World Series
Throughout much of the twentieth century, the annual World Series baseball championship has consistently set standards for well-staged national sporting scenarios, earning its reputation as the "Fall Classic." There have been heroes, villains, fools, and unknowns who have stolen the spotlight from "superstars."
The term "World Series" was first coined for a nine-game series between the Boston Pilgrims and the Pittsburgh Pirates, an informal outgrowth of a 1903 "peace treaty" signed between the two competing "major" baseball leagues, the 27-year-old National League (N.L.) and the upstart 2-year-old American League (A.L.). The A.L. champion Pilgrims (later called the Red Sox) won, five games to three, to surprisingly good crowds and gate receipts. Yet the following year, manager John McGraw and owner John Brush of the runaway National League champion New York Giants refused to face the repeating Boston club, stating publicly that such a meeting was beneath the quality of their team, which showcased future Hall of Fame pitcher, Christy Mathewson. A less publicized reason, however, was that they had objected to the growing popularity of the new A.L. franchise in New York City, the Highlanders (soon to be known as the Yankees).
Public and press outcry was so great against the Giants that Brush relented in 1905 and proposed a seven-game World Series as a mandatory annual event.
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