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Major League Baseball ('''MLB''') is the highest level of play in North American professional Baseball . More specifically, Major League Baseball refers to the organization that operates North America n professional baseball's two leagues, the National League and the American League , by means of a joint organizational structure which has existed between them since 1903. Major League Baseball teams play a 162 game season. The American League operates under the Designated Hitter Rule , but the National League does not (inter-league, all-star and World Series game rules are determined by the home team's league rules). In 2000, the American and National Leagues were officially disbanded as separate legal entities with all rights and functions consolidated in the commissioner's office. MLB effectively operates as a single league and as such it constitutes one of the Major Professional Sports League s of North America. Major League Baseball is controlled by An Agreement that has undergone several incarnations since 1876, then called the NL Constitution, with the most recent revisions being made in 2005. Major League Baseball, under the direction of its Commissioner , Bud Selig , hires and maintains the sport's Umpiring crews, and negotiates Marketing , labor, and Television Contracts . As is the case for most North American sports leagues, the 'closed shop' aspect of MLB effectively prevents the yearly Promotion And Relegation of teams into the Major League by virtue of their performance. MLB maintains a unique, controlling relationship over the sport, including most aspects of Minor League Baseball . This is due in large part to a 1922 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in '' Federal Baseball Club V. National League '' which held that baseball is not Interstate Commerce and therefore not subject to federal Antitrust law despite baseball's own references to itself as an "industry" rather than a "sport." This ruling has been weakened only slightly in subsequent years. [http://www.thesportjournal.org/2005Journal/Vol8-No2/harry-bartee.asp The production/multimedia wing of MLB is New York-based MLB Advanced Media which oversees MLB.com and all 30 of the individual teams' websites. Its charter states that MLB Advanced Media holds Editorial Independence from the League itself, but it is indeed under the same ownership group and revenue-sharing plan. MLB Productions is a similarly-structured wing of the league, focusing on video and traditional broadcast media. CURRENT MAJOR LEAGUE CLUBS The Major League regular season runs from the first Monday in April (with one game the Sunday night before) until late September or early October. Players and teams prepare for the season in Spring Training , in Florida and Arizona , during February and March. Three rounds of playoffs follow the regular season, culminating in the World Series in late October. National League :1 The Marlins will be forced to vacate the stadium after 2010. :&2 To be replaced in 2009 by a new stadium named " Citi Field " :³ To be replaced in 2008 by a new stadium currently named " Nationals Ballpark " American League :4 To be replaced in 2009 by a new stadium also named " Yankee Stadium " :5 To be replaced in 2010 by a new stadium currently named " Twins Ballpark " :6 To be replaced in 2010-2012 by a new stadium named " Cisco Field " Teams and schedule The Commissioner of baseball, Bud Selig , has often floated the idea of international expansion and realignment of the major leagues. At the moment, however, the two major leagues are each split into three divisions and structured as listed in the tables above. In all, there are 30 teams in the two leagues: 16 in the older (5), NL Central (6), NL West (5), AL East (5), AL Central (5), and AL West (4). Each team's regular season consists of 162 games, a duration established in 1961 in the American League and 1962 in the National League. From 1904 into the early 1960s, except for 1919, a 154-game schedule was played in both leagues (7 opponents X 22 games apiece). Expansion from 8 to 10 teams in each league in the early 1960s resulted in a revised schedule of 162 games (9 opponents X 18 games apiece, initially) in their expansion years, for the American League in 1961 and the National League in 1962. Although the schedule remains at 162 games to this day, the layout of games played was changed when Divisional play began in 1969, so that teams played more games against opponents within their own division than against the other divisions or (beginning in 1997) the other league. , between the New York Yankees and the Minnesota Twins .]] Unplanned shortened seasons were played in 1918 due to the United States entering World War I , and in 1972, 1981, 1994 and 1995 due to Player Strikes And Lockouts . A 140-game schedule (7 X 20) was played in 1919, due to the influenza outbreak, and the schedule before 1904 varied from year to year. Games are played predominantly against teams within each league through an unbalanced schedule which heavily favors intra-divisional play. In 1997, Major League Baseball introduced Interleague Play , which was criticized by the sport's purists but has since proven very lucrative to the franchises. The interleague games are confined to the mid-summer months. Typically many intra-division games are scheduled toward the end of the season, anticipating the possibility of close divisional races and heightened fan interest. Each year in June, Major League Baseball conducts a Draft for first-year players who have never signed a Major or Minor League contract. The Major League Baseball Draft is among the least followed of the professional sports drafts in the United States , possibly because other professional sports drafts feature players who will immediately start to play for the team they are drafted by that next year, whereas the MLB has an extensive minor league system to help players mature and hone their skills to be able to compete with those in the major leagues. For a detailed history of the length of the regular season, see Major League Baseball Season . Team names and colors In American professional sports (and usually amateur sports as well), a generally standardized and marketing-oriented structure has evolved for the names and colors, and thus the identies of individual clubs. The structure involves three elements: a geographical designator, traditionally the name of the team's city, although in recent decades the team's state or region has sometimes been used; a '''nickname''', usually connected with either a mascot, the team's colors, or a feature unique to the region or to the club; and '''team colors''' a carryover from Heraldry . This approach contrasts with some non-American sports, such as European soccer, in which team names need not necessarily follow a particular pattern, or Asian professional baseball, which generally follows a "corporate sponsor" name followed by a "nickname". The pattern began with early organized baseball clubs and has been extended from there to almost all U.S. professional clubs. Originally, gentlemen's athletic clubs were key movers in the development of organized baseball, so early prominent teams were simply named after the clubs that formed them: Athletic Club, Mutual Club, Olympic Club, Forest City Club, Kekionga Club, Atlantic Club, Western Club. By 1871, with the formation of the National Association , clubs no longer just competed with local rivals, but with the best clubs from other cities around the northeast. Thus, geographic designators were sometimes added, establishing the now familiar pattern (only reversed): Athletic of Philadelphia, Mutual of New York, Olympic of Washington, Forest City of Cleveland, Kekionga of Fort Wayne, Atlantic of Brooklyn, Western of Keokuk. By 1876, when the National League entered play, baseball clubs were no longer primarily associated with gentlemen's athletic clubs, and most of the original teams were named after the one uniform feature that served to distinguish them on the field - the color of their stockings. Thus: Boston Red Stockings, Chicago White Stockings, Cincinnati Red Stockings, Hartford Dark Blues, Louisville Grays, St. Louis Brown Stockings. The 1876 New York and Philadelphia clubs still held over the traditional "Mutual" and "Athletic" names, and were usually so referenced in the standings. The plural usage seen sometimes, "Mutuals" or "Athletics", was equivalent to the "Chicagos" or the "Bostons". Modern historians have often retrofitted these names in the modern style, such as "New York Mutuals", which is technically incorrect. "Mutual" was the actual ''name'' of the team, and the club had separate "nicknames" that referred to the team colors in a given year, such as "Green Stockings". The Athletics name did persist, however, and the Philadelphia American League team would retain this name even through two relocations. Throughout this period, club nicknames were ad hoc, bestowed and used at will by sportswriters and fans. Nicknames became associated with particular cities, and fans tended to refer to the local team by this name, even if it was not associated in a corporate fashion with its predecessor. Thus, multiple, unassociated teams used names such as Boston Red Stockings, Chicago White Stockings, Cincinnati Red Stockings, St. Louis Brown Stockings, Louisville Grays, Baltimore Orioles, Milwaukee Brewers, and the like. Early in the 20th century, the club nickname began to acquire a more important status, eventually an official status, being designated by the club ownership and ultimately used as part of the club's marketing efforts. Sometimes a club would change its nickname or adopt an official name that superseded one or more unofficial names in the past. An example would be the Boston Braves , who were tagged with various nicknames prior to officially adopting "Braves" as their name and mascot. Sometimes such a name change did not catch on with the press and public, which is why there is no longer a " Philadelphia Blue Jays " nor a " Boston Bees ". The original Washington Senators were officially the "Washington Nationals" for many decades, but the alternate nickname "Senators" persisted, "Nationals" faded, and the team finally, officially became the "Senators" in the late 1950s. (With modern marketing strategies, such a fate is less likely to befall the current Washington Nationals .) In contrast, the Brooklyn Dodgers began by adopting the old "Atlantic" designation, then were dubbed the "Bridegrooms" for awhile, then the "Trolley Dodgers", then the "Superbas", then the "Robins" (for their manager, Wilbert Robinson), although the alternate nickname "Dodgers" persisted from the moment the team acquired that tag. The Dodgers did not actually put that name on their uniforms until the 1930s. Sometimes teams have changed their nicknames for marketing or other reasons. For example, the Houston Colt .45s became the Houston Astros in 1965. Team colors are sometimes tied in with a team's name, and occasionally they are changed for marketing reasons. One of the most striking examples of the latter was in 1963, when flamboyant owner Charles O. Finley changed the Kansas City Athletics ' uniforms from a traditional white/gray with blue and red trim to bright yellow with green trim, a move that sparked controversy, but also one that fit in with the new medium of Color Television . Before this, home uniforms in MLB were uniformly white with colored trim, while road uniforms were uniformly gray; afterwards many teams displayed a variety of color schemes, notably the Houston Astros and San Diego Padres . The Chicago Cubs have consistently worn a bright blue top on the road since 1982, whereas the Chicago White Sox have changed colors many times during that interval, at one or another time wearing navy blue, red, royal blue, and white stockings. In recent years the team wears black hosiery. Several of the established baseball teams inspired football teams (who were often the baseball teams' tenants) to name them after the ball club. For example, in the National Football League , the Chicago Bears were named for the Chicago Cubs , according to legend because Bears' owner George Halas reasoned that football players are larger than baseball players, and bears are larger than cubs and the Detroit Lions were named this because of the Detroit Tigers name. More direct examples include the New York Giants and Boston Braves adopting the names of their original landlords (the Giants and the Braves ), as well as various teams named the Yankees , Dodgers , Reds , Indians , and Senators . The New York Titans changed their name to the New York Jets , in part to rhyme with their co-tenants in the new Shea Stadium , the New York Mets , along with Shea's proximity to LaGuardia Airport . MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL UNIFORMS The official rules of Major League Baseball require that all players on a team wear matching uniforms, although this rule was not in force in the early days. Originally, teams were primarily distinguished by the colors of their stockings and the success of the Cincinnati Red Stockings popularized the adoption of sock color as the explicit identity of the club. The 1876 , white for Chicago, grey for Buffalo, blue for Worcester, gold for Detroit, green for Troy, and so on. That year, the league also assigned jersey and cap colors, but by player position rather than by club. Traditionally, when playing at home, teams wore uniforms that were mostly white with trim in team colors and when playing away, they wore uniforms that were mostly gray with trim in team colors. Aside from the obvious need to distinguish one team from the other, conventional wisdom held that it was more difficult to properly launder uniforms while on a road trip, thus the "road grays" helped to hide accumulated soil. This convention continued well after its original premise was nullified by the issuance of multiple uniforms and the growth of the Laundromat industry. Starting in the 1970s, with the advent of synthetic fabrics, teams began using more color in their uniforms, notably the Kansas City Athletics in 1963, the San Diego Padres unusual brown and yellow scheme beginning in 1969, and the Houston Astros ' rainbow stripes in the mid-1970s. In the late 1970s, the Pittsburgh Pirates began a trend of multiple combinations of differently colored jerseys and trousers and caps (with the options of black, yellow, and white with pin stripes). At one point in the 1970s, the Cleveland Indians had an all-red uniform. Starting in the 1990s, MLB clubs began heavily marketing licensed goods, such as Caps and uniform jerseys to the public and this has resulted in a wide array of uniforms for each team. Now, some teams have not only a basic home uniform and away uniform, but also special "Sunday game" uniforms and uniforms that are worn only during batting practice and uniforms worn on singular events. From time to time, individual MLB teams have held "Turn Back the Clock Day", regularly-scheduled games in which teams donned uniforms in styles their predecessors wore generations earlier (sometimes called "throwback" uniforms), or other antique-style uniforms such as those of Negro League clubs. In addition, in 1999, MLB staged "Turn Ahead the Clock Day," in which teams wore futuristic, somewhat strange-looking uniforms, including futuristic or Science Fiction references, such as the New York Mets being referred to as the " Mercury Mets." The result is that it is now often difficult to say which uniform is a team's "official" one. For example, the ' all-blue home cap, which is rarely seen on the field today in favor of an "alternate" black-and-blue cap. The New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants, and Los Angeles Dodgers are the only teams that don't wear alternate uniforms. The official rules state that:
Another apparent violation of the concept of a "uniform" is that some players on a team will wear the traditional knee-breeches or "knickers" while other teammates are wearing the more-recent ankle-length, closely-cut trousers. Many clubs do this at both major and minor league level, with no apparent objections. On game days that do not require a special uniform (either by team or MLB request) it is generally (but not always) the starting pitcher for a team that chooses the uniform to be worn for that day's game. In his comedy routine "Baseball & Football," George Carlin Observes that in baseball, as compared to football, the Manager is required to wear the same uniform the players do. However, this was actually not true in the early years of the game. Player-managers were common, but non-playing managers whose realm was strictly the dugout often wore business suits, a common occurrence at the time. Retired players who became managers were more likely to continue to wear a baseball uniform ( John McGraw , for example), especially if they were also active on the coaching lines; managers often doubled as third-base coach. By the late 1940s, nearly all managers were wearing baseball uniforms. Connie Mack was the last major league manager to wear a suit in the dugout until his retirement in the early 1950s; however, in contrast to the uniform-wearing managers, Mack rarely if ever stepped onto the field during a game; instead he sent uniformed coaches onto the field when a managerial presence outside the dugout was required. ALL-STAR GAME Early July marks the midway point of the season, during which a three day break is taken when the Major League Baseball All-Star Game is staged. The All-Star game pits players from the NL, headed up by the manager of the previous NL World Series team, against players from the AL, similarly managed, in an exhibition game. The 2002 contest ended in an 11-inning tie because both teams were out of pitchers, a result which proved highly unpopular with the fans. As a result, for a two-year trial in 2003 and 2004, the league which won the game received the benefit of home-field advantage in the World Series (four of the seven games taking place at their home park). That practice has since been extended indefinitely, since it has become popular with fans. The practice has upset purists over the previous format of the two leagues alternating home-field advantage for the World Series. The Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox took some advantage of the rule in 2004 and 2005 respectively, as each team started the Series with two home victories, giving them good momentum for a sweep. However, the rule did not help the Yankees in 2003, as they lost the Series to Florida in 6 games, or the Detroit Tigers in 2006, as they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in 5 games. Since 1970, the eight position players for each team who take the field initially have been voted into the game by fans; MLB and Gillette entered into an agreement wherein fans would vote on pre-printed punch cards for their choices, with a spot reserved for write-in votes (indeed, that first year, Atlanta outfielder Rico Carty, who led the National League in batting average, was voted into the starting lineup as a write-in candidate). The fan voting had been cancelled since 1957 as a result of the Cincinnati ballot-box-stuffing scandal (a local newspaper had printed pre-voted ballots for fans to send in, resulting in seven of the eight positions going to Cincinnati players). The league overruled the vote, adding St. Louis' Stan Musial and Milwaukee's Henry Aaron to the team, and fan voting was eliminated until the 1970 season. In more recent years, internet voting has been allowed. The remaining position players and all of the pitchers on each league's roster were, for a large number of years, solely at the discretion of that team's manager. In 2004, however, MLB instituted a system where some reserves and pitchers were selected by a vote of MLB players, and some were selected by the manager after consulting with the Commissioner's Office. Each person is allowed to vote 25 times. By MLB regulation, every team in the majors must have at least one designated all-star player, regardless of voting. This rule exists so that fans of every team have a player to watch for in the All-Star Game. POST-SEASON When the regular season ends after the first Sunday in October (or the last Sunday in September), eight teams enter the post-season playoffs. Six teams are division champions; the remaining two "wild-card" spots are filled by the team in each league that has the best record but is not a division champion (best second-place team). Three rounds of series of games are played to determine the champion: # American League Division Series and National League Division Series , each a best-of-five game series; # American League Championship Series and National League Championship Series , each a best-of-seven game series played between the surviving teams from the ALDS and NLDS; and # World Series , a best-of-seven game series played between the champions of each league. The division winners are seeded 1-3 based on record. The wild-card team is the 4 seed, regardless of its record. The matchup for the first round of the playoffs is usually 1 seed vs. 4 seed and 2 seed vs. 3 seed, unless the wild-card team is from the same division as the 1 seed, in which case the matchup is 1 seed vs. 3 seed and 2 seed vs. 4 seed, as teams from the same division cannot meet in the 1st round. In the first and second round of the playoffs, the better seeded team has home-field advantage, regardless of record. In the event of a tie in the standings at the close of the regular season, league rules provide for a one-game playoff (with the home field determined by coin flip) to determine which of two teams participate in the Division Series. If three teams are involved in a tie, a two-game playoff may be played. If two teams are tied, but a tiebreaker would result in both participating in the Division Series anyway (due to one being division champion and the other being wild card), then no playoff is played and seedings are determined by head-to-head record. The team belonging to the league that won the mid-season All-Star Game receives home-field advantage in the World Series. MLB STEROID POLICY Over most of the course of Major League Baseball, steroid testing was never a major issue. However, after the BALCO Steroid scandal, which involved allegations that top baseball players had used illegal performance-enhancing drugs, Major League Baseball finally decided to issue harsher penalties for steroid users. The policy, which was accepted by Major League Baseball players and owners, was issued at the start of the 2005 season and went as follows: A first positive test resulted in a suspension of 10 games, a second positive test resulted in a suspension of 30 games, the third positive test resulted in a suspension of 60 games, the fourth positive test resulted in a suspension of one full year, and a fifth positive test resulted in a penalty at the commissioner’s discretion. Players were tested at least once per year, with the chance that several players could be tested many times per year. (See: List Of Major League Baseball Players Suspended For Steroids ) This program replaced the previous steroid testing program under which, for example, no player was even suspended in 2004. Under the old policy, which was established in 2002, a first-time offense would only result in treatment for the player, and the player would not even be named. The 2005 agreement changed this rule so that first-time offenders were named and suspended. In November 2005, MLB owners and players approved even tougher penalties for positive tests than the ones in place during the 2005 season. Under the new rules, a first positive test would result in a 50-game suspension, a second positive test would result in a 100-game suspension, and a third positive test would result in a lifetime suspension from MLB. These new penalties are much harsher than the previous ones. The new steroid policy finally brings MLB closer in line with international rules, as well as with the NFL , which has long taken a tough stance on those caught using steroids. MLB's previous reluctance to take a hard line on drugs (as many other sports featured far stricter testing and penalties) was widely seen as one of the main reasons why baseball has been dropped from the Olympics , effective in 2012 . On March 30 , 2006 , Bud Selig launched an investigation on the alleged steroid use by players such as Barry Bonds , Jason Giambi , Tom Moglia and Gary Sheffield as the weight of books like '' Game Of Shadows '' emerged. The inquiry into steroids' use in baseball is expected to go back no further than 2002, when the MLB started testing players for performance-enhancing drugs. MAJOR LEAGUE RACE AND ORIGIN At the start of the 2006 season, there were 744 players on opening rosters, of which were:
At the start of the 2007 season, there were 750 players on opening rosters, of which were:
MLB BLACKOUT POLICY Major League Baseball has several Blackout rules. Games are blacked out based on two criteria:
All of the Continental United States , except for some small, remote, isolated patches, are within at least one team's blackout territory. Some areas may lie within the territories of two or more. As the accompanying map shows, teams generally have exclusive territorial rights only over their home cities' immediate area, but even then there are exceptions; for example all of Texas, including the Houston metropolitan area as well as the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex , as well as the entire state of Louisiana, is within both the Astros' and Rangers' blackout areas. Outside of the immediate area, several teams may exercise blackout rights within the same territory. The entire state of Iowa , for example, is within the blackout areas of the Cubs, White Sox, Brewers, Twins, Cardinals and Royals. Southern Nevada likewise lies within six MLB teams' territories. Areas of far western Kansas, although being closer to Denver than Kansas City, is still included in the blackout territory for the Royals, and not the Rockies. The Toronto Blue Jays' blackout territory includes all of Canada. However, they must share British Columbia and Alberta with the Seattle Mariners, Saskatchewan and Manitoba with the Minnesota Twins, and New Brunswick , Nova Scotia , and Prince Edward Island with the Boston Red Sox. In the past, the province of Quebec was not included in Toronto's territory, as it belonged to the Montreal Expos exclusively. Toronto and Montreal shared all territory outside of Ontario and Quebec, along with the aforementioned exceptions. Consumer devices that enable television subscribers to transmit their home television feed outside their host area to a remote location over the Internet , a practice called placeshifting, have drawn the ire of MLB. MLB's position is that subscribers who wish to watch MLB telecasts while traveling either settle for the local telecasts available or subscribe to MLB's own broadcasts for an additional fee. Consumer advocates insist the practice is legal, since the remoted content is already purchased and is merely placeshifted by the subscriber; they claim MLB is asking fans to pay twice for the same content. MLB counters that travelers utilizing placeshifting technology are undercutting the blackout rights MLB grants to local and national broadcasters, as well as MLB's own internet service. {Link without Title} Radio blackouts In MLB there are no radio blackouts, although ESPN Radio has exclusive rights to the World Series and only the Flagship Station s of the two participating ballclubs can originate coverage, though their broadcasts are also available on XM Satellite Radio . All other network affiliates of the two clubs must carry the ESPN Radio feed, and they may not even be able to do so if they compete with an ESPN Radio affiliate in the same market. The two flagships must broadcast ESPN Radio national commercials (though they can run live commercial reads during broadcasts and sell ads during typically extended pre/post-game shows). Additionally, radio stations (including flagships) may not include MLB games in the live Internet Streams of their station programming. (MLB makes its own streams of the team networks available for a fee.) Some stations will replace the game with a recorded message explaining why the game cannot be heard on their stream. Others will simply stream the station's regularly scheduled programming that is being preempted by the game. References
NATIONAL BROADCASTS See Also: Major League Baseball television contracts Major League Baseball is in the transition to a new set of television contracts. The league has three current broadcast partners for the 2007 season and beyond. It was announced on July 11 , 2006 that FOX Sports will remain with MLB through 2013 and broadcast '' FOX Saturday Baseball '' throughout the entire season, rather than the current May to September format. FOX will also hold rights to the All-Star Game each season. FOX will also alternate League Championship Series broadcasts, broadcasting the American League Championship Series in Odd-numbered years and the National League Championship Series in Even-numbered years as part of the new contract. FOX will continue to broadcast all games of the World Series , which will begin on a Tuesday evening rather than the current Saturday evening format. ESPN will continue to broadcast Major League Baseball through 2013 as well, beginning with national Opening Day coverage. ESPN will continue to broadcast '' Sunday Night Baseball '', '' Baseball Tonight '', and a new Monday Night Baseball program. ESPN also has rights to the Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game each July. TBS will begin broadcasting playoff baseball nationally in 2007. It is currently a broadcast partner of the Atlanta Braves , but will end its national Braves broadcasts after the 2007 season as it will air Sunday afternoon regular season games from across the MLB, which can include up to 13 Braves games, nationally from 2008 to 2013 under the new contract. TBS will also have exclusive rights to any tiebreaker games that determine division or wild card champions at the end of each regular season in the event of a tie with one playoff spot remaining, as well as exclusive coverage of the Division Series round of the playoffs. Locally, in the Atlanta market, WTBS will continue to air 45 Braves games per season from 2008 to 2013 after it airs its final 70 national Braves broadcasts in 2007. It was announced on October 17 , 2006 that TBS would carry the League Championship Series that are not included under FOX's television agreement. TBS would show the National League Championship Series in Odd-numbered years and the American League Championship Series in Even-numbered years as part of the new contract through 2013. References
International Broadcasting of Major League Baseball
HISTORICAL MAJOR LEAGUES In 1969, the official centennial of professional baseball, the Special Baseball Records Committee appointed by Major League Baseball recognized six "major leagues" in history, four defunct and two still in operation.
Some researchers contend that some other leagues deserve "major league" status, too.
Indeed, the ''Official Encyclopedia of Baseball'' published in 1951 and revised since then recognized the NA As A Major League . But a new ''Baseball Encyclopedia'' project made possible by the digital computer promised publication of far more detailed playing records.
In general, the SBRC ruled that the other leagues kept playing records inconsistently or lacked significant direct impact on the major leagues. Specifically, the following can be said of these leagues:
At the same time, some historians question whether the Union Association of 1884 should be considered "major," because it had only one major-league caliber team (St. Louis) and several clubs failed during the season mid-season, others taking their places. Aside from the official MLB recognition which the Unions enjoy as a matter of fact, any argument for major status rests chiefly on the Union Association's direct impact on the other majors, due to roster-raiding. None of the "non-major" other leagues listed here could make that claim. The Sporting News , a weekly established in 1886 and later an important publisher of books, did not recognize the Federal League of 1914-1915 for almost ninety years. OTHER MAJOR BASEBALL LEAGUES Numerous major professional baseball leagues exist throughout the world. The most prominent of these and the most directly comparable to Major League Baseball in real terms (number of teams, organization, funding and caliber of play) are the Central League and Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball . Many Japanese baseball teams have played and continue to play Exhibition Game s against their American counterparts, and a number of players have career numbers in both the Japan Professional Baseball League and Major League Baseball. SEE ALSO
Players, ownership, ballparks and officials
Statistics, milestones and records
Post-season awards
In-season awards Exhibition and playoffs
REFERENCES
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