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Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world.
Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada (founded in 1869) consists of the National League (founded in 1876) and the American League (founded in 1901). Historically, teams in one league never played teams in the other until the World Series, in which the champions of the two leagues played against each other. This changed in 1997 with the advent of interleague play. [1] As of 2023, the Philadelphia Phillies, founded in 1883, are the oldest continuous same-name, same-city franchise in both Major League Baseball and all of American professional sports. [2]
In addition to the major leagues, many North American cities and towns feature minor league teams. An organization officially styled Minor League Baseball, formerly the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, [3] oversees nearly all minor league baseball in the United States and Canada. The minor leagues are divided into classes AAA, AA, High-A, A, and Rookie. These minor-league divisions are affiliated with major league teams, and serve to develop young players and rehabilitate injured major-leaguers. The Mexican League is an independent league that is a member of Minor League Baseball and has no affiliations to any Major League Baseball teams. "Affiliated baseball" (archaically, "organized baseball") is often applied as an umbrella term for all leagues — major and minor — under the authority of the Commissioner of Baseball. [4]
Operating outside the Minor League Baseball organization are many independent minor leagues such as the Atlantic League, American Association, Frontier League, [5] and the feeder league to these the Empire Professional Baseball League.
Japan has had professional baseball since the 1930s. Nippon Professional Baseball consists of two leagues, the Central League and the Pacific League, each with six teams.
South Korea has had professional baseball since 1982. There are 10 teams in KBO League.
Taiwan has had professional baseball since the 1990s. The Chinese Professional Baseball League absorbed Taiwan Major League in 2003. There are currently 6 teams in the CPBL.
Other Asian leagues include three now defunct leagues, the China National Baseball League, Israel Baseball League, and Baseball Philippines.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, players of black African descent were barred from playing the major leagues, though several did manage to play by claiming to be Cubans or Indians. As a result, a number of parallel Negro leagues were formed. However, after Jackie Robinson began playing with the major-league Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, the Negro leagues gradually faded. The process of integration did not go entirely smoothly; there were some ugly incidents, including pitchers who would try to throw directly at a black player's head. Now, however, baseball is fully integrated, and there is little to no racial tension between teammates.
Between 1943 and 1954, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League fielded teams in several Midwestern towns.
The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relatively successful leagues beginning in 1920 that are sometimes termed "Negro Major Leagues".
Today, baseball is a popular sport around the world with numerous countries practicing it at amateur and professional levels.
Roy Campanella, nicknamed "Campy", was an American professional baseball player, primarily as a catcher. The Philadelphia native played in the Negro leagues and Mexican League for nine years before entering the minor leagues in 1946. He made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut in 1948 for the Brooklyn Dodgers, for whom he played until 1957. His playing career ended when he was paralyzed in an automobile accident in January 1958. He is considered one of the greatest catchers in the history of the game.
Adolfo Domingo De Guzmán Luque was a Cuban starting pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1914 to 1935. Luque was enshrined in the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1957 and the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 1967, as well as in the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985. Luque was not only the first Latino pitcher in MLB, but also the first to earn a World Series win, and the first to lead the majors in wins and shutouts.
The color line, also known as the color barrier, in American baseball excluded players of black African descent from Major League Baseball and its affiliated Minor Leagues until 1947. Racial segregation in professional baseball was sometimes called a gentlemen's agreement, meaning a tacit understanding, as there was no written policy at the highest level of organized baseball, the major leagues. A high minor league's vote in 1887 against allowing new contracts with black players within its league sent a powerful signal that eventually led to the disappearance of blacks from the sport's other minor leagues later that century, including the low minors. After the line was in virtually full effect in the early 20th century, many black baseball clubs were established, especially during the 1920s to 1940s when there were several Negro leagues. During this period, American Indians and native Hawaiians, including Prince Oana, were able to play in the Major Leagues. The color line was broken for good when Jackie Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers organization for the 1946 season. In 1947, both Robinson in the National League and Larry Doby with the American League's Cleveland Indians appeared in games for their teams.
The following are the baseball events of the year 2002 throughout the world.
The following are the baseball events of the year 1981 throughout the world.
The following are the baseball events of the year 1987 throughout the world.
The Philadelphia Stars were a Negro league baseball team from Philadelphia. The Stars were founded in 1933 when Ed Bolden returned to professional black baseball after being idle since early 1930. The Stars were an independent ball club in 1933, a member of the Negro National League from 1934 until the League's collapse following the 1948 season, and affiliated with the Negro American League from 1949 to 1952.
The following are the baseball events of the year 1946 throughout the world.
The Cuban League was one of the earliest and longest lasting professional baseball leagues outside the United States, operating in Cuba from 1878 to 1961. The schedule usually operated during the winter months, so the league was sometimes known as the "Cuban Winter League."
Rubén (Mora) Amaro Sr. was a Mexican professional baseball player. He played as a shortstop and first baseman in Major League Baseball from 1958 through 1969.
Triple-A has been the highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946. Currently, two leagues operate at the Triple-A level, the International League (IL) and the Pacific Coast League (PCL). There are 30 teams, one per each Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise, with 20 in the IL and 10 in the PCL. Triple-A teams are generally located in smaller cities as well as larger metropolitan areas without MLB teams, such as Austin, Jacksonville, Columbus, and Indianapolis. Four Triple-A teams play in the same metro areas as their parent clubs.
Juan Francisco Herrera Villavicencio, nicknamed "Pancho" and "Frank", was a Cuban-born professional baseball player. He appeared in an even 300 games over all or part of three seasons in Major League Baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies between 1958 and 1961, primarily as a first baseman. He also played for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro American League, from whom he was purchased by the Phillies in 1954. A prodigious minor-league slugger, Herrera was listed at 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) tall and 220 pounds (100 kg); he threw and batted right-handed. He was the first Afro-Latino to play for the Phillies.
Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of baseball in the United States. The sport is one of the most popular sports in the U.S. for both participants and spectators. The World Series of MLB is the culmination of baseball's postseason each October. It is played between the winner of each of the two leagues, the American League and the National League, and the winner is determined through a best-of-seven playoff.
The following is a timeline of franchise evolution in Major League Baseball. The histories of franchises in the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP), National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NA), Union Association (UA), and American Association (AA) before they joined the National League (NL) are also included. In 1900 the minor league Western League renamed itself the American League (AL). All of the 1899 Western League teams were a part of the transformation with the Saint Paul Apostles moving to Chicago and to play as the White Stockings. In 1901 the AL declared itself a Major League. For its inaugural major league season the AL dropped its teams in Indianapolis, Buffalo and Minneapolis and replaced them with franchises in Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore and the Kansas City Blues moved to Washington to play as the Senators.
The American Series was the name given to the exhibition baseball games played between Cuban and American teams in Cuba. Before the Cuban Revolution, American teams would regularly travel to Cuba and play various professional, all-star and/or amateur Cuban teams throughout the country. The series usually took place either in the fall, after the end of the American season, or during spring training before the season began. The first American Series took place in 1879, with then minor league Worcester team going 2–0 against its Cuban opponents.
Organized baseball is an outdated term that collectively describes what is now known as Major League Baseball (MLB) and its various affiliated minor leagues, under the authority of the Commissioner of Baseball. Historically, these leagues were bound by the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (NAPBL), an agreement signed in 1901 that is considered the first to formally establish Minor League Baseball. The agreement included provisions to respect the player reserve lists of clubs in each league.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to baseball: