singled to left field, scoring Shoeless Joe Jackson and Happy Felsch, giving Chicago a 2–0 lead. The Sox added to their lead in the fourth, when Ray Schalk bunted a single, scoring Swede Risberg, as the White Sox took a 3–0 lead.
Dickey Kerr pitched a masterpiece for the White Sox, as he finished with a three hit shutout, as Chicago won the game 3–0, cutting the series lead to 2–1.
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cincinnati (N) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1
Chicago (A) 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 x 3 7 0
W: Dickey Kerr (1–0) L: Ray Fisher (0–1)
Game 4
October 4, 1919, at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois
The fourth game of the series was played at Comiskey Park in Chicago, with Jimmy Ring starting for the Reds, against Eddie Cicotte of the White Sox in front of 34,363 fans.
After fourth scoreless innings, the Reds caught a break when Pat Duncan reached second base on a throwing error by Eddie Cicotte. Larry Kopf singled home Duncan, giving Cincinnati a 1–0 lead. Greasy Neale followed that up with a double to left field, scoring Kopf, and giving the Reds a 2–0 lead.
Jimmy Ring pitched a complete-game shutout for the Reds, holding the White Sox to only three hits, as the Reds took the fourth game by a 2–0 score, and took a 3–1 series lead.
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cincinnati (N) 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 5 2
Chicago (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2
W: Jimmy Ring (1–0) L: Eddie Cicotte (0–2)
Game 5
October 6, 1919, at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois
The fifth game of the series was played at Comiskey Park in Chicago in front of 34,379 fans, as Hod Eller started for the Reds, against Lefty Williams of the White Sox. The game was originally scheduled for October 5, however, it was postponed due to rain.
Both Eller and Williams pitched excellent to start the game, as it wasn't until the sixth inning before the Reds opened the scoring. Hod Eller led off the inning with a double, and came around to scoring after a Morrie Rath single, making it 1-0 for the Reds. Jake Daubert sacrificed bunted, moving Rath to third base, followed by a walk by Heinie Groh. Edd Roush then hit a triple to deep center field, scoring Rath and Groh, making it 3-0 for the Reds. Pat Duncan then hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Roush, extending the Reds lead to 4–0.
In the ninth, the Reds added another run, as Greasy Neale drove home Pat Duncan when he grounded out. Hod Eller completed the shutout in the bottom of the inning, as he allowed only three hits in the game, and struck out nine, which included a World Series record six batters in a row, to earn the victory for the Reds, as they took a 4–1 series lead.
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cincinnati (N) 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 1 5 4 0
Chicago (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3
W: Hod Eller (1–0) L: Lefty Williams (0–2)
Game 6
October 7, 1919, at Redland Field in Cincinnati, Ohio
The series moved back to Redland Field in Cincinnati for game six, with Dutch Ruether starting for the Reds, against Dickey Kerr of the White Sox, in front of 32,006 fans.
The Reds took the lead in the second inning, as Jake Daubert singled to right field, and then stole second base. Edd Roush was then hit by a pitch, and both Daubert and Roush were brought home after a Pat Duncan double, giving the Reds a 2–0 lead. Cincinnati struck again in the third inning, as Greasy Neale led the inning off with a triple, then came in to score after Dutch Ruether doubled, giving Cincinnati a 3–0 lead. Morrie Rath drove in Ruether after an error by White Sox shortstop Swede Risberg, as the Reds took a 4–0 lead.
The White Sox struck back with a run of their own in the fifth inning, as Eddie Collins hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Swede Risberg, cutting the Reds lead to 4–1. In the sixth inning, the White Sox cut the lead to 4-2 when Shoeless Joe Jackson singled home Buck Weaver. Happy Felsch then doubled, scoring Jackson, and cut the Reds lead to 4–3, as Ruether was pulled out of the game, replaced with Jimmy Ring. Ring allowed a single by Ray Schalk, as Felsch scored, tying the game up at 4-4.
The game remained tied after nine innings, and in the tenth inning, the White Sox took a 5–4 lead after singled, scoring Buck Weaver. In the bottom half of the inning, Kerr finished the complete game victory, as Chicago completed the comeback, winning the game 5-4 and cutting the Reds series lead to 4–2.
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Chicago (A) 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 1 5 10 3
Cincinnati (N) 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 11 0
W: Dickey Kerr (2–0) L: Jimmy Ring (1–1)
Game 7
October 8, 1919, at Redland Field in Cincinnati, Ohio
The seventh game of the series was played at Redland Field in front of 13,323 fans, as the Reds started Slim Sallee, against Eddie Cicotte of the White Sox.
Chicago opened the scoring in the top of the first inning, when Shoeless Joe Jackson singled home Eddie Collins, giving Chicago a 1–0 lead. In the third inning, Chicago struck again, on another single by Jackson, which scored Collins, as Chicago took a 2–0 lead.
In the fifth inning, the White Sox continued to pile on the offense, as Happy Felsch singled off of Sallee, scoring Collins and Buck Weaver. Sallee was then pulled out of the game, and Chicago had a 4–0 lead.
The Reds broke the shutout in the sixth inning, when Heinie Groh hit a ground rule double, then came around to score on a single by Pat Duncan, cutting the White Sox lead to 4–1.
That would be the only offense the Reds could muster, as Cicotte pitched a complete game victory, leading the White Sox to a 4–1 win and cutting the Reds series lead to 4–3.
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chicago (A) 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 4 10 1
Cincinnati (N) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 7 4
W: Eddie Cicotte (1–2) L: Harry "Slim" Sallee (1–1)
Game 8
October 9, 1919, at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois
The eighth game of the series moved back to Comiskey Park in Chicago, as Hod Eller got the start for Cincinnati, against Lefty Williams of the White Sox, in front of 32,930 fans.
After Morrie Rath led off the game with a pop out, the Reds Jake Daubert singled to center field. Heinie Groh then singled to right field, moving Daubert to second base. Edd Roush then doubled to right field, scoring Daubert and giving the Reds a 1–0 lead. Pat Duncan followed up with a double of his own, scoring both Groh and Roush as Cincinnati took a 3–0 lead. The White Sox then took Williams out of the game, replacing him with Bill James. The Reds added another run when Bill Rariden singled home Duncan.
In the second inning, Heinie Groh singled off of James, then was brought home after a double by Edd Roush, as Cincinnati took a 5–0 lead.
The White Sox got on the board in the third inning, as Shoeless Joe Jackson hit a home run to right field, cutting the Reds lead to 5–1.
In the fifth inning, the Reds Larry Kopf tripled off of Bill James, and was brought home after a Greasy Neale single, making it 6-1 Cincinnati. The Reds continued to pour on the offense in the sixth inning, when Hod Eller singled off of James, followed by a walk by Morrie Rath, knocking James out of the game. The White Sox brought in Roy Wilkinson to pitch, however, Jake Daubert reached first base after an error, loading the bases. Edd Roush then singled, scoring Eller and Rath, followed by a single by Pat Duncan, scoring Roush, and giving the Reds a 9–1 lead.
In the eighth inning, Edd Roush led off the inning after being hit by a pitch, then moved to second after a Pat Duncan sacrifice bunt. Roush came around to score after a single by Bill Rariden, extending the Reds lead to 10–1.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, the White Sox made a last attempt to comeback, as a double by Shoeless Joe Jackson scored Eddie Collins and Buck Weaver, cutting the Reds lead to 10–3. Chick Gandil tripled to right field, scoring Jackson, making it 10–4. Swede Risberg then hit it to Reds center fielder Edd Roush, who made an error, allowing Gandil to score, and cut the lead to 10-5 for the Reds. Cincinnati got out of the inning after a Ray Schalk groundout to stop the comeback.
In the ninth, the White Sox threatened to score, however, Hod Eller shut them down, as Cincinnati won the game 10–5, and won the World Series for the first time in club history.
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cincinnati (N) 4 1 0 0 1 3 0 1 0 10 16 2
Chicago (A) 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 4 0 5 10 1
W: Hod Eller (2–0) L: Lefty Williams (0–3)
HR: CHI – Joe Jackson (1)
The 1919 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1919 season. The 16th edition of the World Series, it matched the American League champion Chicago White Sox against the National League champion Cincinnati Reds. Although most World Series have been of the best-of-seven format, the 1919 World Series was a best-of-nine series (along with 1903, 1920, and 1921). Major League Baseball decided to try the best-of-nine format partly to increase popularity of the sport and partly to generate more revenue.[1]
The events of the series are often associated with the Black Sox Scandal, when several members of the Chicago franchise conspired with gamblers, allegedly led by Arnold Rothstein, to throw the World Series games. The 1919 World Series was the last World Series to take place without a Commissioner of Baseball in place. In 1920, the various franchise owners installed Kenesaw Mountain Landis as the first "Commissioner of Baseball."
In August 1921, despite being acquitted from criminal charges, eight players from the White Sox were banned from organized baseball for either fixing the series or having knowledge about the fix.[2]
Teams
Chicago White Sox
In 1917, the Sox won the World Series and, managed by William "Kid" Gleason, the 1919 Chicago White Sox had the best record in the American League. Team owner Charlie Comiskey had succeeded in building one of the most powerful teams in baseball.[2] Most of the same players had defeated the New York Giants in the 1917 World Series, four games to two. They had fallen to sixth place in the American League in 1918, largely as a result of losing their best player, Shoeless Joe Jackson, and a few of his teammates as well, to World War I service. Comiskey fired manager Pants Rowland after the season, replacing him with Kid Gleason, who had played over 20 years in the majors but had never managed before. The 88–52 White Sox won the American League pennant again in 1919, by 3+1⁄2 games over the Cleveland Indians (world champions the following year).
Joe Jackson
Jackson was the unquestioned star of the team. The left fielder hit .351 that season, fourth in the league and in the AL's top five in slugging percentage, RBI, total bases and base hits. He was not the only star in a lineup with hardly a weak spot, as former A's superstar leadoff hitter Eddie Collins, one of the greatest second basemen of all time,[3] was still going strong in his early thirties, hitting .319 with a .400 on-base percentage. Right fielder Nemo Leibold hit .302 with 81 runs scored. First baseman Chick Gandil hit .290, third baseman Buck Weaver .296, and center fielder Oscar "Hap" Felsch hit .275 and tied Jackson for the team lead in home runs with only 7 (as the dead-ball era was coming to a close). Even typical "good field, no hit" catcher Ray Schalk hit .282 that year, and shortstop Swede Risberg was not an automatic out with the .256 average and 38 RBI. Manager Gleason's bench contained two impressive hitters, outfielder Shano Collins and infielder Fred McMullin, both veterans of the 1917 world championship.
The 1919 pennant-winning pitching staff was led by a pair of aces and a very promising rookie. Knuckleballer Eddie Cicotte had become one of the AL's best pitchers after turning 30 and discovering the "shine ball;" he had won 28 games for the 1917 champions, and after an off-year in 1918 had come back with a hefty 29–7, leading the league in wins and second in earned run average to Washington's veteran "Big Train" Walter Johnson. Next came Claude "Lefty" Williams, at 23–11 and 2.64. Twenty-six-year-old rookie Dickie Kerr started only 17 games, but turned in a solid 13–7 and 2.88. Fourth in the rotation was Urban "Red" Faber, who had beaten the Giants three times in the 1917 World Series but had an off-year in 1919 at 11–9 and 3.83 in 20 starts. He was ill and unable to pitch in the Series, limiting Gleason to three top-of-the-line starters for what could be nine games.
However, all was not well in the White Sox camp. Tension between many of the players and owner Comiskey was quite high, given his penny-pinching ways memorialized in two urban legends: (1) that he told Gleason to shut down Cicotte in the last days of the regular season to prevent him from winning 30 games, a milestone which would have earned him a sizeable $10,000 bonus; (2) that many derided the White Sox as the Black Sox because Comiskey wouldn't pay to have their uniforms laundered regularly, and they became blacker and blacker due to accumulated sweat, grime, and dirt.
Cincinnati Reds
In contrast to the White Sox, the 1919 Cincinnati Reds were upstarts. They had finished no higher than third since 1900, and then only twice, before winning the NL pennant handily in 1919. Under new manager Pat Moran, best known as the leader of another bunch of unlikely newcomers to the World Series, the 1915 Philadelphia Phillies, the Reds finished nine games in front of the runner-up New York Giants at 96–44 and at least 20 games ahead of the other six, with the second highest NL won-lost percentage since 1910 at .686.
Edd Roush
Their greatest star was center fielder Edd Roush, who led the league in hitting at .321 and, like the White Sox's Jackson, was in the top five of their respective leagues in most important hitting categories. Third baseman Heinie Groh was the other great hitter on the team at .310 with a .392 on-base percentage and 79 runs scored. Slick-fielding first baseman Jake Daubert, a two-time National League batting champion with Brooklyn earlier in the decade, also scored 79 runs and hit .276, while catcher Ivey Wingo hit .273. The rest of the team was unheralded, including second baseman Morrie Rath, a .264 hitter with no power but a good on-base percentage, and shortstop Larry Kopf, a .270 singles hitter. The corner outfielders were decidedly weaker hitters, with former Phillies star left fielder Sherry Magee's .215 in 56 games and right fielder Earle "Greasy" Neale's .242 with little power. This would prompt Moran to start rookie Pat Duncan in left field in the World Series.
The Reds' pitching was universally solid, however. The team's big three included Hod Eller (20–9, 2.39), Dutch Ruether (19–6, 1.82) and Slim Sallee (21–7, 2.06), all among the league leaders in various categories. They were backed by three other pitchers who were almost as successful: Jimmy Ring at only 10–9 but 2.26, Ray Fisher at 14–5 and 2.17 with five shutouts, and Cuban Dolf Luque at 10–3 and 2.63, former and future Giant who would win the last game of the 1933 World Series in long relief for New York. It was a deep and talented staff, a definite advantage in a Series whose format had just been changed from best of seven to best of nine.
The fix
Main article: Black Sox Scandal
The conspirators got an unexpected assist when a flu-stricken Faber was left off the World Series roster. Indeed, years later catcher Schalk said that had Faber been healthy, there never would have been a fix (since he almost certainly would have gotten starts that went to Cicotte or Williams).[4] Despite their many wins on the field, the White Sox were an unhappy team. Many observers believe that it was Comiskey's stinginess that was largely to blame for the Black Sox scandal, despite the fact that the 1919 White Sox payroll was third highest in the American League, behind only Boston and New York.
Stories of the "Black Sox" scandal have usually included Comiskey in its gallery of subsidiary villains, focusing in particular on his intentions regarding a clause in Cicotte's contract that would have paid Cicotte an additional $10,000 bonus for winning 30 games. According to Eliot Asinof's account of the events, Eight Men Out, Cicotte was "rested" for the season's final two weeks after reaching his 29th win presumably to deny him the bonus, but the truth may be more complex. Cicotte won his 29th game on September 19, had an ineffective start on September 24 and was pulled after a few innings in a tuneup on the season's final day, September 28 (three days before the Series opener). In addition, Cicotte reportedly agreed to the fix the same day he won his 29th game before he could have known of any efforts to deny him a chance to win his 30th.[5] The story was probably true with regard to the 1917 season, however, when Cicotte won 28 games and hurled the White Sox to the world championship.
Although rumors were swirling among the gamblers (according to Tom Meany in his chapter on the 1919 Reds in "Baseball's Greatest Teams," "Cincinnati money was pouring in" even though the White Sox were regarded as the overwhelming favorite) and some of the press, most fans and observers were taking the Series at face value. On October 2, the day of Game 2, the Philadelphia Bulletin published a poem which would quickly prove to be ironic:
Still, it really doesn't matter,
After all, who wins the flag.
Good clean sport is what we're after,
And we aim to make our brag
To each near or distant nation
Whereon shines the sporting sun
That of all our games gymnastic
Base ball is the cleanest one!
Summary
Newsreel showing portions of the Series.
NL Cincinnati Reds (5) vs. AL Chicago White Sox (3)
Game Date Score Location Time Attendance
1 October 1 Chicago White Sox – 1, Cincinnati Reds – 9 Redland Field 1:42 30,511[6]
2 October 2 Chicago White Sox – 2, Cincinnati Reds – 4 Redland Field 1:42 29,698[7]
3 October 3 Cincinnati Reds – 0, Chicago White Sox – 3 Comiskey Park 1:30 29,126[8]
4 October 4 Cincinnati Reds – 2, Chicago White Sox – 0 Comiskey Park 1:37 34,363[9]
5 October 6 Cincinnati Reds – 5, Chicago White Sox – 0 Comiskey Park 1:45 34,379[10]
6 October 7 Chicago White Sox – 5, Cincinnati Reds – 4 (10 innings) Redland Field 2:06 32,006[11]
7 October 8 Chicago White Sox – 4, Cincinnati Reds – 1 Redland Field 1:47 13,923[12]
8 October 9 Cincinnati Reds – 10, Chicago White Sox – 5 Comiskey Park 2:27 32,930[13]
Matchups
Game 1
Eddie Cicotte
Wednesday, October 1, 1919 3:00 pm (ET) at Redland Field in Cincinnati, Ohio
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chicago 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 1
Cincinnati 1 0 0 5 0 0 2 1 X 9 14 1
WP: Walter "Dutch" Ruether (1–0) LP: Eddie Cicotte (0–1)
The first game began at 3 pm at Cincinnati's Redland Field, with 30,511 fans in the stands and ticket scalpers outside the park raking in at least $50 per ticket. Chicago failed to score in the top of the first. In the bottom of the inning, Cicotte (who was paid his $10,000 the night before the series began) took the mound and hit the leadoff hitter, Morrie Rath, in the back with his second pitch, a prearranged signal to Arnold Rothstein that the fix was on. Even so, the game remained close for a while, due in part to some excellent defense from the conspirators, seeking to deflect suspicion from themselves. In the fourth, however, Cicotte "went haywire" (again according to Meany, op. cit.), allowing a number of hits in succession climaxed by a two-out triple to the opposing pitcher, as the Reds scored five times to break a 1–1 tie. Cicotte was relieved at that point, but the damage was done and the Reds went on to add three more runs in later innings and win 9–1.
Sportswriters thought that a bad throw by Cicotte to Risberg in the fourth inning, which prevented a possible double play, was suspicious.[14] By that evening, there already were signs that things were going wrong. Only Cicotte, who had shrewdly demanded his $10,000 in advance, had been paid. "Sleepy" Bill Burns and Maharg met with Abe Attell, the former world boxing champ and Rothstein's intermediary, but he withheld the next installment ($20,000) nonetheless to bet on the next game. The next morning Gandil met Attell and again demanded money, but again to no avail.
Game 2
Thursday, October 2, 1919 3:00 pm (ET) at Redland Field in Cincinnati, Ohio
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chicago 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 10 1
Cincinnati 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 X 4 4 3
WP: Harry "Slim" Sallee (1–0) LP: Lefty Williams (0–1)
Although they had not received their money, the players were still willing to go through with the fix. "Lefty" Williams, the starting pitcher in Game 2, was not going to be as obvious as Cicotte. After a shaky start, he pitched well until the fourth inning, when he walked three and gave up as many runs. After that he became virtually unhittable again, giving up only one more run; but lack of clutch hitting, with Gandil a particularly guilty party, led to a 4–2 White Sox loss. Attell was still in no mood to pay up afterwards, but Burns managed to get hold of $10,000 and gave it to Gandil, who distributed it among the conspirators. The teams headed northwest to Comiskey Park in Chicago for Game 3 the next day, with no days off for travel in this Series.
Game 3
Friday, October 3, 1919 2:00 pm (CT) at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cincinnati 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1
Chicago 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 X 3 7 0
WP: Dickie Kerr (1–0) LP: Ray Fisher (0–1)
Rookie pitcher Dickey Kerr, the Game 3 starter for the Sox, was not in on the fix. The original plan was for the conspirators, who disliked Kerr, to lose this game, but by now dissent among the players meant that the plan was in disarray. Burns still had faith and gathered the last of his resources to bet on Cincinnati. It was a decision that would leave him broke, as Chicago scored early—with Gandil himself driving in two runs—and Kerr was masterful, holding the Reds to three hits in a 3–0 complete game shutout.
Game 4
Saturday, October 4, 1919 2:00 pm (CT) at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cincinnati 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 5 2
Chicago 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2
WP: Jimmy Ring (1–0) LP: Eddie Cicotte (0–2)
Cicotte took the mound again for Game 4, and was determined not to look as bad as he had in Game 1. For the first four innings, he and Reds pitcher Jimmy Ring matched zeroes. With one out in the fifth, Cicotte fielded a slow roller by Pat Duncan but threw wildly to first for a two-base error. The next man up, Larry Kopf, singled to left; Cicotte cut off the throw from Jackson and fumbled the ball, allowing Duncan to score. The home crowd was stunned by the veteran pitcher's obvious mistake. Cicotte then surrendered a double to Greasy Neale which scored Kopf to make it 2–0; this was enough of a lead for Ring, who hurled a three-hit shutout of his own, matching Kerr's in Game 3. The Reds led the Series 3–1.
After the game "Sport" Sullivan came through with $20,000 for the players, which Gandil split equally among Risberg, Felsch, and Williams, who was due to start Game 5 the next day.
Game 5
Monday, October 6, 1919 2:00 pm (CT) at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cincinnati 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 1 5 4 0
Chicago 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3
WP: Hod Eller (1–0) LP: Lefty Williams (0–2)
Game 5 was postponed by rain for a day. Both starters, Williams and Cincinnati's Hod Eller, pitched excellently at first, with neither allowing a runner past first until the top of the sixth, when Eller himself hit a blooper that fell between Felsch and Jackson. Felsch's throw was offline, sending Eller all the way to third. Leadoff hitter Morrie Rath then singled over the drawn-in infield, scoring Eller. Heinie Groh walked before Edd Roush's double—the result of more doubtful defense from Felsch—brought home two more runs, with Roush scoring shortly thereafter. Eller pitched well enough (he struck out nine batters, including a then-World Series record six in a row, since tied by Moe Drabowsky in the 1966 World Series opener) for the four runs to stand up, and the Reds were only one game away from their first world championship.
Game 6
Tuesday, October 7, 1919 3:00 pm (ET) at Redland Field in Cincinnati, Ohio
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Chicago 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 1 5 10 3
Cincinnati 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 11 0
WP: Dickie Kerr (2–0) LP: Jimmy Ring (1–1)
The Series reverted to Cincinnati for Game 6. Dickey Kerr, starting for the White Sox, was less dominant than in Game 3. Aided by three White Sox errors, the Reds jumped out to a 4–0 lead before Chicago fought back, tying the game at 4-4 in the sixth, which remained the score into extra innings. In the top of the tenth, Gandil drove in Weaver to make it 5–4, and Kerr closed it out to record his — and Chicago's — second win.
Game 7
Wednesday, October 8, 1919 3:00 pm (ET) at Redland Field in Cincinnati, Ohio
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chicago 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 4 10 1
Cincinnati 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 7 4
WP: Eddie Cicotte (1–2) LP: Harry "Slim" Sallee (1–1)
Despite the rumors already circulating about Cicotte's erratic performances in Games 1 and 4, White Sox manager Kid Gleason showed faith in his ace for Game 7. This time, the knuckleballer did not let him down. Chicago scored early and, for once, it was Cincinnati that committed errors. The Reds threatened only briefly in the sixth before losing 4–1, and suddenly the Series was relatively close again. This marked the only time in World Series history that the winner of Game 7 did not ultimately go on to win the series.
This did not go unnoticed by Sullivan and Rothstein, who were suddenly worried. Before the Series started, the Sox had been strong favorites and few doubted they could win two games in a row—presuming that they were trying to win. Rothstein had been too smart to bet on individual games, but had $270,000 riding on Cincinnati to win the Series. The night before Game 8, Williams—the scheduled starter—was supposedly visited by an associate of Sullivan's known as Harry F who left no doubt that if he failed to blow the game in the first inning, he and his wife would be in serious danger.
To date, this is the only time the White Sox have ever played in a Game 7.
Game 8
Thursday, October 9, 1919 2:00 pm (CT) at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cincinnati 4 1 0 0 1 3 0 1 0 10 16 2
Chicago 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 4 0 5 10 1
WP: Hod Eller (2–0) LP: Lefty Williams (0–3)
Home runs:
CIN: None
CWS: Joe Jackson (1)
Whatever Williams had been told made its impression. In the first, throwing nothing but mediocre fastballs, he gave up four straight one-out hits for three runs before Gleason relieved him with "Big" Bill James, who allowed one of Williams' baserunners to score. James continued ineffective and, although the Sox rallied in the eighth, the Reds came away with a 10–5 victory for a five-games-to-three Series win. Jackson hit the only homer of the Series in the third inning after the Reds had built a 5–0 lead. Immediately after the Series ended, rumors were rife from coast to coast that the games had been thrown. Journalist Hugh Fullerton of the Chicago Herald and Examiner, disgusted by the display of ineptitude with which the White Sox had "thrown" the series, wrote that no World Series should ever be played again.[15]
Composite line score
1919 World Series (5–3): Cincinnati Reds (N.L.) over Chicago White Sox (A.L.)
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Cincinnati Reds 5 1 2 10 3 9 2 2 1 0 35 64 13
Chicago White Sox 1 3 2 1 3 3 2 4 0 1 20 59 12
Total attendance: 236,936 Average attendance: 29,617
Winning player's share: $5,207 Losing player's share: $3,254[16]
Notable performances
Jackson led all players with his .375 average. Some[17] believed that most of his offensive potency came in games that were not fixed and/or when the game seemed out of reach. He hit the Series' lone home run in the eighth and final game, a solo shot in the third inning, by which time the Reds were already ahead 5–0. His five hits with runners in scoring position came in: Game 6, sixth inning with Kerr pitching; Game 7, first and third innings; Game 8, two in the four-run eighth.
Shoeless Joe had 12 hits overall, a World Series record at that time.[18]
Cincinnati Reds
Greasy Neale (OF): 10-for-28; .357 batting average; 3 runs; 2 doubles; 1 triple; 4 RBI
Hod Eller (P): 2 complete games (1 shutout); 2 wins; 18 innings pitched; 13 hits allowed, 4 earned runs; 2 bases-on-balls; 15 strikeouts; 2.00 ERA
Chicago White Sox
Joe Jackson (OF): 12-for-32; .375 batting average; 5-for-12 w/ men in scoring position; 5 runs; 3 doubles; 1 home run; 6 RBI
Ray Schalk (C): 7-for-23; .304 batting average; 2-for-3 w/ men in scoring position; 1 run; 2 RBI
Buck Weaver (3B): 11-for-34; .324 batting average; 1-for-5 w/ men in scoring position; 4 runs; 4 doubles; 1 triple
Dickie Kerr (P): 2 games (started); 2 complete games (1 shutout); 2 wins; 19 innings pitched; 14 hits allowed; 3 earned runs; 3 bases-on-balls; 6 strikeouts; 1.42 ERA
In modern culture
A Pathé Newsreel with a few minutes of footage of the series, including the suspicious Cicotte–Risberg throw, was found in the Dawson Film Find in 1978.[14]
In the 1925 book The Great Gatsby, Meyer Wolfsheim, one of the supporting characters, is said to have fixed the 1919 World Series. The character is an allusion to Arnold Rothstein, whom the author F. Scott Fitzgerald met once.
In the 1974 film The Godfather Part II, Hyman Roth states that he has liked baseball since Arnold Rothstein fixed the 1919 World Series.
The eight banned players, most prominently Shoeless Joe Jackson, are principal characters in the 1982 novel Shoeless Joe, and its 1989 film adaptation, Field of Dreams.
The 1988 film Eight Men Out, based on the book by Eliot Asinof, is about the fix itself.
The television show Boardwalk Empire discusses the event in great detail.
In Episode 6, Season 5 of Mad Men ("Far Away Places"), Roger Sterling imagines he is watching the 1919 World Series from his bathtub while on an LSD trip.
In Episode 17, Season 2 of Friday the 13th: the Series, "The Mephisto Ring", the eponymous cursed artifact is a 1919 World Series ring that tells its owner the winners in any manner of gambling venue after it has killed the person wearing it. The history of the match and the teams involved is briefly touched on by a phone call the character Micki makes near the start of the episode to try and locate the ring.
The story of the scandal was retold by Katie Nolan in the sixth season of Drunk History.
he Black Sox Scandal was a Major League Baseball game-fixing scandal in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of losing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds on purpose in exchange for money from a gambling syndicate led by Arnold Rothstein. As a response, the National Baseball Commission was dissolved, and Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was appointed to be the first Commissioner of Baseball and given absolute control over the sport to restore its integrity.
Despite acquittals in a public trial in 1921, Judge Landis permanently banned all eight men from professional baseball. The Baseball Hall of Fame eventually defined the punishment as banishment from consideration for the Hall. Despite requests for reinstatement in the decades that followed (particularly in the case of Shoeless Joe Jackson), the ban remained.[1]
Background
Tension in the clubhouse and Charles Comiskey
1919 Chicago White Sox team photo
White Sox club owner Charles Comiskey, a prominent MLB player from 1882 to 1894, was widely disliked by the players and resented for his miserliness. Comiskey, as a player, had taken part in the Players' League labor rebellion in 1890 and long had a reputation for underpaying his players, even though they were one of the top teams in the league and had already won the 1917 World Series.
Because of baseball's reserve clause, any player who refused to accept a contract was prohibited from playing baseball on any other professional team under the auspices of "Organized Baseball." Players could only change teams with permission from their current team, and without a union, the players had no bargaining power. Comiskey was probably no worse than most owners. In fact, Chicago had the largest team payroll in 1919. In the era of the reserve clause, gamblers could find players on many teams looking for extra cash—and they did.[2][3]
The White Sox clubhouse was divided into two factions. One group resented the more straitlaced players (later called the "Clean Sox"), a group that included players like second baseman Eddie Collins, a graduate of Columbia College of Columbia University; catcher Ray Schalk, and pitchers Red Faber and Dickey Kerr. By contemporary accounts, the two factions rarely spoke to each other on or off the field, and the only thing they had in common was a resentment of Comiskey.[4]
The conspiracy
Chick Gandil, the mastermind of the scandal
On September 18, 1919, Chick Gandil met with Joe "Sport" Sullivan at Boston Hotel Buckminster. Gandil and Sullivan, a bookie based in Boston, discussed plans to throw their upcoming series with the Cincinnati Reds for $80,000.[5]
A meeting of White Sox players—including those committed to going ahead and those just ready to listen—took place on September 21 in Chick Gandil's room at the Ansonia Hotel in New York City. Buck Weaver was the only player to attend the meetings who did not receive money. Nevertheless, he was later banned along with the others for knowing about the fix but not reporting it.
Although he hardly played in the series, utility infielder Fred McMullin got word of the fix and threatened to report the others unless he was in on the payoff. As a small coincidence, McMullin was a former teammate of the retired player William "Sleepy Bill" Burns, who had a minor role in the fix. Both had played for the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League,[6][7] and Burns had previously pitched for the White Sox in 1909 and 1910.[8] Star outfielder Shoeless Joe Jackson was mentioned as a participant but did not attend the meetings, and his involvement is disputed.
The scheme got an unexpected boost when the straitlaced Faber could not pitch due to getting sick with the flu. Years later, Schalk said the fix would not have happened if Faber had been available. According to Schalk, since Faber was the ace of the staff, he would almost certainly have got starts that went instead to two of the alleged conspirators, pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Lefty Williams.[9]
Conduct of the World Series
Main article: 1919 World Series
On October 1, the day of Game One, there were rumors amongst gamblers that the series was fixed, and a sudden influx of money being bet on Cincinnati caused the odds against them to fall rapidly. These rumors also reached the press box where several correspondents, including Hugh Fullerton of the Chicago Herald and Examiner and ex-player and manager Christy Mathewson, resolved to compare notes on any plays and players that they felt were questionable. However, most fans and observers were taking the series at face value. On October 2, the Philadelphia Bulletin published a poem which would quickly prove to be ironic:
Still, it really doesn't matter,
After all, who wins the flag.
Good clean sport is what we're after,
And we aim to make our brag
To each near or distant nation
Whereon shines the sporting sun
That of all our games gymnastic
Base ball is the cleanest one!
After throwing a strike with his first pitch of the Series, Cicotte's second pitch struck Cincinnati leadoff hitter Morrie Rath in the back, delivering a pre-arranged signal confirming the players' willingness to go through with the fix.[9] In the fourth inning, Cicotte made a lousy throw to Swede Risberg at second base. Sportswriters found the unsuccessful double play to be suspicious.[10]
Williams, one of the "Eight Men Out," lost three games, a Series record. Rookie Dickie Kerr, who was not part of the fix, won both of his starts. But the gamblers were now reneging on their promised progress payments (to be paid after each game lost), claiming that all the money was let out on bets and was in the hands of the bookmakers. After Game 5, angry about the non-payment of promised money, the players involved in the fix attempted to doublecross the gamblers and won Games 6 and 7 of the best-of-nine Series. Before Game 8, threats of violence were made on the gamblers' behalf against players and family members.[11] Williams started Game 8 but gave up four straight one-out hits for three runs before manager Kid Gleason relieved him. The White Sox lost Game 8 (and the series) on October 9, 1919.[12] Besides Weaver, the players involved in the scandal received $5,000 each (equivalent to $84,000 in 2022) or more, with Gandil taking $35,000 (equivalent to $591,000 in 2022).
Fallout
Grand jury (1920)
Rumors of the fix dogged the White Sox throughout the 1920 season as they battled the Cleveland Indians for the American League pennant, and stories of corruption touched players on other clubs as well. At last, in September 1920, a grand jury was convened to investigate; Cicotte confessed to his participation in the scheme to the grand jury on September 28.[13]
On the eve of their final season series, the White Sox were in a virtual tie for first place with the Indians. The Sox would need to win all three of their remaining games and then hope for Cleveland to stumble, as the Indians had more games left to play than the Sox. Despite the season being on the line, Comiskey suspended the seven White Sox still in the majors (Gandil had not returned to the team in 1920 and was playing semi-pro ball). He said he had no choice but to suspend them, even though this action likely cost the Sox any chance of winning a second pennant. The Sox lost two of the three games in the final series against the St. Louis Browns and finished in second place, two games behind the Indians, who went on to win the World Series.
The grand jury issued its decision on October 22, 1920, and eight players and five gamblers were implicated. The indictments included nine counts of conspiracy to defraud.[14] The ten players not implicated in the gambling scandal, as well as manager Kid Gleason, were each given $1,500 bonus checks (equivalent to $21,900 in 2022) by Comiskey in the fall of 1920, the amount equaling the difference between the winners' and losers' share for participation in the 1919 World Series.[15]
Trial (1921)
Infielders Swede Risberg (left) and Buck Weaver during their 1921 trial
The trial began on June 27, 1921, in Chicago but was delayed by Judge Hugo Friend because two defendants, Ben Franklin and Carl Zork, claimed to be ill.[16] Right fielder Shano Collins was named as the wronged party in the indictments, accusing his corrupt teammates of having cost him $1,784 as a result of the scandal.[17] Before the trial, key evidence went missing from the Cook County courthouse, including the signed confessions of Cicotte and Jackson, who subsequently recanted their confessions. Some years later, the missing confessions reappeared in the possession of Comiskey's lawyer.[18]
On July 1, the prosecution announced that former White Sox player "Sleepy Bill" Burns, who was under indictment for his part in the scandal, had turned state's evidence and would testify.[19] During jury selection on July 11, several members of the current White Sox team, including manager Kid Gleason, visited the courthouse, chatting and shaking hands with the indicted ex-players; at one point they even tickled Weaver, who was known to be quite ticklish.[20] Jury selection took several days, but on July 15 twelve jurors were finally empaneled in the case.[21]
Trial testimony began on July 18, 1921, when prosecutor Charles Gorman outlined the evidence he planned to present against the defendants:
The spectators added to the bleacher appearance of the courtroom, for most of them sweltered in shirtsleeves, and collars were few. Scores of small boys jammed their way into the seats, and as Mr. Gorman told of the alleged sell-out, they repeatedly looked at each other in awe, remarking under their breaths: 'What do you think of that?' or 'Well, I'll be darned.'[22]
White Sox President Charles Comiskey was then called to the stand and became so agitated with questions being posed by the defense that he rose from the witness chair and shook his fist at the defendants' counsel, Ben Short.[22]
The most explosive testimony began the following day, July 19, when Burns took the stand and admitted that members of the White Sox had intentionally fixed the 1919 World Series; Burns mentioned the involvement of Rothstein, among others, and testified that Cicotte had threatened to throw the ball clear out of the park if needed to lose a game.[23] After additional testimony and evidence, on July 28 the defense rested and the case went to the jury.[24] The jury deliberated for less than three hours before returning verdicts of not guilty on all charges for all of the accused players.[14]
Landis appointed Commissioner, bans all eight players (1921)
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Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis signs the agreement to become Commissioner of Baseball, November 12, 1920.
Long before the scandal broke, many of baseball's owners had nursed longstanding grievances with the way the game was then governed by the National Commission.[25] The scandal and the damage it caused to the game's reputation gave owners the resolve to make significant changes to the governance of the sport.[25] The owners' original plan was to appoint the widely respected federal judge and noted baseball fan Kenesaw Mountain Landis to head a reformed three-member National Commission comprising men unconnected to baseball.[25] However, Landis made it clear to the owners that he would only accept an appointment as the game's sole Commissioner, and even then only on the condition that he be granted essentially unchecked power over the sport. Desperate to clean up the game's image, the owners agreed to his terms and vested him with virtually unlimited authority over everyone in the major and minor leagues.[25] It was controversial at the time for the MLB to move toward a single commissioner with sole governance on behalf of the owners.
Upon taking office before the 1921 Major League Baseball season, one of Landis' first acts as Commissioner was to use his new powers to place the eight accused players on an "ineligible list," a decision that effectively left them suspended indefinitely from all of "organized" professional baseball (although not from semi-pro barnstorming teams).
Following the players' acquittals, Landis quickly quashed any prospect that he might reinstate the implicated players. On August 3, 1921, the day after the players were acquitted, Commissioner Landis issued his own verdict:
Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player who throws a ball game, no player who undertakes or promises to throw a ball game, no player who sits in confidence with a bunch of crooked ballplayers and gamblers, where the ways and means of throwing a game are discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball.[26]
Making use of a precedent that had previously seen Babe Borton, Harl Maggert, Gene Dale, and Bill Rumler banned from the Pacific Coast League for fixing games,[27] Landis made it clear that all eight accused players would remain on the "ineligible list", banning them from organized baseball. The Commissioner took the position that while the players had been acquitted in court, there was no dispute they had broken the rules of baseball, and none of them could ever be allowed back in the game if it were to regain the public's trust. Comiskey supported Landis by giving the seven who remained under contract to the White Sox their unconditional release.
Following the Commissioner's statement, it was universally understood that all eight implicated White Sox players would be banned from Major League Baseball for life. Two other players believed to be involved were also banned. One of them was Hal Chase, who had been effectively blackballed from the majors in 1919 for a long history of throwing games and had spent 1920 in the minors. Though it has never been confirmed, he was rumored to have been a go-between for Gandil and the gamblers. Regardless of this, it was understood that Landis' announcement not only formalized his 1919 blacklisting from the majors but barred him from the minors as well.
Landis, relying upon his years of experience as a federal judge and attorney, used this decision (the "case") as the founding precedent (of the reorganized majors) for the Commissioner of Baseball to be the highest and final authority over baseball as an organized, professional sport in the United States. He established the precedent that the league invested the Commissioner with plenary power and the responsibility to determine the fitness or suitability of anyone, anything, or any circumstance, to be associated with professional baseball, past, present, and future.
Banned players
Main article: List of people banned from Major League Baseball
Landis banned eight members of the White Sox baseball team for their involvement in the fix:
Arnold "Chick" Gandil, first baseman. The leader of the players who were in on the fix. He did not play in the majors in 1920; he played semi-pro ball instead. In a 1956 Sports Illustrated article, he expressed remorse for the scheme. Still, he wrote that the players had actually abandoned it when it became apparent they would be watched closely. According to Gandil, the players' numerous errors resulted from fear of being watched. He conceded that the players deserved to be banned just for talking to the gamblers.[28][29]
Eddie Cicotte, pitcher. Admitted involvement in the fix.[13]
Oscar "Happy" Felsch, center fielder.
"Shoeless" Joe Jackson, the star outfielder and one of the best hitters in the game, confessed in sworn grand jury testimony to having accepted $5,000 cash from the gamblers. It was also Jackson's sworn testimony that he never met or spoke to any of the gamblers and was only told about the fix through conversations with other White Sox players. The other players in on the fix informed him that he would receive $20,000 cash divided into equal payments after each loss. Jackson's testimony was that he played to win in the entire Series and did nothing on the field to throw any of the games in any way. His roommate, pitcher Lefty Williams, brought $5,000 in cash to their hotel room after losing Game 4 in Chicago and threw it down as they were packing to travel back to Cincinnati. This was the only money that Jackson received at any time.[30] He later recanted his confession and professed his innocence to no effect until he died in 1951. The extent of Jackson's collaboration with the scheme is hotly debated.[9]
Fred McMullin, utility infielder. McMullin would not have been included in the fix had he not overheard the other players' conversations. His role as team scout may have had more impact on the fix since he saw minimal playing time in the series.
Charles "Swede" Risberg, shortstop. Risberg was Gandil's assistant and the "muscle" of the playing group. He went 2-for-25 at the plate and committed four errors in the series.
George "Buck" Weaver, third baseman. Weaver attended the initial meetings, and while he did not go in on the fix, he knew about it. In an interview in 1956, Gandil said that it was Weaver's idea to get the money upfront from the gamblers.[14] Landis banished him on this basis, stating, "Men associating with crooks and gamblers could expect no leniency." On January 13, 1922, Weaver unsuccessfully applied for reinstatement. Like Jackson, Weaver continued to profess his innocence to successive baseball commissioners to no effect.
Claude "Lefty" Williams, pitcher. Went 0–3 with a 6.63 ERA for the series. Only one other pitcher in baseball history, reliever George Frazier of the 1981 New York Yankees, has ever lost three games in one World Series. The third game Williams lost was Game 8 – baseball's decision to revert to a best of seven Series in 1922 significantly reduced the opportunity for a pitcher to obtain three decisions in a Series.
Also banned was Joe Gedeon, second baseman for the St. Louis Browns. A friend of Risberg, Gedeon, learned about the fix from Risberg and placed bets on Cincinnati. He informed Comiskey of the fix after the Series to gain a reward. Yet, Landis banned him for life along with the eight White Sox, and Gedeon died in 1941.[31]
The indefinite suspensions imposed by Landis in connection to the scandal were the most suspensions of any duration to be simultaneously imposed until 2013 when 13 players were suspended for between 50 and 211 games in connection with the doping Biogenesis scandal.
Joe Jackson
Shoeless Joe Jackson
The extent of Joe Jackson's part in the big conspiracy remains controversial. Jackson maintained that he was innocent. He had a Series-leading .375 batting average—including the Series' only home run—threw out five baserunners and handled 30 chances in the outfield with no errors. In general, players perform worse in games their team loses, and Jackson batted worse in the five games that the White Sox lost, with a batting average of .286 in losing games. This was still an above-average batting average (the National and American Leagues hit a combined .263 in the 1919 season).[32] Jackson hit .351 for the season, fourth-best in the major leagues (his .356 career batting average is the third-best in history, surpassed only by his contemporaries Ty Cobb and Rogers Hornsby).[33] Three of his six RBIs came in the losses, including the aforementioned home run, and a double in Game 8 when the Reds had a significant lead and the series was all but over. Still, in that game, a long foul ball was caught at the fence with runners on second and third, depriving Jackson of a chance to drive in the runners.
One play in particular has been subjected to scrutiny. In the fifth inning of Game 4, with a Cincinnati player on second, Jackson fielded a single hit to left field and threw home, which was cut off by Cicotte. Gandil, another leader of the fix, later admitted to yelling at Cicotte to intercept the throw. The run scored, and the Sox lost 2–0.[34] Cicotte, whose guilt is undisputed, made two errors in that fifth inning alone.
Years later, all the implicated players said that Jackson was never present at their meetings with the gamblers. Williams, Jackson's roommate, later said they only mentioned Jackson in hopes of giving them more credibility with the gamblers.[9]
Aftermath
After being banned, Risberg and several other members of the Black Sox tried to organize a three-state barnstorming tour. However, they were forced to cancel those plans after Landis let it be known that anyone who played with or against them would also be banned from baseball for life. They then announced plans to play a regular exhibition game every Sunday in Chicago, but the Chicago City Council threatened to cancel the license of any ballpark that hosted them.[9]
With seven of their best players permanently sidelined, the White Sox crashed into seventh place in 1921 and would not be a factor in a pennant race again until 1936, five years after Comiskey's death. They would not win another American League championship until 1959 (a then-record 40-year gap) nor another World Series until 2005, prompting some to comment about a Curse of the Black Sox.
Name
Although many believe the Black Sox name to be related to the dark and corrupt nature of the conspiracy, the term "Black Sox" may already have existed before the fix. There is a story that the name "Black Sox" derived from Comiskey's refusal to pay for the players' uniforms to be laundered, instead insisting that the players themselves pay for the cleaning. As the story goes, the players refused, and subsequent games saw the White Sox play in progressively filthier uniforms as dirt, sweat, and grime collected on the white, woolen uniforms until they took on a much darker shade. Comiskey then had the uniforms washed and deducted the laundry bill from the players' salaries.[35] On the other hand, Eliot Asinof in his book Eight Men Out makes no such connection, mentioning the filthy uniforms early on but referring to the term "Black Sox" only in connection with the scandal.
Popular culture
Literature
Eliot Asinof's book Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series is the best-known description of the scandal.[citation needed]
Brendan Boyd's novel Blue Ruin: A Novel of the 1919 World Series offers a first-person narrative of the event from the perspective of Sport Sullivan, a Boston gambler involved in fixing the series.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, a minor character named Meyer Wolfsheim was said to have helped in the Black Sox scandal, though this is purely fictional. In explanatory notes accompanying the novel's 75th-anniversary edition, editor Matthew Bruccoli describes the character as being based on Arnold Rothstein.
In Dan Gutman's novel Shoeless Joe & Me (2002), the protagonist, Joe, goes back in time to try to prevent Shoeless Joe from being banned for life.
W. P. Kinsella's novel Shoeless Joe is the story of an Iowa farmer who builds a baseball field in his cornfield after hearing a mysterious voice. Later, Shoeless Joe Jackson and other members of the Black Sox come to play on his field. The novel was adapted into the 1989 hit film Field of Dreams. Joe Jackson plays a central role in inspiring protagonist Ray Kinsella to reconcile with his past.
Bernard Malamud's 1952 novel The Natural and its 1984 filmed dramatization of the same name were inspired significantly by the events of the scandal.
Harry Stein's novel Hoopla, alternately co-narrated by Buck Weaver and Luther Pond, a fictitious New York Daily News columnist, attempts to view the Black Sox Scandal from Weaver's perspective.
Dan Elish's book The Black Sox Scandal of 1919 gives a general overview.
The Black Sox Scandal: The History And Legacy Of America's Most Notorious Sports Controversy by Charles River Editors talks about the events surrounding the scandal and describes the people involved.
"Go! Go! Go! Forty Years Ago" Nelson Algren, Chicago Sun-Times, 1959
"Ballet for Opening Day: The Swede Was a Hard Guy" Algren, Nelson. The Southern Review, Baton Rouge. Spring 1942: p. 873.
"The Last Carousel" © Nelson Algren, 1973, Seven Stories Press, New York 1997 (both Algren stories are included in this collection)
Film
In the film The Godfather Part II (1974), the fictional gangster Hyman Roth alludes to the scandal when he says, "I've loved baseball ever since Arnold Rothstein fixed the World Series in 1919".
Director John Sayles' Eight Men Out, a 1988 film based on Asinof's book, is a dramatization of the scandal, focusing largely on Buck Weaver (played by John Cusack) as the one banned player who did not take any money. Also starring in the film were Charlie Sheen (Hap Felsch), Michael Rooker (Chick Gandil), David Strathairn (Eddie Cicotte), John Mahoney (Kid Gleason), Christopher Lloyd ("Sleepy" Bill Burns), Clifton James (Charles Comiskey) and D. B. Sweeney (Shoeless Joe Jackson). Sayles himself portrayed sports writer Ring Lardner.
The 1989 film Field of Dreams, based upon the novel by W. P. Kinsella, discussed the scandal and featured two of the players involved, Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta), who played a large part in the film, and Eddie Cicotte (Steve Eastin). Field of Dreams starred Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan and James Earl Jones.
The 2013 film The Great Gatsby, based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, speaks of the man who fixed the 1919 World Series.
Television
In the first season of Boardwalk Empire and the second season, the scandal is a significant subplot involving Arnold Rothstein, Lucky Luciano and their associates.
In the fifth season of Mad Men, Roger Sterling tries Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) for the first time and hallucinates that he is at the infamous game.
In the second season of Frankie Drake Mysteries, morality officer Mary Shaw mentions the scandal while helping Frankie investigate the murder of a player with circumstances related to gambling.
The story of the scandal was narrated by Katie Nolan in the sixth season of Drunk History with the reenactment starring Jake Johnson, Steve Berg, and Eric Edelstein.
In episode 10, Rookie of the Year (Screen Directors Playhouse), Ward Bond plays a fictional character based on Shoeless Joe Jackson, one of the ball players banned for life from Major League Baseball because he participated in the 1919 World Series scandal.
Music
Murray Head's 1975 album Say It Ain't So takes its name after an apocryphal question put to Shoeless Joe Jackson during the court case.
On Jonathan Coulton's album Smoking Monkey, his song "Kenesaw Mountain Landis" greatly fictionalizes the commissioner's quest to ban Jackson from baseball in the style of a tall tale.
Theatre
1919: A Baseball Opera, is a musical by Composer/lyricist Rusty Magee and Rob Barron, which premiered in June 1981 at Yale Repertory Theatre.[36]
The Fix is an opera by composer Joel Puckett with libretto by Eric Simonson, which premiered March 16, 2019 at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts.[37]
See also
Dowd Report, which led to the banishment of all-time hits leader Pete Rose as a result of gambling.
Major League Baseball scandals
List of people banned from Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league and the highest level of professional baseball in North America. One of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada, MLB comprises 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. Formed in 1876 and 1901, respectively, the NL and AL cemented their cooperation with the National Agreement in 1903, making MLB the oldest major professional sports league in the world. They remained legally separate entities until 2000, when they merged into a single organization led by the Commissioner of Baseball.[3][7][17][18] MLB is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan.[7]
Baseball's first all-professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, was founded in 1869. The first few decades of professional baseball saw rivalries between leagues, and players often jumped from one team or league to another. The period before 1920 was the dead-ball era, when home runs were rarely hit. Professional baseball survived the Black Sox Scandal, a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series, then rose in popularity in the following decade. It survived the Great Depression and World War II. Shortly after the war, Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier.
The 1950s and 1960s saw the AL and NL add clubs; some moved around the country. Modern stadiums with artificial turf surfaces began to change the game in the 1970s and 1980s. Home runs dominated the game during the 1990s. In the mid-2000s, media reports disclosed the use of anabolic steroids among MLB players; a 2006–07 investigation produced the Mitchell Report, which found that many players had used steroids and other performance-enhancing substances, including at least one player from each team.
Each team plays 162 games per season, with Opening Day traditionally held during the first week of April. Six teams in each league then advance to a four-round postseason tournament in October, culminating in the World Series, a best-of-seven championship series between the two league champions first played in 1903. The New York Yankees have the most championships with 27. The reigning champions are the Texas Rangers, who defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2023 World Series.
MLB is the second-wealthiest professional sport league by revenue after the National Football League (NFL).[19][20][21] Baseball games are broadcast on television, radio, and the internet throughout North America and in several other countries. MLB has the highest total season attendance of any sports league in the world; in 2018, it drew more than 69.6 million spectators.[22]
MLB also oversees Minor League Baseball, which comprises lower-tier teams affiliated with the major league clubs. MLB and the World Baseball Softball Confederation jointly manage the international World Baseball Classic tournament.
Organizational structure
MLB is governed by the Major League Baseball Constitution. This document has undergone several incarnations since its creation in 1876.[23] Under the direction of the Commissioner of Baseball, MLB hires and maintains the sport's umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, and television contracts. MLB maintains a unique, controlling relationship over the sport, including most aspects of Minor League Baseball. This is due in large part to the 1922 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Federal Baseball Club v. National League, which held that baseball is not interstate commerce and therefore not subject to federal antitrust law; MLB is the only league that has such a status, and has not faced any competition since this case.[24][25] This ruling has been weakened only slightly in subsequent years.[26] The weakened ruling granted more stability to the owners of teams and has resulted in values increasing at double-digit rates.[26][27] There were several challenges to MLB's primacy in the sport, with notable attempts to establish competing leagues occurring during the late 1800s, from 1913 to 1915 with the short-lived Federal League, and in 1960 with the aborted Continental League.[26]
The chief executive of MLB is the commissioner, Rob Manfred. The deputy commissioner of baseball administration and chief legal officer is Dan Halem. There are seven other executives: executive vice president and general counsel, chief operations and strategy officer, chief communications officer, chief financial officer and senior advisor, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, chief revenue officer, and chief baseball development officer.[28][29]
The multimedia branch of MLB is MLB Advanced Media, which is based in New York City. This branch oversees MLB.com and each of the 30 teams' websites. Its charter states that MLB Advanced Media holds editorial independence from the league, but it is 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. MLB also owns 67 percent of MLB Network, with the other 33 percent split between several cable operators and satellite provider DirecTV.[30] It operates out of studios in Secaucus, New Jersey, and also has editorial independence from the league.[31]
League organization
In 1920, the weak National Commission, created to manage relationships between the two leagues, was replaced with the much more powerful Commissioner of Baseball, who had the power to make decisions for all of professional baseball unilaterally.[3] From 1901 to 1960, the American and National Leagues fielded eight teams apiece.
In the 1960s, MLB expansion added eight teams, including the first non-U.S. team (the Montreal Expos). Two teams (the Seattle Mariners and the Toronto Blue Jays) were also added in the 1970s. From 1969 through 1993, each league consisted of an East and West Division. In 1993, the National League expanded with two teams, the Florida Marlins and the Colorado Rockies, to even up the number of teams in both leagues. A third division, the Central Division, was formed in each league in 1994. Until 1996, the two leagues met on the field only during the World Series and the All-Star Game. Regular-season interleague play was introduced in 1997.[32]
In March 1995, two new franchises, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays (now known as the Tampa Bay Rays), were awarded by MLB, which began play in 1998. This addition brought the total number of franchises to 30. In early 1997, MLB decided to assign one new team to each league: Tampa Bay joined the AL and Arizona joined the NL. The original plan was to have an odd number of teams in each league (15 per league, with five in each division), but in order for every team to be able to play daily, this would have required interleague play to be scheduled throughout the entire season. However, it was unclear at the time if the interleague play would continue after the 1998 season, as it had to be approved by the players' union. For this and other reasons, it was decided that both leagues should continue to have an even number of teams, and therefore, one existing club would have to switch leagues. The Milwaukee Brewers agreed in November 1997 to move from the AL to the NL, thereby making the NL a 16-team league. At the same time, the Detroit Tigers agreed to move from the AL East to the AL Central (to replace Milwaukee), with the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays joining the AL East.[33] Later, when the Houston Astros changed ownership prior to the 2013 season, the team moved from the NL Central to the AL West,[34][35] resulting in both leagues having three divisions of five teams each and allowing all teams to have a more balanced schedule.[35] Interleague play is now held throughout the season.[35]
In 2000, the AL and NL were dissolved as legal entities, and MLB became a single, overall league de jure, similar to the National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Hockey League (NHL)—albeit with two components called "leagues" instead of "conferences". The same rules and regulations are used in both leagues, with one former exception: the AL operated under the designated hitter (DH) rule, while the NL did not.[36][37] This difference in rules between leagues was unique to MLB, as the other major professional sports leagues in the U.S. and Canada have one set of rules for all teams.[citation needed]
In 2020, the National League (NL) used the designated hitter (DH) rule for the first time.[38] As part of the settlement of the 2021–22 Major League Baseball lockout, this change was made permanent thus making the rules in the two leagues identical.[36][39]
Teams
See also: Timeline of Major League Baseball
BravesMarlinsMetsPhilliesNationalsCubsRedsBrewersPiratesCardinalsDiamondbacksRockiesDodgersPadresGiantsOriolesRed SoxYankeesRaysBlue JaysWhite SoxGuardiansTigersRoyalsTwinsAstrosAngelsAthleticsMarinersRangers
Map all coordinates using: OpenStreetMap
Download coordinates as:
An asterisk (*) denotes a relocation of a franchise. See respective team articles for more information.
Overview of MLB teams
League Division Team City Stadium Capacity Coordinates Founded Joined
American League East Baltimore Orioles[40] Baltimore, Maryland Oriole Park at Camden Yards 45,971 39°17′2″N 76°37′18″W 1901*
Boston Red Sox[41] Boston, Massachusetts Fenway Park 37,949 42°20′47″N 71°5′51″W 1901
New York Yankees[42] New York City, New York Yankee Stadium 47,309 40°49′45″N 73°55′35″W 1903
Tampa Bay Rays[43] St. Petersburg, Florida Tropicana Field 31,042 27°46′6″N 82°39′12″W 1998
Toronto Blue Jays[44] Toronto, Ontario Rogers Centre 41,500 43°38′29″N 79°23′21″W 1977
Central Chicago White Sox[45] Chicago, Illinois Guaranteed Rate Field 40,615 41°49′48″N 87°38′2″W 1901
Cleveland Guardians[46] Cleveland, Ohio Progressive Field 34,830 41°29′45″N 81°41′7″W 1901
Detroit Tigers[47] Detroit, Michigan Comerica Park 41,297 42°20′21″N 83°2′55″W 1901
Kansas City Royals[48] Kansas City, Missouri Kauffman Stadium 37,903 39°3′5″N 94°28′50″W 1969
Minnesota Twins[49] Minneapolis, Minnesota Target Field 38,871 44°58′54″N 93°16′42″W 1901*
West Houston Astros[50] Houston, Texas Minute Maid Park 41,676 29°45′25″N 95°21′20″W 1962 (NL) 2013 (AL)
Los Angeles Angels[51] Anaheim, California Angel Stadium 45,957 33°48′1″N 117°52′58″W 1961
Oakland Athletics[52] Oakland, California[B] Oakland Coliseum[B] 46,847 37°45′6″N 122°12′2″W 1901*
Seattle Mariners[54] Seattle, Washington T-Mobile Park 47,943 47°35′29″N 122°19′57″W 1977
Texas Rangers[55] Arlington, Texas Globe Life Field 40,300 32°45′5″N 97°4′58″W 1961*
National League East Atlanta Braves[56] Cumberland, Georgia Truist Park 41,500 33°53′24″N 84°28′4″W 1871* (NA) 1876 (NL)
Miami Marlins[57] Miami, Florida LoanDepot Park 36,742 25°46′41″N 80°13′11″W 1993
New York Mets[58] New York City, New York Citi Field 41,922 40°45′25″N 73°50′45″W 1962
Philadelphia Phillies[59] Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Citizens Bank Park 43,651 39°54′21″N 75°9′59″W 1883
Washington Nationals[60] Washington, D.C. Nationals Park 41,313 38°52′22″N 77°0′27″W 1969*
Central Chicago Cubs[61] Chicago, Illinois Wrigley Field 41,268 41°56′54″N 87°39′20″W 1870 (NA) 1876 (NL)
Cincinnati Reds[62] Cincinnati, Ohio Great American Ball Park 42,319 39°5′51″N 84°30′24″W 1882 (AA) 1890 (NL)
Milwaukee Brewers[63] Milwaukee, Wisconsin American Family Field 41,900 43°1′42″N 87°58′16″W 1969* (AL) 1998 (NL)
Pittsburgh Pirates[64] Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania PNC Park 38,362 40°26′49″N 80°0′21″W 1882 (AA) 1887 (NL)
St. Louis Cardinals[65] St. Louis, Missouri Busch Stadium 44,383 38°37′21″N 90°11′35″W 1882 (AA) 1892 (NL)
West Arizona Diamondbacks[66] Phoenix, Arizona Chase Field 48,519 33°26′43″N 112°4′1″W 1998
Colorado Rockies[67] Denver, Colorado Coors Field 46,897 39°45′22″N 104°59′39″W 1993
Los Angeles Dodgers[68] Los Angeles, California Dodger Stadium 56,000 34°4′25″N 118°14′24″W 1884* (AA) 1890 (NL)
San Diego Padres[69] San Diego, California Petco Park 42,445 32°42′26″N 117°9′24″W 1969
San Francisco Giants[70] San Francisco, California Oracle Park 41,915 37°46′43″N 122°23′21″W 1883*
History
Main article: History of baseball in the United States
Founding
In the 1860s, aided by soldiers playing the game in camp during the Civil War, "New York"-style baseball expanded into a national game and spawned baseball's first governing body, the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP). The NABBP existed as an amateur league for 12 years. By 1867, more than 400 clubs were members. Most of the strongest clubs remained those based in the Northeastern United States. For professional baseball's founding year, MLB uses the year 1869—when the first professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, was established.[71]
A schism developed between professional and amateur ballplayers after the founding of the Cincinnati club. The NABBP split into an amateur organization and a professional organization. The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, often known as the National Association (NA), was formed in 1871.[72] Its amateur counterpart disappeared after only a few years.[73] The modern Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves franchises trace their histories back to the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players in the 1870s.[74]
In 1876, the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs (later known as the National League or NL) was established after the NA proved ineffective. The league placed its emphasis on clubs rather than on players. Clubs could now enforce player contracts, preventing players from jumping to higher-paying clubs. Clubs were required to play the full schedule of games instead of forfeiting scheduled games when the club was no longer in the running for the league championship, which happened frequently under the NA. A concerted effort was made to curb gambling on games, which was leaving the validity of results in doubt. The first game in the NL—on Saturday, April 22, 1876 (at Jefferson Street Grounds in Philadelphia)—is often pointed to as the beginning of MLB.[75]
National League Baltimore Orioles, 1896
The early years of the NL were tumultuous, with threats from rival leagues and a rebellion by players against the hated "reserve clause," which restricted the free movement of players between clubs. Teams came and went; 1882 was the first season where the league's membership was the same as the preceding season's, and only four franchises survived to see 1900. Competitor leagues formed regularly and also disbanded regularly. The most successful was the American Association (1882–1891), sometimes called the "beer and whiskey league" for its tolerance of the sale of alcoholic beverages to spectators. For several years, the NL and American Association champions met in a postseason championship series—the first attempt at a World Series. The two leagues merged in 1892 as a single 12-team NL, but the NL dropped four teams after the 1899 season. This led to the formation of the American League in 1901 under AL president Ban Johnson, and the resulting bidding war for players led to widespread contract-breaking and legal disputes.[citation needed]
The war between the AL and NL caused shock waves throughout the baseball world. At a meeting at the Leland Hotel in Chicago in 1901, the other baseball leagues negotiated a plan to maintain their independence. A new National Association was formed to oversee these minor leagues.[76]
After 1902, the NL, AL, and NA signed a new National Agreement which tied independent contracts to the reserve-clause contracts. The agreement also set up a formal classification system for minor leagues, the forerunner of today's system that was refined by Branch Rickey.[77]
Other recognized leagues
Several other early defunct baseball leagues are considered major leagues, and their statistics and records are included with those of the two modern major leagues. In 1969, the Special Baseball Records Committee of Major League Baseball officially recognized six major leagues: the National League, American League, American Association, Union Association (1884), Players' League (1890), and Federal League (1914–1915).[78] The status of the National Association as a major league has been a point of dispute among baseball researchers; while its statistics are not recognized by Major League Baseball, its statistics are included with those of other major leagues by some baseball reference websites, such as Retrosheet.[79] Some researchers, including Nate Silver, dispute the major-league status of the Union Association by pointing out that franchises came and went and that the St. Louis club was deliberately "stacked"; the St. Louis club was owned by the league's president and it was the only club that was close to major-league caliber.[80]
In December 2020, Major League Baseball announced its recognition of seven leagues within Negro league baseball as major leagues: the first and second Negro National Leagues (1920–1931 and 1933–1948), the Eastern Colored League (1923–1928), the American Negro League (1929), the East–West League (1932), the Negro Southern League (1932), and the Negro American League (1937–1948).[81] In 2021, baseball reference website Baseball-Reference.com began to include statistics from those seven leagues into their major-league statistics.[82]
Dead-ball era
Main article: Dead-ball era
Cy Young, 1911 baseball card
The period between 1900 and 1919 is commonly referred to as the "dead-ball era". Games of this era tended to be low-scoring and were often dominated by pitchers, such as Walter Johnson, Cy Young, Christy Mathewson, Mordecai Brown, and Grover Cleveland Alexander. The term also accurately describes the condition of the baseball itself. The baseball used American rather than the modern Australian wool yarn and was not wound as tightly, affecting the distance that it would travel.[83] More significantly, balls were kept in play until they were mangled, soft and sometimes lopsided. During this era, a baseball cost three dollars, equal to $50.64 today (in inflation-adjusted USD), and owners were reluctant to purchase new balls. Fans were expected to throw back fouls and (rare) home runs. Baseballs also became stained with tobacco juice, grass, and mud, and sometimes the juice of licorice, which some players would chew for the purpose of discoloring the ball.[84]
Also, pitchers could manipulate the ball through the use of the spitball (In 1921, use of this pitch was restricted to a few pitchers with a grandfather clause). Additionally, many ballparks had large dimensions, such as the West Side Grounds of the Chicago Cubs, which was 560 feet (170 m) to the center field fence, and the Huntington Avenue Grounds of the Boston Red Sox, which was 635 feet (194 m) to the center field fence, thus home runs were rare, and "small ball" tactics such as singles, bunts, stolen bases, and the hit-and-run play dominated the strategies of the time.[85] Hitting methods like the Baltimore chop were used to increase the number of infield singles.[86] On a successful Baltimore chop, the batter hits the ball forcefully into the ground, causing it to bounce so high that the batter reaches first base before the ball can be fielded and thrown to the first baseman.[87]
The adoption of the foul strike rule—in the NL in 1901, in the AL two years later—quickly sent baseball from a high-scoring game to one where scoring runs became a struggle. Before this rule, foul balls were not counted as strikes: a batter could foul off any number of pitches with no strikes counted against him; this gave an enormous advantage to the batter.[88]
After the 1919 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds, baseball was rocked by allegations of a game-fixing scheme known as the Black Sox Scandal. Eight players—"Shoeless" Joe Jackson, Eddie Cicotte, Claude "Lefty" Williams, George "Buck" Weaver, Arnold "Chick" Gandil, Fred McMullin, Charles "Swede" Risberg, and Oscar "Happy" Felsch—intentionally lost the World Series in exchange for a ring worth $100,000 ($1,712,780.35 in 2022 dollars).[89] Despite being acquitted, all were permanently banned from Major League Baseball.[90]
Rise in popularity
Baseball's popularity increased in the 1920s and 1930s. The 1920 season was notable for the death of Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians. Chapman, who was struck in the head by a pitch and died a few hours later, became the only MLB player to die of an on-field injury.[91] Both leagues quickly began to require the use of new, white baseballs whenever a ball became scuffed or dirty, helping bring the "dead-ball" era to an end.
The following year, the New York Yankees made their first World Series appearance.[92] By the end of the 1930s, the team had appeared in 11 World Series, winning eight of them.[93] Yankees slugger Babe Ruth had set the single-season home run record in 1927, hitting 60 home runs; breaking his own record of 29 home runs.[94]
Afflicted by the Great Depression, baseball's popularity had begun a downward turn in the early 1930s. By 1932, only two MLB teams turned a profit. Attendance had fallen, due at least in part to a 10% federal amusement tax added to baseball ticket prices. Baseball owners cut their rosters from 25 men to 23, and even the best players took pay cuts. Team executives were innovative in their attempts to survive, creating night games, broadcasting games live by radio, and rolling out promotions such as free admission for women. Throughout the Great Depression, no MLB teams moved or folded.[95]
World War II era
The onset of World War II created a shortage of professional baseball players, as more than 500 men left MLB teams to serve in the military. Many of them played on service baseball teams that entertained military personnel in the US or in the Pacific. MLB teams of this time largely consisted of young men, older players, and those with a military classification of 4F, indicating mental, physical, or moral unsuitability for service. Men like Pete Gray, a one-armed outfielder, got the chance to advance to the major leagues. However, MLB rosters did not include any black players through the end of the war.[96] Black players, many of whom served in the war, were still restricted to playing Negro league baseball.[97]
Wartime blackout restrictions, designed to keep outdoor lighting at low levels, caused another problem for baseball. These rules limited traveling and night games to the point that the 1942 season was nearly canceled.[97] On January 14, 1942, MLB Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis wrote to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, pleading for the continuation of baseball during the war. Roosevelt responded, "I honestly feel that it would be best for the country to keep baseball going. There will be fewer people unemployed and everybody will work longer hours and harder than ever before. And that means that they ought to have a chance for recreation and for taking their minds off their work even more than before."[98]
With the approval of President Roosevelt, spring training began in 1942 with few repercussions. The war interrupted the careers of stars including Stan Musial, Bob Feller, Ted Williams, and Joe DiMaggio, but baseball clubs continued to field their teams.[99]
Breaking the color barrier
Main article: Baseball color line
Jackie Robinson comic book, 1951
Branch Rickey, president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, began making efforts to introduce a black baseball player to the previously all-white professional baseball leagues in the mid-1940s. He selected Jackie Robinson from a list of promising Negro league players. After obtaining a commitment from Robinson to "turn the other cheek" to any racial antagonism directed at him, Rickey agreed to sign him to a contract for $600 a month. In what was later referred to as "The Noble Experiment", Robinson was the first black baseball player in the International League since the 1880s, joining the Dodgers' farm club, the Montreal Royals, for the 1946 season.[100]
The following year, the Dodgers called up Robinson to the major leagues. On April 15, 1947, Robinson made his major league debut at Ebbets Field before a crowd of 26,623 spectators, including more than 14,000 black patrons. Black baseball fans began flocking to see the Dodgers when they came to town, abandoning the Negro league teams that they had followed exclusively. Robinson's promotion met a generally positive, although mixed, reception among newspaper writers and white major league players. Manager Leo Durocher informed his team, "I don't care if he is yellow or black or has stripes like a fucking zebra. I'm his manager and I say he plays."[101]
After a strike threat by some players, NL President Ford Frick and Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler let it be known that any striking players would be suspended. Robinson received significant encouragement from several major-league players, including Dodgers teammate Pee Wee Reese who said, "You can hate a man for many reasons. Color is not one of them."[102] That year, Robinson won the inaugural Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award (separate NL and AL Rookie of the Year honors were not awarded until 1949).[103]
Less than three months later, Larry Doby became the first African-American to break the color barrier in the American League with the Cleveland Indians.[104] The next year, a number of other black players entered the major leagues. Satchel Paige was signed by the Indians and the Dodgers added star catcher Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe, who was later the first winner of the Cy Young Award for his outstanding pitching.[105]
Women in baseball
Main article: Women in baseball
MLB banned the signing of women to contracts in 1952, but that ban was lifted in 1992.[106] There have been no female MLB players.
Relocation and expansion
Main article: Major League Baseball relocation of 1950s–1960s
1959 World Series action at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
From 1903 to 1952, the major leagues consisted of two eight-team leagues whose 16 teams were located in ten cities, all in the northeastern and midwestern United States: New York City had three teams and Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and St. Louis each had two teams. St. Louis was the southernmost and westernmost city with a major league team. The longest possible road trip, from Boston to St. Louis, took about 24 hours by railroad. After a half-century of stability, starting in the 1950s, teams began to move out of cities with multiple teams into cities that had not had them before. From 1953 to 1955, three teams moved to new cities: the Boston Braves became the Milwaukee Braves, the St. Louis Browns became the Baltimore Orioles, and the Philadelphia Athletics became the Kansas City Athletics.
The 1958 Major League Baseball season began to turn Major League Baseball into a nationwide league. Walter O'Malley, owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers and "perhaps the most influential owner of baseball's early expansion era,"[107] moved his team to Los Angeles, marking the first major league franchise on the West Coast.[108] O'Malley also helped persuade the rival New York Giants to move west to become the San Francisco Giants. Giants owner Horace Stoneham had been contemplating a move to Minnesota amid slumping attendance at the aging Polo Grounds ballpark[109] when O'Malley invited him to meet San Francisco Mayor George Christopher in New York.[110] After Stoneham was persuaded to move to California, Time magazine put O'Malley on its cover.[111] MLB Commissioner Ford Frick had opposed the meeting,[112] but the dual moves proved successful for both franchises—and for MLB.[108] Had the Dodgers moved out west alone, the St. Louis Cardinals—1,600 mi (2,575 km) away[113][114]—would have been the closest NL team. Instead, the joint move made West Coast road trips economical for visiting teams.[110] The Dodgers set a single-game MLB attendance record in their first home appearance with 78,672 fans.[110]
In 1961, the first Washington Senators franchise moved to Minneapolis–St. Paul to become the Minnesota Twins. Two new teams were added to the American League at the same time: the Los Angeles Angels (who soon moved from downtown L.A. to nearby Anaheim) and a new Washington Senators franchise. The NL added the Houston Astros and the New York Mets in 1962. The Astros (known as the "Colt .45s" during their first three seasons) became the first southern major league franchise since the Louisville Colonels folded in 1899 and the first franchise to be located along the Gulf Coast. The Mets established a reputation for futility by going 40–120 during their first season of play in the nation's media capital—and by playing only a little better in subsequent campaigns—but in their eighth season (1969) the Mets became the first of the 1960s expansion teams to play in the postseason, culminating in a World Series title over the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles.
In 1966, the major leagues moved to the "Deep South" when the Braves moved to Atlanta. In 1968, the Kansas City Athletics moved west to become the Oakland Athletics. In 1969, the American and National Leagues both added two expansion franchises. The American League added the Seattle Pilots (who became the Milwaukee Brewers after one disastrous season in Seattle) and the Kansas City Royals. The NL added the first Canadian franchise, the Montreal Expos, as well as the San Diego Padres.
In 1972, the second Washington Senators moved to the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to become the Texas Rangers. In 1977, baseball expanded again, adding a second Canadian team, the Toronto Blue Jays, as well as the Seattle Mariners. Subsequently, no new teams were added until the 1990s and no teams moved until 2005.
Pitching dominance and rule changes
Graph showing, by year, the average number of runs per MLB game
By the late 1960s, the balance between pitching and hitting had swung in favor of the pitchers. In 1968—later nicknamed "the year of the pitcher"[115]—Boston Red Sox player Carl Yastrzemski won the American League batting title with an average of just .301, the lowest in the history of Major League Baseball.[116] Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny McLain won 31 games, making him the only pitcher to win 30 games in a season since Dizzy Dean in 1934.[117] St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Bob Gibson achieved an equally remarkable feat by allowing an ERA of just 1.12.[118]
Following these pitching performances, in December 1968 the MLB Playing Rules Committee voted to reduce the strike zone from knees to shoulders to top of knees to armpits and lower the pitcher's mound from 15 to 10 inches, beginning in the 1969 season.[119]
In 1973, the American League, which had been suffering from much lower attendance than the National League, sought to increase scoring even further by initiating the designated hitter (DH) rule.[120]
New stadiums and artificial surfaces
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, as baseball expanded, NFL football had been surging in popularity, making it economical for many of these cities to build multi-purpose stadiums instead of single-purpose baseball fields. Because of climate and economic issues, many of these facilities had playing surfaces made from artificial turf, as well as the oval designs characteristic of stadiums designed to house both baseball and football.[121] This often resulted in baseball fields with relatively more foul territory than older stadiums. These characteristics changed the nature of professional baseball, putting a higher premium on speed and defense over home-run hitting power since the fields were often too big for teams to expect to hit many home runs and foul balls hit in the air could more easily be caught for outs.[citation needed]
Teams began to be built around pitching—particularly their bullpens—and speed on the basepaths. Artificial surfaces meant balls traveled quicker and bounced higher, so it became easier to hit ground balls "in the hole" between the corner and middle infielders. Starting pitchers were no longer expected to throw complete games; it was enough for a starter to pitch 6–7 innings and turn the game over to the team's closer, a position which grew in importance over these decades. As stolen bases increased, home run totals dropped. After Willie Mays hit 52 home runs in 1965, only one player (George Foster) reached that mark until the 1990s.[citation needed]
Scandals and a changing game
During the 1980s, baseball experienced a number of significant changes the game had not seen in years. Home runs were on the decline throughout the decade, with players hitting only 40 home runs just 13 times and no one hitting more than 50 home runs in a season for the first time since the Dead-ball era (1900–1919).[122][123]
The 1981 Major League Baseball strike from June 12 until July 31 forced the cancellation of 713 total games and resulted in a split-season format.
In 1985, Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb's all-time hits record with his 4,192nd hit, and in 1989 Rose received a lifetime ban from baseball as a result of betting on baseball games while manager of the Cincinnati Reds. Rose was the first person to receive a lifetime ban from baseball since 1943.[122][124] 1985 also saw the Pittsburgh drug trials which involved players who were called to testify before a grand jury in Pittsburgh related to cocaine trafficking.
The 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike from August 12, 1994, to April 25, 1995, caused the cancellation of over 900 games and the forfeit of the entire 1994 postseason.[125]
Steroid era, further expansion and near contraction
Mark McGwire was one of several central figures in baseball's steroids scandal
Routinely in the late 1990s and early 2000s, baseball players hit 40 or 50 home runs in a season, a feat that was considered rare even in the 1980s. It later became apparent that at least some of this power surge was a result of players using steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs.
In 1993, the NL added the Florida Marlins in Miami and the Colorado Rockies in Denver. In 1998, the Brewers switched leagues by joining the National League, and two new teams were added: the NL's Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix and the AL's Tampa Bay Devil Rays in Tampa Bay.
After the 2001 season, the team owners voted in favor of contraction. Several MLB teams had been considered for elimination in early talks about contraction, but the Montreal Expos and the Minnesota Twins were the two teams that came closest to folding under the plan. Plans for MLB contraction were halted when the Twins landlord was awarded a court injunction that required the team to play its 2002 home games at their stadium. MLB owners agreed to hold off on reducing the league's size until at least 2006.[126]
The Montreal Expos became the first franchise in over three decades to move when they became the Washington Nationals in 2005. This move left Canada with just one team, but it also returned baseball to Washington after a 33-year absence. This franchise shift, like many previous ones, involved baseball's return to a city that had been previously abandoned. Not counting the short-lived Federal League, Montreal is the only city to host an MLB franchise since 1901 that, as of December 2023, does not have a team.
The modern game
In recent years, with the advent of technologies such as Statcast and its use of Hawk-Eye starting in 2020[127] as well as with advanced statistics as provided by sites such as FanGraphs and Baseball Savant, MLB has evolved. With the ability to see precise movements of pitchers and batters, teams can assess the mechanics of a player and help them improve. Statcast also provides some features such as tracking the paths of most batted balls, tracking the speed of most batted balls, and tracking the exit velocity of most batted balls. Statcast has allowed for advanced defensive analytics that have not been possible before tracking of players due to how subjective fielding can be.
The rate of teams using a defensive shift has gone up from 13.7% in 2016 to 33.6% in 2022 because advanced statistics support this as an effective way to stop hitters from getting hits.[128] Because the shift reduces the amount of balls in play that result in hits and MLB wishes to increase interest in baseball, MLB announced in September 2022 that extreme infield defensive shifts would be banned starting in 2023. In order to be compliant, there must be two fielders on each side of second base, and those fielders must have both of their feet on the infield dirt at the time the pitch is thrown. If this rule is not followed, the choice of an automatic ball or the outcome of the play is given to the batting team.[129]
The game of baseball has also slowed down significantly due to an increased number of strikeouts and walks—two outcomes that generally take many pitches to complete—and an increased amount of time taken for a pitcher to pitch. In 2020, it took an average of three hours and six minutes to complete a 9 inning game, a number which has steadily ticked up for years.[130] Along with the restrictions on defensive shifts, MLB announced the introduction of a pitch clock for the 2023 season and beyond, which is something that has been an experiment in MiLB for a few years. The pitch clock starts at 15 seconds. By the time the clock reaches 10 seconds, the catcher must be in their crouch behind home plate. When the clock reaches 8 seconds, the batter must be in the batter's box and be "alert". Before the 15 second timer reaches 0 seconds, the pitcher must have started their "motion to pitch". If any of these deadlines are violated, the count of the batter will be increased by one ball if the defending team violated the pitch clock or one strike if it is the offensive team who violated the pitch clock. Additionally, in order to prevent circumventing these rules pickoffs and step-offs which reset the pitch clock are only allowed two times total per plate appearance and, if a pitcher attempts a third pickoff and fails to get the runner out, a balk will be called. Similarly, a batter is restricted to calling a timeout (an action which resets the pitch clock) just once per plate appearance.[129]
In 2019, Major League Baseball opened an investigation into allegations that members of the 2017 World Series champion Houston Astros stole signs from opposing teams using technology during the 2017 and 2018 seasons. The Astros were found guilty in January 2020 and while no active players faced any repercussions due to an immunity agreement in exchange for testimony, Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and field manager A. J. Hinch were suspended for the entire 2020 season. The Astros were fined the maximum allowable $5 million and forfeited their first- and second-round picks in the 2020 and 2021 drafts.[131] The Boston Red Sox were also found guilty of stealing signs during the 2017 and 2018 seasons, with the latter season ending in a World Series victory.[132] Red Sox manager Alex Cora was suspended for a year and the team was fined with the loss of a second round draft pick in the 2020 draft as a result.[133]
21st century franchise relocation
As of 2023 the Oakland Athletics announced a move to Las Vegas, Nevada.[134]
Uniforms
Cleveland Indians throwback uniform
Main articles: Major League Baseball uniforms and Baseball uniform
A baseball uniform is a type of uniform worn by baseball players, and by some non-playing personnel, such as field managers and coaches. It is worn to indicate the person's role in the game and—through the use of logos, colors, and numbers—to identify the teams and their players, managers, and coaches.[135]
Traditionally, home uniforms display the team name on the front, while away uniforms display the team's home location. In modern times, however, exceptions to this pattern have become common, with teams using their team name on both uniforms.[136] Most teams also have one or more alternate uniforms, usually consisting of the primary or secondary team color on the vest instead of the usual white or gray.[136] In the past few decades throwback uniforms have become popular.[137]
The New York Knickerbockers were the first baseball team to use uniforms, taking the field on April 4, 1849, in pants made of blue wool, white flannel shirts (jerseys) and straw hats.[138][139][140] Caps and other types of headgear have been a part of baseball uniforms from the beginning.[141][142] Baseball teams often wore full-brimmed straw hats or no cap at all since there was no official rule regarding headgear.[143] Under the 1882 uniform rules, players on the same team wore uniforms of different colors and patterns that indicated which position they played. This rule was soon abandoned as impractical.[144]
In the late 1880s, Detroit and Washington of the National League and Brooklyn of the American Association were the first to wear striped uniforms.[145] By the end of the 19th century, teams began the practice of having two different uniforms, one for when they played at home in their own baseball stadium and a different one for when they played away (on the road) at the other team's ballpark.[136] It became common to wear white pants with a white color vest at home and gray pants with a gray or solid (dark) colored vest when away.[136] By 1900, both home and away uniforms were standard across the major leagues.[146]
In June 2021, MLB announced a long-term deal with cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which includes the FTX logo appearing on umpire uniforms during all games.[147] FTX is MLB's first-ever umpire uniform patch partner.[148] On November 11, 2022, FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. MLB removed the FTX patches from umpires' uniforms before the 2023 season.[149]
Season structure
Main articles: Major League Baseball schedule and List of Major League Baseball seasons
Spring training
Main article: Spring training
A Grapefruit League game at the former Los Angeles Dodgers camp in Vero Beach, Florida
Spring training is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Teams hold training camps in the states of Arizona and Florida, where the early warm weather allows teams to practice and play without worrying about the late winter cold. Spring training allows new players to compete for roster and position spots and gives existing team players practice time prior to competitive play. The teams that hold spring training in Arizona are grouped into the Cactus League,[150] while teams that hold camp in Florida are known as the Grapefruit League.[151] Spring training has always attracted fan attention, drawing crowds who travel to the warmer climates to enjoy the weather and watch their favorite teams play, and spring training usually coincides with spring break for many students. Autograph seekers also find greater access to players during spring training.[citation needed]
Spring training typically lasts almost two months, starting in mid-February and running until just before the season-opening day, traditionally the first week of April. As pitchers benefit from a longer training period, pitchers and catchers begin spring training several days before the rest of the team.[152]
Regular season
Each team plays 162 games per season. A team's schedule is typically organized into three-game series, sets of consecutive games against the same opponent, with occasional two- or four-game series.[153] Postponed games or continuations of suspended games can result in an ad hoc one-game or five-game series. All games of a series are usually hosted by the same team and multiple series are typically grouped together. I.e, a team usually hosts several series in a row, called a homestand, and follows that by going on several road series in a row. Teams generally play games five to seven days per week. Most games are scheduled at night, although teams will often play day games on Opening Day, holidays, and for the last game of a series to allow teams extra time to travel to their next opponent. Sunday games are generally played during the afternoon, allowing teams to travel to their next destination prior to a Monday night game.
In the current three-division structure, each team plays 19 games against each of its four divisional opponents. It plays one home series and one away series, amounting to six or seven games, against the 10 other teams in its league. A team also plays one of the divisions in the other league, rotating each year, with two opponents in a three-game home series, two in a three-game away series, and one with four games split between home and away. Furthermore, each team has an interleague "natural rival" (in many cases its counterpart in the same metro area) with which it plays two home games and two away games each year.
With an odd number of teams in each league (15), it is necessary to have two teams participate in interleague play for most days in the season, except when two or more teams have a day off. Each team plays 20 interleague games throughout the season, usually with just one interleague game per day, but for one weekend in late May, all teams will participate in an interleague series. Before 2013, interleague play was structured differently: there would be one weekend in mid-May and another period consisting typically of the last two-thirds of June in which all teams played interleague games (save for two NL teams each day), and no interleague games were scheduled outside those dates. (Before 2013, season-long interleague play was not necessary, because each league had an even number of teams. In 2013, the Houston Astros moved to the American League, so that each league would have 15 teams.) Prior to the adoption of the universal designated hitter in 2022, whether the DH was in use depended on whether the home team was from the AL, where the DH was used, or the NL, where it was not.
Starting with the 2023 season, the scheduling formula is set to change, with each team playing at least one series against every other team every year. Each team will play 14 games against teams in the same division, with one 3-game and one 4-game series at each park, six games against teams within the same league but in other divisions, with one 3-game series at each park, and one 3-game series against teams in the other league, alternating home teams each year, except for each team's designated interleague rival, which will continue to consist of two 2-game series at each of the teams' home parks.
Beginning with the 2022 season, teams compete for the six playoff berths in their respective leagues. To secure a berth, a team must either win its division or capture a wild card spot by having one of the three best records among the non-winners in its entire league.[154] With the adoption of a third wild card, the former practice of breaking ties with an additional regular-season game, known as game 163, was dropped in favor of a tie-breaker formula.
All-Star Game
Main article: Major League Baseball All-Star Game
President John F. Kennedy throwing out the first pitch at the 1962 All-Star Game at DC Stadium
In early-to-mid July, just after the midway point of the season, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game is held during a four-day break from the regular-season schedule. The All-Star Game features a team of players from the American League (AL)—led by the manager of the previous AL World Series team—and a team of players from the National League (NL), similarly managed, in an exhibition game. From 1959 to 1962, two games were held each season, one was held in July and one was held in August. The designated-hitter rule was used in the All-Star Game for the first time in 1989. Following games used a DH when the game was played in an AL ballpark. Since 2010, the DH rule has been in effect regardless of venue.[155]
The first official All-Star Game was held as part of the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago, Illinois, and was the idea of Arch Ward, then sports editor for The Chicago Tribune.[156] Initially intended to be a one-time event, its great success resulted in making the game an annual one. Ward's contribution was recognized by Major League Baseball in 1962 with the creation of the "Arch Ward Trophy", given to the All-Star Game's Most Valuable Player each year.[157] (In 1970, it was renamed the Commissioner's Trophy, until 1985, when the name change was reversed. In 2002, it was renamed the Ted Williams Most Valuable Player Award.)[citation needed]
Beginning in 1947, the eight position players in each team's starting lineup have been voted into the game by fans.[156] The fan voting was discontinued after a 1957 ballot-box-stuffing scandal in Cincinnati: seven of the eight slots originally went to Reds players, two of whom were subsequently removed from the lineup to make room for Willie Mays and Hank Aaron. Fan voting was reinstated in 1970 and has continued ever since, including Internet voting in recent years.[citation needed]
The 2002 contest in Milwaukee controversially ended in an 11-inning tie when both managers ran out of pitchers. In response, starting in 2003 the league which wins the All-Star game received home-field advantage in the World Series: the league champion hosted the first two games at its own ballpark as well as the last two (if necessary). The National League did not win an All-Star game and thus gain a home-field advantage until 2010; it was able to overcome this disadvantage and win in three of the seven World Series from 2003 to 2009.[158][159] This was discontinued after the 2016 season.[citation needed]
MLB All-Stars from both leagues have worn uniforms from their respective teams at the game with one exception. In the 1933 All-Star Game, the National League All-Star Team members wore special gray uniforms with "National League" written in navy blue letters across the front of the jersey.[160][161]
On July 3, 2020, it was announced that the 2020 Major League Baseball All-Star Game scheduled to be held in Los Angeles would not be played due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[162] As compensation, Los Angeles was awarded the next available All-Star Game in 2022.[163]
Postseason
Main article: Major League Baseball postseason
See also: World Series and List of World Series champions
World Series Records
Team Series
won Last
Series
won Series
played
New York Yankees (AL) 27 2009 40
St. Louis Cardinals (NL) 11 2011 19
Oakland Athletics (AL) 9 1989 14
Boston Red Sox (AL) 9 2018 13
San Francisco Giants (NL) 8 2014 20
Los Angeles Dodgers (NL) 7 2020 21
Cincinnati Reds (NL) 5 1990 9
Pittsburgh Pirates (NL) 5 1979 7
Detroit Tigers (AL) 4 1984 11
Atlanta Braves (NL) 4 2021 10
Chicago Cubs (NL) 3 2016 11
Baltimore Orioles (AL) 3 1983 7
Minnesota Twins (AL) 3 1991 6
Chicago White Sox (AL) 3 2005 5
Philadelphia Phillies (NL) 2 2008 8
Cleveland Guardians (AL) 2 1948 6
Houston Astros (NL to AL, 2013) 2 [AL] 2022 5
(4 [AL], 1 [NL])
New York Mets (NL) 2 1986 5
Kansas City Royals (AL) 2 2015 4
Miami Marlins (NL) 2 2003 2
Toronto Blue Jays (AL) 2 1993 2
Texas Rangers (AL) 1 2023 3
Arizona Diamondbacks (NL) 1 2001 2
Washington Nationals (NL) 1 2019 1
Los Angeles Angels (AL) 1 2002 1
Tampa Bay Rays (AL) 0 2
San Diego Padres (NL) 0 2
Colorado Rockies (NL) 0 1
Milwaukee Brewers (AL to NL, 1998) 0 1 [AL]
Seattle Mariners (AL) 0 0
The regular season ends after the first Sunday in October (or the last Sunday in September), after which twelve teams enter the postseason playoffs. These twelve teams consist of the six division champions and six "wild-card" teams: the team with the best overall win–loss record in each of the six divisions, and the three teams in each league with the best records other than the division champions. Four rounds of series of games are played to determine the champion:[citation needed]
Wild Card Series, a best of three games playoff between the lowest seeded division champion and three "wild-card teams", the higher seeds will host all three games
American League Division Series and National League Division Series, each a best-of-five-games series.
American League Championship Series and National League Championship Series, each a best-of-seven-games series played between the winning teams from the Division Series. The league champions are referred to as the pennant winners.
World Series, a best-of-seven-games series played between the pennant winners of each league.
Within each league, the division winners are the 1, 2, and 3-seeds, based on win–loss records. The teams with the first, second, and third best records among non-division winners will be seeded 4, 5, and 6 respectively. Throughout the postseason, home-field advantage is awarded to the team with the higher win-loss record, with tiebreakers being applied if necessary. In the Wild Card Series, the 3-seed will host the 6-seed, and the 4-seed will host the 5-seed, with the winners advancing to the Division Series. Unlike the NFL, there is no reseeding between each series. In the Division Series, the 1-seed goes up against the 3/6-seed and the 2-seed goes up against the 4/5-seed. The winners of those matches will compete in their respective League Championship Series for their League Pennant, and the Pennant winners will advance to the World Series.[164] Since 2017, home-field advantage in the World Series is determined by regular-season records of the two league champions, replacing a system used for the prior 14 seasons where the champion of the league that won the All-Star Game would receive home-field advantage.[citation needed]
The team with home-field advantage in the Wild Card Series will host all three games, and subsequent series' will split home fields between the two teams in a 2-3-2 format, with the advantaged team hosting games 1 and 2, as well as 6 and 7 (if necessary). With this format, the home-field advantage does not usually play a large role in the postseason unless the series goes to its maximum number of games. However, because the first two games of a postseason series are hosted by the same team, a team starting with two wins will likely have momentum heading into the venue switch.[165][166]
International play
See also: List of Major League Baseball games played outside the United States and Canada, MLB Japan All-Star Series, MLB Taiwan All-Star Series, and 2019 MLB London Series
Since 1986 an All-Star team from MLB is sent to a biennial end-of-the-season tour of Japan, dubbed as MLB Japan All-Star Series, playing exhibition games in a best-of format against the All-Stars from Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) or recently as of 2014 their national team Samurai Japan.
In 2008, MLB played the MLB China Series in the People's Republic of China. It was a series of two spring-training games between the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers. The games were an effort to popularize baseball in China.[167]
MLB played the MLB Taiwan All-Star Series in Taiwan in November 2011. It was a series of five exhibition games played by a team made up of MLB players called the MLB All-Stars and the Chinese Taipei national baseball team. The MLB All-Stars swept the series, five games to zero.[168] At the end of the 2011 season, it was announced that the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland Athletics would play their season openers in Japan.[169] In October 2013, Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune wrote that MLB was considering postseason all-star tours in Taiwan and Korea; baseball is increasing in popularity in both countries.[170]
The Arizona Diamondbacks opened the 2014 season against Los Angeles Dodgers on March 22–23 in Australia.[171] The teams played each other at the historic Sydney Cricket Ground, which has a seating capacity of 46,000. The two games represented the first MLB regular-season play held in that country. The games counted as home games for the Diamondbacks, so they played 79 home games at Chase Field.[172]
In 2019, the Red Sox were the home team in a regular-season two-game series against the Yankees. The games, which were the first regular-season MLB games held in Europe, were played on June 29–30 at London Stadium with the Yankees winning both games.[173]
Together with the World Baseball Softball Confederation, MLB sponsors the World Baseball Classic, an international baseball tournament contested by national teams.[citation needed]
Performance-enhancing drugs
See also: Doping in baseball and List of Major League Baseball players suspended for performance-enhancing drugs
Rafael Palmeiro (batter), one of the MLB players suspended for steroid use[174]
In 1998, both Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa hit more home runs than the record of 61 set by Yankees right fielder Roger Maris in 1961. Barry Bonds topped the record in 2001 with 73 home runs. McGwire, Bonds, and Sosa became the subjects of speculation regarding the use of performance-enhancing substances. McGwire later admitted that he used a steroid hormone that was still legal in baseball during the 1998 season.[175] Baseball's original steroid testing policy, in effect from 2002 to 2005, provided for penalties ranging from a ten-game suspension for a first positive test to a one-year suspension for a fourth positive test. Players were tested at least once per year, with the chance that several players could be tested many times per year.[176]
A 2006 book, Game of Shadows by San Francisco Chronicle investigative reporters Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, chronicled alleged extensive use of performance enhancers, including several types of steroids and growth hormone by baseball superstars Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield, and Jason Giambi. Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell was appointed by Selig on March 30, 2006[177] to investigate the use of performance-enhancing drugs in MLB. The appointment was made after several influential members of the U.S. Congress made negative comments about both the effectiveness and honesty of MLB's drug policies and Commissioner Selig.[178]
The day before the Mitchell Report was to be released in 2007, Selig said, "I haven't seen the report yet, but I'm proud I did it."[179][180] The report said that after mandatory random testing began in 2004, HGH treatment for athletic enhancement became popular among players, as HGH is not detectable in tests. It pointed out that HGH is likely a placebo with no performance-enhancing effects.[181] The report included substance use allegations against at least one player from each MLB team.[182]
According to ESPN, some people questioned whether Mitchell's director role with the Boston Red Sox created a conflict of interest, especially because no "prime [Sox] players were in the report".[183] The report named several prominent Yankees who were parts of World Series clubs; there is a long-running and fierce Yankees–Red Sox rivalry. Former U.S. prosecutor John M. Dowd brought up Mitchell's conflict of interest,[184] but he later said that the former senator had done a good job.[185] Mitchell acknowledged that his "tight relationship with Major League Baseball left him open to criticism",[186] but he said that readers who examine the report closely "will not find any evidence of bias, of special treatment of the Red Sox".[186]
On January 10, 2013, MLB and the players union reached an agreement to add random, in-season HGH testing. They also agreed to implement a new test to reveal the use of testosterone for the 2013 season.[187] The current MLB drug policy provides for an 80-game suspension for a first positive test, a 162-game suspension for a second positive test, and a lifetime suspension for a third positive test.[188] In 2009, allegations surfaced against Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz, and Manny Ramirez received a 50-game suspension after testing positive for banned substances. In early April 2011, Ramirez retired from baseball rather than face a 100-game suspension for his second positive steroid test.[189] He would later unretire, having the suspension dropped to 50 games, and would serve those in 2012.[citation needed]
Media coverage
Television
Main article: Major League Baseball on television
See also: List of current Major League Baseball broadcasters
Several networks televise baseball games, including Fox, ESPN, TBS, and MLB Network. Since 2008, Fox Sports has broadcast MLB games on Saturdays throughout the entire season; Fox previously only broadcast games from May to September.[190] Fox also holds rights to the All-Star Game each season. Fox also alternates League Championship Series broadcasts, broadcasting the American League Championship Series (ALCS) in odd-numbered years and the National League Championship Series (NLCS) in even-numbered years. Fox broadcasts all games of the World Series.[191] ESPN continues to broadcast MLB games as well, beginning with national Opening Day coverage.[192] The network airs the program Baseball Tonight prior to its weekly regular season game titled: Sunday Night Baseball. ESPN also has the rights to the Home Run Derby every July and in the postseason broadcasts the Wild Card Series exclusively..[193][194]
TBS has aired Sunday afternoon regular season games (non-exclusive) nationally, but beginning in 2022 this will be replaced by Tuesday night games.[195][196] In 2007, TBS began its exclusive rights to any tiebreaker games that determine division or wild card champions. It also airs exclusive coverage of the Division Series round of the playoffs.[197] TBS carries the League Championship Series that are not included under Fox's television agreement; TBS shows the NLCS in odd-numbered years and the ALCS in even-numbered years.[198]
In January 2009, MLB launched the MLB Network, featuring news and coverage from around the league, and airing 26 live games in the 2009 season.[199] Each team also has local broadcasts for all games not carried by Fox on Saturdays or ESPN on Sunday nights. These games are typically split between a local broadcast television station and a local or regional sports network (RSN), though some teams only air local games through RSNs or through their own team networks. As Canada only contains one team, Sportsnet broadcasts Toronto Blue Jays games nationally.[200] The channel is owned by Rogers Communications, who is also the parent company of the Blue Jays.[200] Sportsnet also televises Fox's Saturday afternoon games, the All-Star Game, playoff games, and the World Series.[200][201] In April 2011, TSN2 began carrying ESPN Sunday Night Baseball in Canada.[202] TVA Sports airs Blue Jays games in French.[203]
Several MLB games are broadcast exclusively on Internet television. After a year of exclusive games on Facebook,[204] MLB partnered with YouTube to stream weekly games on the service beginning in the 2019 season, and extending until 2022.[205][206][207] In 2022, MLB made a deal with Apple Inc. to launch Friday Night Baseball on its Apple TV+ streaming service, and NBC Sports to broadcast MLB Sunday Leadoff, a package of early Sunday afternoon games on Peacock.[208][209]
ESPN+ broadcasts one out-of-market game per day throughout the whole regular season.
Since the 2023 season Division Series the streaming service Max began to simulcast the games broadcast by its sister channel TBS (both owned by Warner Bros. Discovery).[210]
Blackout policy
Main article: Major League Baseball blackout policy
See also: Syndication exclusivity
MLB blackout map in the United States
Canadian regions subject to
Toronto Blue Jays exclusively
Shared with Seattle Mariners
Shared with Minnesota Twins
Shared with Boston Red Sox
Note: Toronto Blue Jays territory covers all of Canada
MLB has several blackout rules.[211] A local broadcaster has priority to televise games of the team in their market over national broadcasters if the game is not exclusive to the national broadcaster. A market that has a local team playing in a non-exclusive game will receive an alternative programming feed on the national broadcaster.[212] MLB's streaming internet video service is also subject to the same blackout rules.[213] Commissioner Robert Manfred has expressed interest in changing the blackout policy to loosen the rules for streaming options.[214]
Radio and Internet
Main article: Major League Baseball on the radio
The first baseball game ever broadcast on radio was a Pittsburgh Pirates versus Philadelphia Phillies game on August 5, 1921. The game was broadcast by KDKA of Pittsburgh, and the Pirates defeated the Phillies 8–5. It was broadcast by KDKA staff announcer Harold Arlin.[215][216][217][218][219][1] That year, KDKA and WJZ of Newark broadcast the first World Series on the radio, between the New York Giants and the New York Yankees, with Grantland Rice and Tommy Cowan calling the games for KDKA and WJZ, respectively.[216][217][218] However, the broadcasters were not actually present at the game, but simply gave reports from a telegraph wire.[216] In 1922, WJZ broadcast the entire series, with Rice doing play-by-play.[217][218] For the 1923 World Series, Rice was joined on Westinghouse for the first time by Graham McNamee.[216][220]
During the 1923 World Series, Rice was the main broadcaster, but during the fourth inning of Game 3, he turned the microphone over to McNamee.[218][220] This was the start of McNamee's career, and McNamee became the first color commentator.[221] Although frequently criticized for his lack of expertise, McNamee helped popularize baseball.[216][220][222]
In 1998, national radio broadcasts moved to ESPN Radio.[223] ESPN Radio currently broadcasts Sunday Night Baseball games during the regular season, as well as Saturday and occasional weekday games, along with the All-Star Game and all postseason contests.[224] Since 2021, TUDN Radio airs Spanish-language coverage of select regular season and postseason games, including the World Series.[225]
In addition, each team employs its own announcers, who broadcast during the regular season. Most teams operate regional networks to cover their fan bases; some of these supposedly regional networks (such as the New York Yankees Radio Network) have a national reach with affiliates located across the United States.[226] Major League Baseball has an exclusive rights deal with XM Satellite Radio, which includes the channel MLB Network Radio and live play-by-play of all games.[227] Many teams also maintain a network of stations that broadcast their games in Spanish; as of 2022, the Los Angeles Dodgers are the only team that produces radio broadcasts in a third language, with selected games broadcast in Korean.[228] Both Canadian teams (the Montreal Expos before their move to Washington, DC in 2005, and the Toronto Blue Jays) have produced radio broadcasts in French.[229]
MLB games are also broadcast live on the internet. All television and radio broadcasts of games are available via subscription to MLB.tv at Major League Baseball's website, MLB.com, and radio-only broadcasts are also available via subscription to MLB.com Gameday Audio.[230] Radio station affiliates are officially forbidden from streaming games through their Internet feeds. Blackout rules are still applied for live television broadcasts, but not radio broadcasts.[citation needed]
Since 2005, Major League Baseball has a partnership with XM Satellite Radio, launching a 24-7 channel MLB Home Plate which carries every major league game.[231][232] Games are also carried on MLB Gameday Audio.[233]
While all teams maintain a network of stations carrying their games in English, many teams also maintain a Spanish-language network as well. In addition, when the Washington Nationals were based in Montreal as the Montreal Expos, their games were broadcast in both English and French. Selected games of the Los Angeles Dodgers are broadcast in Korean by KMPC.[234][235]
International broadcasting
Disney Media Networks Latin America through its linear channels (ESPN, FS2, FS3, ESPN Caribbean, ESPN Brazil) and Star+ owns the broadcast rights to more than 180 regular season games (at least 1 game per day), the Home Run Derby, the All Star Game and the post season including: the Wild Card Series, the Division Series, the Championship Series and the World Series for all of Latin America and the Caribbean.[236][237][238][239]
In Mexico, Fox Sports airs 5 regular season games per week[240] and post-season games that belong to the league that broadcasts its American namesake (including the Wild Card Series). Likewise, TUDN carries 4 matches a week until 2022: through the pay television signal, games were broadcast on Tuesdays and Thursdays, while on Saturdays (generally at 12:00 pm) and Sundays (rotating between NBA games, until the start of the NFL season) games were broadcast on Canal 9. Starting with the Championship Series, it only broadcast one division and the whole World Series, these were broadcast on free-to-air television for 59 years.[241]
Starting with the 2023 season, it was confirmed that Imagen Televisión would begin broadcasting a regular season game every Saturday and Sunday as well as the playoffs and the World Series on open television and its website for all of Mexico.[242]
In Argentina, Fox Sports carries 5 regular season games per week and post-season games that belong to the league that broadcasts its American namesake (including the Wild Card Series).
In Venezuela, since the 2016 season the cable channel IVC has the broadcast rights, they currently air 7 games per week.[243] Starting with the 2022 season, Televen broadcasts two games a week and the postseason on free-to-air TV[244][245][246] While Venevisión, starting with the 2023 season, would return with the space "El Juego de la Semana" that carries a game every Sunday and non-working days on free-to-air television.[247]
In the Dominican Republic since 2009 Grupo Altice has broadcast the entire regular season, playoffs and World Series through pay TV while on free-to-air television and radio Grupo Corripio airs 7 games per week and the entire postseason.[248][249][250]
In Spain, Movistar Plus+ has the rights to broadcast the entire season, including one game daily, and the postseason, covering all games in the championship series and all games in the World Series.[251]
Channel 5 in the United Kingdom previously screened MLB games, including the All-Star Game and the postseason games, on Sunday and Wednesday usually starting at 1 a.m. BST. Most recently, Johnny Gould and Josh Chetwynd presented MLB on Five on that station.[252] The channel covered baseball beginning on its opening night in 1997, but for financial reasons, the decision was made not to pick up MLB for the 2009 season.[253] BT Sport ESPN show live and recorded games several times a week—it is available with BT Sport and (on a subscriber-basis) Virgin Media in the UK.[254] ESPN America televised many games in the UK and dozens of other countries; in May 2013, ESPN announced that it would shut down the channel on July 31, 2013.[255][256]
In Australia, MLB games are regularly shown on ESPN Australia (subscription).[257]
In the Middle East, North Africa and France, MLB games are broadcast on beIN Sports channels.[258][259]
In Germany, Austria and Switzerland as many as 500 MLB games will be broadcast from 2022 exclusively on the Sport1 platforms until 2026.[260]
In Hungary, MLB games are broadcast on Sport1 as of 2020.[261]