h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Does anyone know the origins of the term "World Series" as used in American baseball?

I have often thought it is a somewhat grandiose title for an event where all the teams come from the one continent.

Disclaimer: This is not a dig at Americans. Just something I have long wondered about.

I think it has something to do with the fact that when it all started, no one else played baseball in the World besides us Americans. Of course now baseball is played avidly in Japan and Puerto Rico too, I think, amongst other places. There are also many talented baseball players playing here in the USA from all over the World. Still, it was invented by an American (though he was probably heavily influenced by the incomprehensibly British game of Cricket ). When I say "American" I mean that in the non-exclusive-USA sense of the word. Sadly, I can't remember if the gentleman in question was from the USA or from Canada, but he was most definitely an American.
Jon Nelson

Thanks Jon. I believe the roots of baseball can be found in the English game of 'rounders'. This game evolved into the amateur sport of 'softball' in most of Britain's former colonies and into the professional sport of 'baseball' in North America.

I know a few top New Zealand and Australian softball players have made the transition to the American baseball leagues.

But why World Series? Why not a name like American Series, Super Diamond, Joe's Cup, or something similar?

Grahame

Grahame said: But why World Series? Why not a name like American Series, Super Diamond, Joe's Cup, or something similar?

The answer is, I think, most simply put as "habit." More complicatedly (I think I just made that word up), can anyone really argue that the largest commercial market for baseball isn't the USA? So the two major professional baseball leagues are in the USA, and (theoretically) the best players in the world will be attracted to the teams here and will be (in fact, already are) playing for an American team - thus, the logic goes, the team that wins in this, the best market for the sport, i.e. the USA's, championship for pro baseball will be the best in the World. True, it won't be the national team of any one country (not even the USA, as I'm sure there are several dozen pro players that are citizens of other countries), if that's what you're getting at, but it will be (theoretically) the best one in the World. Hence, it is the World Series. Flawed logic? You decide. In the meantime, just know that no affront is intented for other countries. It's kind of like Aussie Rules Football ... it's just a sport we invented so we could be the best at it. Heheheh. Just kidding. Only the Australians do that! In all seriousness, I have no idea what the Aussies call their championship for Oz Rules Football, but I, personally, wouldn't find it hard to see them calling it the "World Championship of Oz Rules Football Just You Try Play Us While You Are Trying To Figure Out What The Hell Is Going We'll Put Your Face On The Other Side Of The Grass, See If We Don't." They'd have ever right to call it that! (I hope any Australians reading this know I'm only joshing - mostly)

In any event, I would wager that before we die, we'll see the World Series renamed to "The TedTurner-Microsoft-Budweiser World Championship Baseball Series" anyway.

By the way, thanks for the tip about the origin of baseball being in English game of 'rounders.' I'd heard that before but forgotten.

Jon Nelson

The Super Bowl may be called that, but the winner there is also called "World Champion". Hehe. Of course, with American Football, that's probably not so untrue, but still, a bit grandiose considering the geography of the teams who play for that title. Not sure if the NBA (basketball) and NHL (hockey) also claim the same grandiose titles.

I dunno about the rounders stuff and baseball. I just remember that baseball is considered to have a clear invention date (18-something) and a specific inventor, one Abner Doubleday if I recall.

Aussie Rules (rules what, the World?) a sport with surprisingly few rules is administered by the grandly titled. Australian Football League. AFL.

This title gets up the nose of rugby league, rugby union and soccer players. Up until recently Aussie Rules was only played, at the top level, by teams from 2 or 3 states. Now most states have a least one competitive team.

It had its origins in Gaelic football. On rare occassions 'Test matches' are played between the top Aussie team and the top Irish Gaelic football team. The rules of both codes are tweaked so the end result is a strange game played intermittingly by very few people under rules that govern no formal game of football. It's an Irish/Australian thing. You had to be there.

I see the logic in the baseball, American football use of the word World.

Maybe the end result will be 200 World Dominating companies led by McDonalds, Coke, Microsoft, Disney and their bankers so leaving the rest of us plenty of spare time to watch the World Series of baseball, football, hockey and basketball on ESPN's World Class satelite TV channels. Only joking guys Truly

Hey Looney, I told you I'd have the answer by the end of today (my time)!

In his book, "Bunts," George Will explains that "...In 1903 America was feeling its oats. There was a young Rough Rider in the White House and his energy, ebuillence and optimism were infectious...And baseball, like the rest of the country, was reving up for a good time. In 1903 one of the great enduring traditions of American life began: the World Series...
"...In 1903 baseball was played very little outside the United States and Major League Baseball extended only from Boston to St. Louis. So why the WORLD SERIES? Well, why not? That is how we Americans talk because that is how we think: BIG. REmember the first American Congress met in Philadelphia in 1774, when most Americans lived along the Atlantic coast of an unexplored continent. And what did these rambunctious Americans call their Congress? The CONTINENTAL Congress. Again, we Americans think big. That is why we accomplish big things. Our national exuberance is expressed by the very name World Series....
"Today baseball is an Olympic sport, played around the world, and the World Series is seen and heard around the globe. Broadcasts of baseball have spread the October story of baseball's climactic contests in many languages to many millions of fans far away. Now, baseball's greatest event is truly a WORLD Series."

I knew I had that somewhere. Hope it helped!!

- Jimi X

Jimi X, you are a World Class legend. Well done.

What more is there to say.

Go the Braves. Its our year.

I have been watching the Braves - Mets game live here in New Zealand all (Wednesday our time) afternoon.

The World is getting smaller

Six billion and counting!

And I'd have to agree, it'll be Braves in six over the Yankees!

Oh, please. Not the Braves. Again. Ugh. Their time has passed.

Let's not talk about the Bucs!
They were good when the Braves started this run, and they're where now??

Barry who? Bobby who? Andy VanWho? Chico Who? Jim Who?

That wasn't nice, but it had to be done!!

LOL!!!

Oh, don't get me wrong! Who said anything about the Bucs? You did, I didn't. I could care less. Except I might go watch a game at that new stadium if I'm still here then. I watch it being built every day at the office. I don't care much about baseball at all, I'm just sick of the Braves that's all. Football is really the only sport I come close to following a bit. (Yep, that's American Football for the rest of you.)

I follow the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

They were probably named after my local pub's dart team in New Zealand.

Criterian Buccaneer Dart Club Incorporated

Okay, a week late, but moving fast...

>The Super Bowl may be called that, but the winner there is also
>called "World Champion". Hehe. Of course, with American Football,
>that's probably not so untrue, but still, a bit grandiose
>considering the geography of the teams who play for that title. Not
>sure if the NBA (basketball) and NHL (hockey) also claim the same
>grandiose titles.

The NBA champs from the past season (the San Antonio Spurs, in case anyone is wondering) can truly be called world champions, in a sense, as they just finished a tournament against other top national teams last week. Not to beat on the chest of national pride or anything, but everyone complains that the teams here automatically label themselves 'world champions' after they win a championship in the major American sports leagues, but when they do go out for international play, the American team is just 12 normal guys (with one or two really, really good players mixed in) going up against everyone else's "National team", meaning that it is comprised of their best and brightest 12 players. They usually lose by 30 points or so. What I'm trying to say is that when you invent the sport, and you have the greatest pool of talent for the sport, you tend to be the best in the world at it. It's not vanity, it's just common sense. It is presumptuous to call them "World Champions" immediately after the championship, yes, but once they play their world tournament or whatever it is, hell, give it to 'em. And really, what's it matter in the long run if these guys are the "National Champions" or "World Champions"? They're just athletes that are never really going to have any sort of bearing on your life.

And as a side note, the Spurs very nearly lost one of the quarterfinal games last week, but ended up pulling it out by 3 or 4 points at the end. That's why they still play the games.

The NHL annually plays a "World All-Star Game" or some such silliness every year, pitting the American and Canadian players against everyone else, which, judging by the number of Ukranians, Russians, Finns, Swedes, etc. in the rest of the world, they would stand little to no chance, but, from what I understand, in the 2 or 3 years they've been doing it, the North American team (that is, the North American team that has no Mexicans on it, but I digress ) has come away with at least one win. The games are also absurdly high-scoring 14-13 kind of games, though.

>Maybe the end result will be 200 World Dominating companies led by
>McDonalds, Coke, Microsoft, Disney and their bankers so leaving the
>rest of us plenty of spare time to watch the World Series of
>baseball, football, hockey and basketball on ESPN's World Class
>satelite TV channels.

I don't think that's very far off. Corporate sponsorship is getting out of control up here, and they show no sign of backing down. That is a whole other subtopic for me to be long-winded on at another time, so I won't start.

>I dunno about the rounders stuff and baseball. I just remember that
>baseball is considered to have a clear invention date (18-something)
>and a specific inventor, one Abner Doubleday if I recall.

Actually, I recently heard a very interesting story about Abner Doubleday and his "invention" of baseball. Apparently, ol' Abner was familiar with the game of rounders and brought it over to the States, changing a few rules along the way, and the owner of some sporting goods company (Spalding? I think so) was so vehemently anti-British, he helped spread the popular mythology that Doubleday invented the whole game, and rounders never existed, or was a substanstially different game. He was so persuasive and successful with this little story, it was 120 years before anyone noticed (or is it cared?) that they were passing this ol' story around. For instance, I'm fairly up on sports, less so with international sports, but the first I'd ever *heard* of rounders was when the h2g2 group got together to go play.

As a side note, I'm not a great baseball fan by any stretch, so maybe I was just really slow picking up on the whole rounders thing. As for the Braves and all that, I'd just really see the Yankees lose in the Series, but that's just 'cause they're the Yankees. I don't really care for the Braves either. Well, to be precise, Ted Turner, but it's his team, so they take the blame.

Is that long enough, by the way? I can go on about this at real length. And Loony, it's your fault mentioning this in some other forum, making me come over here and comment, too. Serves me right for actually *knowing* about something for once.

Back to the NHL All-Star game for a sec - I don't think you can judge who is the best at hockey with an all-star game, as the 14-13 scores indicate. It isn't real hockey, it is exhibition shoot-out hockey for the fans. A much better example of world competition is the olympics, especially now that professionals play......

Well, yes, this is true, but at the very least, they *are* playing the game. My problem with national teams, particularly in hockey (and I suppose soocer [I can't think of it as 'football', sorry]) is that most NHL teams over here are matched up with all kinds of nationalities--Russians, Canadians, and Americans on a team, for instance. If the Stanley Cup champs played the European league's champs (is there more than one league over there?), then I could see that as a better 'world championship' game. Of course, the problem is that all the players come here because even part-time players get paid so ridiculously well, so I guess that's a no-issue issue too. Hmm. What a mess.

Okay, maybe the Olympics are a good idea for that sort of thing.

I was under the impression that the "World Series" was so-called because the first sponsors were a magazine called "the World". What about cricket's "Test matches"? You'd have thought they could have finalised their ideas after more than a Century. Surely, by now we should have, at the very least, "Pre-release alpha Demo matches"??

Come off it.
Its a good job they are only test matches, the way the MCC are playing.

To test something you are trying to ascertain the worth, capability, or endurance of a person or thing. Test matches are played by humans and the winning team is the one with the best of these qualities at a given time. Currently, in cricket, it is Australia/South Africa. Shortly it will be New Zealand on top, he types wishfully

With a bronzed Adonis like you hanging about, I'm sure they'll have no trouble winning world acclaim!

Loved the X-mas tales, obviously!!