| rdfs:comment | - The American League is one of two leagues in Major League Baseball. The other is the National League. There are 14 teams spread out through three divisions. This article is a stub. You can help the My English Wiki by [ expanding it].
- The American League is where the Mets Cross-town rival the New York Yankees play in with some other teams in the East, Central, and the West just like the National League.
- 200px|right Die American League ist neben der National League eine von zwei Ligen in der US-amerikanischen Profibaseballliga Major League Baseball. Sie ging 1899 aus der Western League hervor und wird seit 1901 als eine Major League angesehen. Seit 1903 spielen die Sieger von National League und American League um die World Series.
- The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major league status. It is often called the Junior Circuit because it claimed Major League status for the 1901 season, 25 years after the formation of the National League (the "Senior Circuit").
- With the demise of the American Association after the 1891 season, the National League expanded to become a 12-team circuit with monopoly status for the rest of the decade. The league became embroiled in internal conflicts, including a plan supported by some owners to form a "trust," wherein there would be one common ownership of all N.L. teams. In 1894, the N.L. established a $2,400 limit on annual player wages. Then, the league contracted to eight teams for the 1900 season, eliminating its teams in Baltimore, Cleveland, Louisville, and Washington. Western League President Bancroft "Ban" Johnson felt the time was right to challenge the N.L. monopoly.
|
| abstract | - The American League is one of two leagues in Major League Baseball. The other is the National League. There are 14 teams spread out through three divisions. This article is a stub. You can help the My English Wiki by [ expanding it].
- The American League is where the Mets Cross-town rival the New York Yankees play in with some other teams in the East, Central, and the West just like the National League.
- The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major league status. It is often called the Junior Circuit because it claimed Major League status for the 1901 season, 25 years after the formation of the National League (the "Senior Circuit"). At the end of every season, the American League champion plays in the World Series against the National League champion. Through 2012, American League teams have won 62 of the 108 World Series played since 1903, with 27 of those coming from the New York Yankees alone. The 2012 American League champions are the Detroit Tigers. The New York Yankees have won 40 American League titles, the most in the league's history, followed by the Philadelphia/Kansas City/Oakland Athletics (15) and the Boston Red Sox (12).
- 200px|right Die American League ist neben der National League eine von zwei Ligen in der US-amerikanischen Profibaseballliga Major League Baseball. Sie ging 1899 aus der Western League hervor und wird seit 1901 als eine Major League angesehen. Seit 1903 spielen die Sieger von National League und American League um die World Series.
- With the demise of the American Association after the 1891 season, the National League expanded to become a 12-team circuit with monopoly status for the rest of the decade. The league became embroiled in internal conflicts, including a plan supported by some owners to form a "trust," wherein there would be one common ownership of all N.L. teams. In 1894, the N.L. established a $2,400 limit on annual player wages. Then, the league contracted to eight teams for the 1900 season, eliminating its teams in Baltimore, Cleveland, Louisville, and Washington. Western League President Bancroft "Ban" Johnson felt the time was right to challenge the N.L. monopoly. The organization renamed itself the American League on October 11, 1899, and placed teams in the abandoned Cleveland market as well as on the south side of Chicago. This was done with the approval of the National League, which did not immediately recognize the potential threat such a move would pose to its monopoly. During the 1900 season, the rechristened A.L. was still a minor league circuit subject to the National Agreement. The league declined to renew its National Agreement membership when it expired in October of 1900, and on January 28, 1901, officially declared itself a major league. It placed teams in Baltimore and Washington, both victims of the N.L. contraction, as well as in Boston and Philadelphia where (as in Chicago) it would compete head-to-head with the older league. (Only Detroit and Milwaukee remained of the original Western League franchises.) The new league began to hire disgrunted National League players. A roster war was on. The older National League at first refused to recognize the new league, but reality set in as talent and money drained away to the new league. After two years of bitter contention a new version of the National Agreement was signed in 1903. This meant formal acceptance of each league by the other as an equal partner in major league baseball. During the baseball "war" however, the American League moved its Milwaukee franchise to St. Louis in 1902 and the Baltimore franchise to New York in 1903, thus competing with the N.L. in those markets as well. The American League consisted of the same eight teams from 1903 through 1954, when the St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore and were rechristened the Baltimore Orioles. In 1955, the Philadelphia Athletics moved to Kansas City (the A's would move to Oakland in 1968). In 1961, the Washington Senators moved to Minneapolis-St. Paul and became the Minnesota Twins. In 1961, the league expanded to ten teams for the first time in its history when the Los Angeles Angels and the Washington Senators joined the league, the latter replacing the original Washington Senators franchise which had just relocated to Minnesota. The Los Angeles Angels went through several name changes and are now formally known as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The second Washington franchise moved to Dallas-Fort Worth in 1972 and became the Texas Rangers. In 1969 the American League expanded to 12 teams when the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Pilots joined the league. (The Pilots stayed just one season in Seattle before moving to Milwaukee and becoming the Milwaukee Brewers). With the addition of these teams, the league reorganized into two divisions of six teams (East and West), with the division champions meeting in the American League Championship Series, an additional round of postseason competition, for the right to advance to the World Series. Beginning with the 1994 season, the league has been divided into three divisions (East, West, and Central), with the addition of a Wild Card team (the team with the best record among teams finishing in second place) to enable four teams to advance to the preliminary American League Division Series. The league adopted the designated hitter (or "DH") rule in 1973 whereby a team may choose to designate a tenth player (not a position player) to bat in place of the pitcher. Contrary to popular belief, use of the DH is not mandatory. Though maligned by come critics, use of the DH rule has spread to almost every amateur and professional league, the two most notable exceptions being the National League and Japan's Central League. The third expansion came in 1977, when the Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays joined the A.L., which thus became a 14-team league. Finally, in 1998 the Tampa Bay Devil Rays became the fifteenth team to join the American League. Concurrently, however, the Milwaukee Brewers withdrew from the league to join the National League. The simultaneous expansion and contraction kept the A.L. a 14-team league, which it remains today. For the first 96 years of its existence, American League teams faced their National League counterparts only in exhibition games or in the World Series. Beginning in 1997, however, interleague games have been played during the regular season, and count in the standings. Through the 2005 season, the Yankees have won the most American League pennants (39), followed by the Athletics (14) and Red Sox (11). Likewise, the Yankees have also won the most World Series (26). Among American League teams, the runnersup are again the Athletics (9) and Red Sox (6).
|
