The History of the MLB World Series

The history of the World Series (WS) goes all the way back to 1876, beginning with the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs. This was then replaced by the National League of Professional Baseball Organization, which was started in 1901. After that it was replaced by Major League Baseball and the World Series started in 1903. In the first World Series, the top team in the American League and National League played in a best of 9 series. The first two teams to reach the WS were the Boston Americans and the Pittsburgh Pirates, reaching a total attendance of 100,000 people over the eight games played.  The WS continued until 1994, where it stopped for a year due to a player’s strike. Play resumed in the following year and has been ongoing since then. The World Series MVP was named after famous baseball player Willie Mays because of how good he played.

Willie Mays has been called the best baseball player in history by many people around the world. He first started playing with the Birmingham Black Barons at 16, and then joined the San Francisco Giants when they bought his contract in 1950. He played 21 seasons with the Giants and switched to play his last two seasons with the New York Mets from 1972-1973. He’s won multiple different titles and awards such as the NL rookie of the year award, Two time NL MVP, 24-time All-Star, 12 Gold Glove awards, and was elected hall of fame in 1979. He is most famous for “The Catch” when Vic Wertz hit what would’ve been a home run in many stadiums. Willie Mays ran with his back to the ball, and caught it over his shoulder 460 feet from the plate. In 1954 he had a .345 batting average, 13 triples, 41 home runs, and 110 RBI(Runs Batted In). Overall, he had a .301 batting average, 141 triples, 660 home runs, and 1909 RBI.