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I will be honest with you - I have never liked the Title of the Championship Series of the United States of Americas Major League Baseball.
but a while back I was told a story about how the name came about.
it goes like this - back in the 1800's the sponsor of the National Baseball Competition was a newspaper called the World, so the Title of the Competition was the World Series.
I honestly thought that was true, it made sense.
But Wikipedia has other ideas
International impact, and explanation of the term "World" Series
The title of this championship may seem odd to some readers from countries where baseball is not a major sport (or even where it is), because the "World" Series is confined to the champions of two baseball leagues that currently operate only in the United States and Canada.
The explanation is that when the term "World's Championship Series" was first used in the 1880s, baseball at a highly-skilled level was almost exclusively confined to North America, especially the United States. Thus it was understood that the winner of the major league championship was the best baseball team in the world. The title of this event was soon shortened to "World's Series" and later to "World Series". "The Series", by itself, capitalized, is understood to mean "The World Series", in the appropriate context.
The United States, Canada and Mexico (Liga Mexicana de Beisbol, established 1925) continued to be the only professional baseball countries until some decades into the 20th century. The first Japanese professional baseball efforts began in 1920. The current Japanese leagues date from the late 1940s. Various Latin American leagues also formed around that time.
By the 1990s, baseball was played at a highly skilled level in many countries, resulting in a strong international flavor to the Series, as many of the best players from the Pacific Rim, Latin America, the Caribbean, and elsewhere now play on Major League rosters. The notable exception is Cuban nationals, due to the political situation between the USA and Cuba (despite that barrier, over the years a number of Cuba's finest ballplayers have defected to the United States to play in the American professional leagues). Players from the Japanese Leagues also have a more difficult time coming to the Major Leagues because they must first play 10 years in Japan before becoming free agents. Reaching the high-income Major Leagues tends to be the goal of many of the best players around the world. MORE
At the end of the day - whether you like the title or not. Its a great sporting event.
Exile
Port Macquarie
"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now if you know what you’re worth then go out and get what you’re worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain’t you! You’re better than that!" - Rocky Balboa
They should call the AFL premiers the "world champions"
thats funny!! sad but funny....
3 more innings, Phillies.
"12 Years aSupporter" starring the #SeaOfBlue
Exile
Port Macquarie
"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now if you know what you’re worth then go out and get what you’re worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain’t you! You’re better than that!" - Rocky Balboa
YaThanks to a great pitching job by the Ray's Aussie dude Grant Balfour (and some nasty weather) the Rays have lived to play another day. It has been 25 years, 100 seasons (4 major sports) since Philadelphia has celebrated a championship. The energy in the city is intense. Everyone was expecting the Phillies to win last night and the party to begin. If they end up winning the game when it is resumed the celebration will be even larger. If they lose and the series heads back to Tampa the people in the city will be very nervous thinking that they will again be denied a championship. Luckily for me I grew up in the western part of the state and have enjoyed good success with my local teams. 5 Super Bowls, 3 World Series and 2 Stanley Cups!
Pittsburgh doesn't have a basketball team.
As Exile stated reaching the high income of MLB is a goal of players from all over the world. The average salary is $3.15 million and I believe Alex Rodriguez is the highest paid player at $28 million a year! Over 27% of the players are not from the US so there's little doubt that the best palyers in the world are playing in the US. Other than some players in Japan who can't leave yet.
I grew up playing baseball and being a huge fan, but now I'm more of a casual fan. The only reason I'm even watching this series is because I now live in the Philly area and it's great to be part of all the excitement, and my daughter is a huge Phillies fan and I like to see her happy!![]()
They are not playing today. Hopefully the weather will clear for tomorrow.
I was watching show on the box the other day and there is historical evidence (some old dudes diary?) that the UK actually invented Baseball which I found quite amusing as its just another sport they invented that they are crap at e.g. Rugby, Cricket.....
"The only trophy we won this day, was the blood and sweat we left on the pitch.... and it was enough"
"Rugby may have many problems, but the gravest is undoubtedly that of the persistence of summer."
Chris Laidlaw, New Zealand rugby player and sportswriter. Mud in Your Eye: A Worm's Eye View of the Changing World of Rugby (I 973).
They suck at Cricket too?![]()
Bloody oath they do
They're the English, they suck at EVERYTHING
they even suck at sucking, they couldn't suck on the suckiest day of their life even if they had an automatic sucking machine!
Chuck Norris has the greatest Poker-Face of all time. He won the 1983 World Series of Poker, despite holding only a Joker, a Get out of Jail Free Monopoly card, a 2 of clubs, 7 of spades and a green #4 card from the game Uno.