The History of the Baseball World Series

The World Series has decided Major League Baseball's champion since its advent in the early part of the 20th century. It has been a best four-out-of-seven series except for the first one and three that were held between 1919 and 1921.

  1. 1903

    • The World Series originated in 1903. The Boston Americans defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in best five-out-of-nine format to win the initial Series.

    Firsts

    • The first World Series that required the entire seven-games to decide it was the 1909 affair between the Pirates and the Detroit Tigers. The first team to sweep the World Series in four straight games was the 1914 Boston Braves over the Philadelphia Athletics.

    1919

    • In 1919 the Chicago White Sox lost the Series to the Cincinnati Reds. It was later discovered that eight players on the White Sox had consorted with gamblers to fix the outcome; they all were subsequently banned from baseball in 1920.

    Yankees

    • The New York Yankees won their first world championship in the 1923 World Series. As of the 2009 season, New York has won 26 World Series, most of any team in baseball.

    1960

    • Perhaps the strangest World Series was the 1960 version between the Pirates and Yankees. Despite outscoring Pittsburgh by a count of 55 runs to 27, New York lost in seven games.