Background
- Source: The Baseball Encyclopedia (10 ed.). Macmillan General Reference. 1996. ISBN 978-0028608150.
- Note: Team names are given here according to the convention used by The Baseball Encyclopedia , which regularized them into the familiar form of modern team names. However, most teams in the early period had no name, aside from that of the club (as in "Hartford Base Ball Club" or "Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia"), and nicknames like "Beaneaters," "Perfectos" and the many allusions to uniform colors were inventions by the florid sportswriters of the day. [1]
The National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) was the first organization to govern baseball. The succeeding National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NA) was then established as the first professional baseball league. In 1876 six clubs from the NA and two independents joined to create the National League (NL). In subsequent years, the following major leagues competed against the NL, but all eventually folded:
- American Association (AA) (1882–1891) – several franchises transferred to the NL, both during and after the AA's existence.
- Union Association (UA) (1884) – only one franchise joined the NL after the UA disbanded.
- Players' League (PL) (1890) – none of its franchises joined the NL.
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 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. The Kansas City Blues moved to Washington D.C. to play as the Senators.
Another major league competitor was the Federal League (FL) (1914–1915). However, none of its teams joined either the NL or AL after it disbanded.
In 2020, Major League Baseball designated the following seven Negro leagues from 1920–1948 as major leagues: [2]
Graphical timeline
The first line is the formation of the National League (NL) in 1876, and the second is the transformation of the American League (AL) to a major league in 1901. The third line is the beginning of the expansion era in 1961. The fourth line marks the legal merger of the American and National Leagues into a single Major League Baseball in 2000.
World Series championships are shown with a "•", National League Pennants before the World Series are shown with a "^", and American League Pennants before the World Series are shown with a "#". No World Series was played in 1904, so the pennant winners for each league are indicated. Due to the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike, there were no pennant or World Series winners in 1994, so this year is left blank.
- Prior to 1876, only teams from the National Association (NA) that established the NL are shown.
- Between 1876 and 1901, in addition to the NL teams, only American Association (AA) and Union Association (UA) teams that eventually joined the NL are shown. No teams from the Players' League (PL) are shown.
- After 1901, only AL and NL teams are shown. No teams from the Federal League (FL) nor the seven Negro leagues are shown.
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