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Q: "World" Series ? ( Answered 5 out of 5 stars,   0 Comments )
Question  
Subject: "World" Series ?
Category: Sports and Recreation > Team Sports
Asked by: shal-ga
List Price: $5.00
Posted: 25 Oct 2002 10:12 PDT
Expires: 24 Nov 2002 09:12 PST
Question ID: 89747
Why is the Major League Baseball (MLB) Championship called the "World"
Series when it only includes teams from one country (and this year
teams from only one state)? Is the logic behind this term also similar
to why we call the finals of National Basketball Association (NBA) the
"World" Championship?
Answer  
Subject: Re: "World" Series ?
Answered By: scriptor-ga on 25 Oct 2002 10:39 PDT
Rated:5 out of 5 stars
 
Dear shal,

Though it is often claimed that the baseball World Series got its name
in the 1880s from its first sponsor, the newspaper New York World,
this seems to be a myth. As Doug Pappas, from the the SABR Business of
Baseball Committee newsletter "Outside the Lines", wrote:

"In fact, the postseason series between the AL and NL champs was
originally known as the "Championship of the World" or 'World's
Championship Series.' That was shortened through usage to 'World's
Series' and finally to 'World Series.' This usage can be traced
through the annual baseball guides. Spalding's Base Ball Guide for
1887 reported the results of the 1886 postseason series between
Chicago, champions of the National League, and St. Louis, champions of
the American Association, under the heading 'The World's
Championship.' As the editor noted, the two leagues "both entitle
their championship contests each season as those for the base ball
championship of the United States, so a more grandiose name was
required to describe the postseason showdown between the two
'champions of the United States.'" (...) By 1890, the Spalding Guide
was explaining that '[t]he base ball championship of the United States
necessarily includes that of the entire world, though the time will
come when Australia will step in as a rival, and after that country
will come Great Britain; but all that is for the future.'  This didn't
happen, but the name 'World's Championship Series' stuck."

The name was shortened to "World's Series" later, and finally became
"World Series" in 1964. Also, the newspaper "New York" world never
claimed to be connected in any way with the name of the baseball
event. The term "World Series" is, in fact, nothing but an echo of
enthusiastic exaggeration in late-19th century America.

For extensive detail on this topic, please have a look at these
websites, from which this information derives:

Roadsidephotos.com: Origin of the Name "World Series", by Doug Pappas
http://roadsidephotos.com/baseball/name.htm

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Business (World Series)
http://www.snopes.com/business/names/worldser.htm

Search terms used:
"world series" newspaper "the world":
://www.google.de/search?q=%22world+series%22+newspaper+%22the+world%22&hl=de&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&start=10&sa=N
"world series" newspaper "the world" sponsored:
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=%22world+series%22+newspaper+%22the+world%22+sponsored&meta=

Hope this answers your question!
Regards,
Scriptor

Request for Answer Clarification by shal-ga on 25 Oct 2002 11:46 PDT
Thank you scriptor-ga! Excellent work as always.

I have a follow up question. You write, "The term "World Series" is,
in fact, nothing but an echo of enthusiastic exaggeration in late-19th
century America." (BTW, superb writing!) Would you say (based on some
research) that American "enthusiastic exaggeration" is responsible for
the " 'World' " Championship" used to describe the NBA finals?

I know you have done considerable research on the primary question
here, so just some brief commentary or support for or against this
latter question would be great!

Cheers,

Shal

Clarification of Answer by scriptor-ga on 25 Oct 2002 12:36 PDT
Dear shal,

I would like to answer your request for an additional comment on the
NBA finals from a European point of view. Basically, it is a rather
similar logic behind the names "World Series" and the basketball
"World Championship", though the NBA championship is much younger,
dating from 1950. But, speaking in a rather subjective way, America
"tends to hype all its sports to global proportions" (this is not
meant as an insult - source for this nice formulation, see below).
Baseball and basketball have both been invented in the USA. Basketball
has for a long time been limited to North America, baseball still is
(with the exception of Japan and Cuba, who recently seem to start
finding soccer more interesting). That means, that the winners of
national US championships were necessarily also world champions -
unaware of the fact that the particular sports was vitually unknown
anywhere else in the world. Or, as I read once in a newsgroup posting
(source see below) discussing exactly this topic:

"The moral is, if you want to claim the world championship of
something, invent a game, and make sure no one else in the world plays
it. :-)"

Source:
David Robert Walker, "Re: The origin of the _World_ Series". Online
posting (October 15, 1992). <rec.sport.baseball> via Google Groups.
http://groups.google.de/groups?q=basketball+%22world+championship%22+origin+name&hl=de&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&selm=1992Oct15.193346.4382%40murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU&rnum=1

Hope this answers your question!
Regards,
Scriptor
shal-ga rated this answer:5 out of 5 stars and gave an additional tip of: $1.00
Scriptor, you do fabulous work! Great research, well-documented, and
clearly explained. I really appreciate the timely response and
excellent follow up clarification.

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