Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 76.72.90.14 (talk) at 14:32, 9 October 2023. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

| President = Bill Giles (honorary) }}ompetition from various other professional baseball leagues during the late 1800s. Most did not last for more than a few seasons, with a handful of teams joining the NL once their leagues folded. The American League declared itself a second major league in 1901, and the AL and NL engaged in a "baseball war" during 1901 and 1902 before agreeing to a "peace pact" that recognized each other as legitimate "major leagues". As part of this agreement, the leagues agreed to respect player contracts, establish rules about relationships with minor league clubs, and allow their champions to meet in a "World Series" to decide tmore player movement between leagues, the introduction of regular season interleague play in 1997, and the NL's adoption of the designated hitter rule in 2022, the difference in play between the two major leagues has diminished considerably.

Though both leagues agreed to be jointly governed by a commissioner in 1920, they remained separate legal and business entities with their own president and mauthority over clubs, unsupervised scheduling, unstable membership of cities, dominance by one team (the Boston Red Stockings), and an extremely low entry fee ($10) that gave clubs no incentive to abide by league rules when it was inconvenient to them.

William A. Hulbert (1832–1882), a Chicago businessman and an officer of the Chicago White Stockings of 1870–1889, approached several NA clubs with the plans for a professional league for the sport of baseball with a stronger central authority and exclusive territories in larger cities only. Additionally, Hulbert had a problem: five of his star players were threatened with expulsion from the NAPBBP because Hulbert had signed them to h Blues")]] from the NA (folded after the 1877 season)

• Mutual Club of New York ("New York Mutuals") from the NA (expelled after the 1876 season)
• St. Louis ("St. Louis Brown Stockings") from the NA (folded after the 1877 season, having committed to Louisville stars for 1878)
• Cincinnati ("Cincinnati Reds"), a new franchise (disbanded after the 1879 season)
• Louisville ("Louisville Grays"), a new franchise (folded after the 1877 season when four players were banned for gambling)

The National League's formation meant the end of the old National Association after only five seasons, as its remaining clubs shut down or reverted to amateur or minor league status. The o during 1877 and 1878. Over the next several years, various teams joined and left the struggling league. By 1880, six of the eight charter members had folded. Tms, offered Sunday games and alcoholic beverages in locales where permitted, and sold cheaper tickets everywhere (25 cents versus the NL's standard 50 cents, a hefty sum for many in 1882). The NL struck back by establishing new clubs in 1883 in AA cities Philadelphia (later called "Phillies") and New Yopete with the National League were the Union Association and the Players' League. The Union Association was established in 1884 and folded after playing only o blaze quickly got out of hand and swept through downtown Boston, destroying or damaging 100 buildings. Team owners argued with each other, and players hated the NL's $2,400 salary cap. Many teams also ran into trouble with city governments that forbade recreational activities on Sunday.

Billy Sunday, a prominent outfirgh Pirates had no AL team in their markets. The AL among other things enforced a strict conduct policy among its players.

The National League at first refusedocation=New York |isbn=9780786712861 |page=141}}</ref>

The National League circuit remained unchanged from 1900 through 1952. In 1953 the Braves moved from Boston to Milwaukee; in 1966 they moved again, to Atlanta. In 1958 the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants moved to Los Angeles and San Francisco, respectively, bringing major legeographical divisions (East, West and Central, all currently with five teams; from 1994 to 1997 the West had one fewer team, and from 1998 to 2012, the Central had one more team). A third postseason round was added at the same time: the three division champions plus a wild card team (the team with the best record among those finishing in second place) now advance to the preliminary National League Division Series. Due to a players' strike, however, the postseason was not actually held in 1994.

Before the 1998 season, the American League and the National League each added a fifteenth team. Because of the odd number of teams, only seven games could possibly be scheduled in each league on any given day. Thus, one team in each league would have to be idle on any given day. This would have made it difficult for scheduling, in terms of travel days and the need to end the season before October. In order for MLB officials to continue primarily intraleague play, both leagues would need to carry an even number of teams, so the decision was made to move one club from the AL Central to the NL Central. Eventually, Milwaukee agreed (after Kansas City declined) to change leaguesons/thetwo-way/2011/11/17/142467483/baselballs-houston-astros-to-switch-leagues-in-2013|access-date=2022-02-25}}</ref>

Designated hitter rule

Often characterized as being a more "traditional" or "pure" league, the National League did not adopt the designated hitter rule until the shortened 2020 season. Only the American League previously adopted the rule in 1973. In theory, this meant that the role of the manager was greater in the National League than in the American League, because the NL manager must take offense into account when making pitching substitutions and vice versa. However, this was disputed by some, such as former Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland, who claimed that the American League is more difficult because AL managers are required to know exactly when to pull a pitcher, whereas an NL manager merely pulls his pitcher when that spot comes up in the batting order.

The National League reverted to its old batting rules during the 2021 season, but starting with the 2022 season, they permanently adopted the designated hitter rule after a new CBA was ratified.

Permanent interleague play

For the first 96 years of its coexistence with the American League, National League teams faced their AL counterparts only in exhibition games, the All-Star Game, or in the World Series. Beginning in 1997, however, interleague games have been played during the regular season and count in the standings. Prior to the early 2020s - before the universal designated hitter rule was started in both leagues - as part of the agreement instituting interleague play, the DH rule was used onlyne]] in November 2011, the team agreed to move to the American League effective with the 2013 season.

In 2023, National League teams are going to play 46 regular season interleague games against all 15 American League teams, 23 at home and 23 on the road.

Champions

As of the end of the 2022 season, the Dodgers have won the most NL pennants, with 24. Representing the National League against the American League, the Cardinals have won the most World Series (11) followed by the Giants (8), Dodgers (7), Pirates (5), and Reds (5). St. Louis also holds the distinction of being the only AA club to defeat an NL club in the 19th-century version of the World Series, having done so against their now-division rival Cubs.

Teams

• St. Louis (at various times "Brown Stockings", "Browns", "Red Stockings" and "Reds", and today officially the Cardinals and unofficially "Redbirds")

Expansion, relocation, and renaming, 1953–present

• 1953: Boston Braves move to Milwaukee
• 1958: Brooklyn Dodgers move to Los Angeles and New York Giants move to San Francisco
• 1962: Houston Colt .45s and New York Mets enfranchised
• 1965: Houston Colt .45s renamed Astros
• 1966: Milwaukee Braves move to Atlanta
• 1969: Montreal Expos and San Diego Padres enfranchised
• 1993: [[Colorado Rock

Current teams

National League East

• Atlanta Braves, the oldest continually operating team in North American sports. Known as "Beaneaters" and other nicknames, as original nickname faded and became re-associated with Cincinnati (and later with the Boston Red Sox). Adopted name "Braves" in 1912. Moved to Milwaukee (1953) and to Atlanta (1966). Prior to the 1994 realignment, the Braves competed in the West division.
• Miami Marlins, enfranchised 1993 as the Florida Marlins, changed name to Miami Marlins (2012).
• New York Mets, enfra=at Chicago Fire]]. The team has been continuously active since 1874, making it the oldest continuously active team in its original city in Major League Baseball. It joined the National League as a charter member (1876). Originally called the "Chicago White Stockings" and later the "Chicago Colts" and several other names, the team was first called "Cubs" in 1902.
• Cincinnati Reds enfranchised 1882 in American Association, at first tagged "Red Stockings", joined National League (1890).
• Milwaukee Brewers enfranchised 1969 as the Seattle Pilots in American League, moved to Milwaukee (1970), transferred to National League (1998).
• Pittsburgh Pirates enfranchised 1882 in American Association, joined National League (1887), dubbed "Pirates" for signing Lou Bierbauer away from the Athletics in 1891ks]] enfranchised 1998
• Colorado Rockies enfranchised 1993
• Los Angeles Dodgers enfranchised 1883 as a minor league team, entered into the American Association as the Brooklyn Atlantics in 1884, soon acquired nickname "Dodgers" (from "trolley dodgers"), joined National League (1890). Also dubbed "Bridegrooms", "Superbas", "Robins" and "Bums" at various times, in addition to "Dodgers". Moved to Los Angeles (1958)
• San Diego Padres enfranchised 1969, sometimes called "Friars" or "Dads."
• San Francisco Giants enfranchised in New York City 1883, nearly half of its original players were members of then just disbanded Troy club, nickname "Giants" in widespread use by 1886, moved to San Francisco (1958)

Presidents

</ref>

|}

Honorary president

Following the 1999 season, the American and National Leagues were merged with Major League Baseball, and the leagues ceased to exist as business entities. The role of the league president was eliminated. In 2001, Bill Giles, son of Warren Giles, was named honorary president of the NL. Honorary presidents perform only ceremonial duties such as presenting league championship trophies and representing their respective leagues at All-Star Games.

See also

• List of Aeball
• American League
• World Series
• United Baseball League (proposed)

Footnotes

1. Jensen, Mike (October 16, 2008). "'Fantastic feeling' for Bill Giles". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved May 7, 2017.
2. {{cite web|url=http://w-expanded-playoffs-20200511.html COVID-19 accelerating changes that will be part of baseball forever] Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
3. "Everything you need to know about '22 season". MLB.com. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
4. For more details, see Houston Astros#2012–present: Jim Crane era and move to the American League.
5. ^ Chass, Murray (September 16, 1999). "BASEBALL; League Presidents Out As Baseball Centralizes". The New York Times.
6. "Transactions". The New York Times. June 14, 2001.

References

• The National League Story, Lee Allen, Putnam, 1961.
• The American League Story, Lee Allen, Putnam, 1962.
• The Baseball Encyclopedia, published by MacMillan, 1968 and later.