Baseball related question...

[Cave In]

Ok i occasionally watch the baseball when they show it over here on a sunday night etc and i was wondering.

What is the difference between the American league and the National league?
I mean that in sense of the teams in each league, what allocates them to a league is it geographical or something else?

Always been curious why that is, if its somethin totally obvious then forgive me for i am but a noob in terms of baseball.

 

[milagros317]

Historically, the National League came first, established in 1876, with 8 teams, mostly in the northeastern U.S., including some cities that do not today have a major league team, such as Hartford and Louisville.

Other major leagues rose and fell from 1882 to 1891, including the American Association, the Union League, and the Players League. The latter two were formed by players as a labor action, in an attempt to wrest control from the owners. Neither lasted long.

From 1892 to 1900, the National League again had a monopoly on major league baseball. It had expanded to 12 teams, but contracted back to 8 at the end of the 1899 season, four teams being bankrupt or nearly so.

In 1901, the American League began play. At first scorned by the NL, it did soon prove itself to be a major league, and the first World Series was played in 1903. (Skipped in 1904, played from 1905 to 1993, canceled due to a strike/lockout in 1994, played from 1995 to the present.)

Since 1901, there has been only one successful attempt to create a third major league. The Federal League played two seasons, 1914-1915.

Amusing sidelights about the FL: Wrigley Field, home of the Cubs, was actually built for the Federal League's Chicago Whales. The Cubs' owner bought it after the FL went out of business. For those two years, Brooklyn had two major league teams, the NL Brooklyn Dodgers and the FL Brooklyn Tip-Tops, named after the bread company that owned them.

The Milwaukee Brewers were moved from the American League to the National League in 1998 after an expansion, so that each league would have an even number of teams (14 in the AL, 16 in the NL). No other team has ever done so, and no NL team has ever moved to the AL.

The two leagues used to have complete autonomy, each run by a league president selected by the owners. That ended after the Black Sox scandal (the fixing of the 1919 World Series by bribery of the Chicago White Sox by gamblers).

A new title, Commisioner of Baseball, was created, and both leagues put under the authority of the first commissioner, Kennisaw Mountain Landis.

The main difference today between the AL and NL is that the AL uses 10 players (including a designated hitter for the pitcher), and the NL just 9 (the pitcher must bat for himself).

 

[Cave In]

Thanks for that its cleared alot of things up, But is the AL's use of an extra player not an advanatage to them during the world series? or is there no advantage whatsoever?

 

[milagros317]

When an AL team plays an NL team, such as in the World Series, thre rules of the home team apply to both teams. So in an NL stadium, both teams use 9 players, and in an AL stadium, both teams use 10 players.

 

[Goodieluver]

The american league is an oddity, one of the few "Expansion" leagues to survive and not be devourered. Its similar to the ABA in basketball, it was another league formed to complete and give people who couldnt make the majors to play somewhere. They wanted to offer a more entertaining game than the "boring national league"

Its amazing how the american league and AFL survived when the other hockey leagues and basketball leagues were eaten by the big leagues

 

[TheTickleMonster]

Its amazing how the american league and AFL survived when the other hockey leagues and basketball leagues were eaten by the big leagues

AFL? You mean AFC right? Unless you actually do mean Arena Football League. But in the NFL each side is comference, not a league, it's the NFC and the AFC and together combined they make the NFL.

 

[Goodieluver]

AFL? You mean AFC right? Unless you actually do mean Arena Football League. But in the NFL each side is comference, not a league, it's the NFC and the AFC and together combined they make the NFL.

Sorry my post was made in haste, yeah i meant the AFC and how it survived being devoured by the NFC but before they became conferences, they were 2 completely different leagues, till the major superbowl when they had joe namath and the afc vs the agin colts and johnny unitas.

 

[Mitchell]

One other difference. Usually, the American League teams have better hitting, and worse pitching, due to the Designated Hitter rule Milagros mentioned. Sometimes, the Designated Hitter that Mils mentioned, can be just as good a hitter as anyone else in the lineup, and have 30, 40, 50 homeruns, and over 100 RBI's. Usually, in American League games, far more runs are scored.
I am a National League fan, and not a fan of the DH. In my mind, the National League is more of a strategy game, as pitchers have to hit, and bunt, with more pinch hitters,, and moves, made during a game. In the American League, managers often can sit back, and wait for their nine hitters, including the DH, to hit.

Mitch

 

[unit5610]

AFL? You mean AFC right? Unless you actually do mean Arena Football League. But in the NFL each side is comference, not a league, it's the NFC and the AFC and together combined they make the NFL.

The AFL (American Football League) started as an alternative football league to the NFL around 1960, then eventually got absorbed into the NFL I think in 1970. The Super Bowl started in 1966 or so as a championship between the 2 leagues and probably was an admission by the NFL that the AFL was a legitimate enterprise. An AFL team, the Jets, won the Super Bowl in 1969 with further legitimized the league.

 

[Goodieluver]

One other difference. Usually, the American League teams have better hitting, and worse pitching, due to the Designated Hitter rule Milagros mentioned. Sometimes, the Designated Hitter that Mils mentioned, can be just as good a hitter as anyone else in the lineup, and have 30, 40, 50 homeruns, and over 100 RBI's. Usually, in American League games, far more runs are scored.
I am a National League fan, and not a fan of the DH. In my mind, the National League is more of a strategy game, as pitchers have to hit, and bunt, with more pinch hitters,, and moves, made during a game. In the American League, managers often can sit back, and wait for their nine hitters, including the DH, to hit.

Mitch

The AL plays smart baseball too, case in point is the world series champion chicago whitesox. People laughed callin ozzie guillens style "small ball" and he shouted back "Its smart ball, its how the game is supposed to be played"

 

[Nedstacey2]

People laughed callin ozzie guillens style "small ball" and he shouted back "Its smart ball, its how the game is supposed to be played"

Ty Cobb couldn't have said it any better, and I think he actually did say something like that once (shortly after Babe Ruth came along). He was a master of that type of baseball, and it's a reason he is still one of the greatest ever to have played the game.

 

[Goodieluver]

Ty Cobb couldn't have said it any better, and I think he actually did say something like that once (shortly after Babe Ruth came along). He was a master of that type of baseball, and it's a reason he is still one of the greatest ever to have played the game.

Oh yeah, ty cobb said homeruns were overrated(Which they are) and said he could hit them when he wanted cuz people kept askin him about babe ruth and his hrs. So he said anyone could hit them and decided to start hitting homeruns at will cuz of that, for a guy who wasnt a hr hitter...lol