I'm not from the US but really enjoy American Sports, and am just curious as to when and why the final of the Baseball Championship became known as 'The Workd Series', as only the US and one (I think) Canadian team are involved?

LeakyPickle

You're correct that the "World" Series is not truly an international competition. Major Leage Baseball has been trying over the years to market the sport to other countries. It is quite popular in Japan and Hispanic countries, but not very big in other places, including Europe. I can tell you, while there are a lot of die-hard fans of baseball (including myself) the popularity even in America isn't what it used to be. Perhaps if growth in other countries continues, the popularity will rebound. At that point, there may be more structure made for an international World Series. Mar 04 06, 2:19 PM

Baloo55th

The story about it being named after an early sponsor is apparently another of those urban legends. But the Spalding Guide in 1890 was rather optimistic in reckoning that Australia and then Great Britain would soon be joining in. Over here, most of us still think of it as rounders in fancy dress.... Mar 04 06, 2:57 PM

lanfranco

In fact, an international tournament called the World Baseball Classic is set to begin this month and will feature teams from 16 countries -- including Italy and The Netherlands (THAT should be interesting). Professional players will participate, and the plan is for this event to take place every four years: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Baseball_Classic Mar 04 06, 4:09 PM

pjotr

I remember this question being asked by a caller to a baseball talk radio program. But basically, baseball was started in the United States. It happens to be America's pasttime. And back then, the US WAS was the only country to play it, so I guess whichever team happened to win the championship, technically, would be the world champion. Of course now, that would not be the case. But I guess after years of calling it the World Series, there are no plans to change the name now. It would be a safe bet to say that if Major League baseball players competed in the Olympics, they would win gold. The Major league season however, happens to coincide with the summer olympics and no recess is taken, so the baseball players representing the United States generally happen to be college players I believe. Mar 04 06, 8:15 PM

mementoflash

Actually the US Olympic baseball team consists of minor league players. The first several contests between the two league champions were reported under a variety of titles — "championship series," "world championship series," "world's series" — before eventually becoming standardized in name as the "World Series." http://www.snopes.com/business/names/worldseries.asp Mar 04 06, 9:31 PM

bigponder

I have to take issue with Pjotr's assertion that the U.S. would be a safe bet to win gold in an Olympic tournament. While the Americans certainly would have a real shot at it, a Dominican Republic lineup featuring world-class sluggers like David Ortiz, Albert Pujols, Alfonso Soriano, Vladimir Guerrero, Moises Alou and Adrian Beltre (not all of whom are playing in the upcoming World Baseball Classic) would be a hard team to bet against. Mar 04 06, 11:35 PM

Arpeggionist

Therein lies the difference between the World Series and the World Cup: in the World Cup, the world plays. Mar 05 06, 4:31 AM

milky54

finally something i know! well it is actually from a newspaper called the "world times" that first started talking and putting its stories into the newspaper making it more popular among the americans. so it became the name "world series" in about the early 1900... and your correct the toronto blue jays are the only canadian team. there used to be the montreal expos but they are now the washington nationals... Mar 05 06, 10:57 AM

Baloo55th

Sorry, Milky, that's an urban legend. According to people that have done thorough research on it, The New York World had absolutely nothing to do with it. For more details, see http://roadsidephotos.com/baseball/name.htm http://www.snopes.com/business/names/worldseries.asp And the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum agrees with this, too. Mar 05 06, 1:51 PM