World series my indecorous posterior! (1 Viewer)

[Rob Longmore]

why do you guys over there in the great US of A call your baseball series the "World" series, when there is no other country in the series?????????????

 

[Edwin-S]

Well, a person could answer this but it would probably be considered political......resulting in the instant closing of this thread.

 

[Gilbert Galindo]

Cause America has the best baseball players in the world except Mexico

 

[Mitty]

I enjoy a tirade born in ignorance as much as the next guy, but I will quote my own response in another thread.

.

Nothing sinister. Are we all better now?

 

[John Thomas]

There are teams from other countries (well, Canada) involved in the process of deciding the eventual winner, however. The Toronto Blue Jays (who had quite an impressive team back in the early 90's) and the Montreal Expos (but they're probably going to call it quits soon - wish they'd move to Memphis and we'd get their AAA Redbirds team).
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[John Besse]

Montreal Expos are gone as of this year. Same with the Florida Marlins. At least I made it to a Marlins game this season. But nonetheless, Canada is a part of Major League Baseball. I guess the baseball commissioner considered America and Canada the world at the time... Who knows?
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[Greg_Y]

Who knows?

Mitty ?

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Actually, since Latin players have established themselves as a dominant force in the league for well over a decade, and with the recent successes of some Asian players, "World Series" is gradually becoming less of a misnomer.
Regards,
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Ken McAlinden
Livonia, MI USA

 

[Jim_F]

Before seeing this story of the origin of the title, I had always thought that it was a superfluous claim to worldwide baseball supremacy, since there were no credible international challengers in decades past. I also thought the name could some day be obsoleted by a Cuban, Dominican or Asian squad, for instance.
It's pretty common to refer to the NBA and NFL championships as "world championships" as well. In the case of the NBA, it would be hard to argue that any team from abroad could seriously challenge the Lakers. With the NFL, it's more like a world championship by default, since hardly anybody else in the world appears to give a damn about American football.

 

[MickeS]

According to Snopes, Mitty's version is an urban legend. The New York World newspaper never had anything to do with the World Series, other than reporting the results.
quote:
The New York World never had anything to do with the World Series, however, other than being one of the many newspapers to report the results. The modern World Series (like its predecessor series waged between National League and American Association teams from 1884-1890) was so named not because of any affiliation with a corporate sponsor, but because the winner was considered the "world's champion" -- the title was therefore simply a shortened form of the phrase "world's championship series."
Negative evidence is easily uncovered by reading accounts of the first few World Series in the major newspapers of the era. The first several contests between the two league champions were reported under a variety of titles -- "championship series," "world championship series," "world's series" -- before eventually becoming standardized in name as the "World Series." If the name had derived from the New York World's sponsorship, it would have been nothing but the "World Series" from the very beginning (and as far back as 1884). If you don't believe us, baseball's Hall of Fame also said as much:
. . . others have asked that question of the staff at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. in recent weeks. "There's no evidence suggesting it was ever sponsored by the New York World newspaper," said Hall of Fame researcher Eric Enders. When the World Series between the National and American leagues began in 1903, the owners borrowed the name from the world championship series held in the 1880s between the National League and the American Association. Enders concludes the name didn't originate from the name of the long-defunct newspaper. It sounds like an urban myth.
[/quote]
http://www.snopes2.com/business/names/worldser.htm
/Mike
[Edited last by MickeS on November 06, 2001 at 12:13 PM]

 

[Jim_F]

Well, ya learn and unlearn something new every day!

 

[John Tillman]

If the USA (in 1903) was the only country in the world that baseball was played, it would've been a 'world' series. Cricket is similar but not the same.

 

[CharlesD]

If the USA (in 1903) was the only country in the world that baseball was played, it would've been a 'world' series.

I disagree. If only one country plays a game it is not a world championship but still a national championship. To be a true World Championship IMO you need to have competing teams from various parts of the world. While it may well be true that, say, the NBA championship team is better than any other team in the world, they cannot claim to be world champs unless they actually play those teams.
I don't understand the need for US National Champs in various sports to claim to be World Champions, after all being the US National Champ is nothing to be ashamed of!
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[Michael Allred]

US baseball is clearly the best in the world. Players from all over the world want to come here because they wanna "play the best". MLB is filled with players from not only America but Mexico, South America, Japan, Australia, etc.
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[John Tillman]

In the 1903 universe there exists one world.
In that world. One country plays baseball.
The season is played and the playoffs yield two teams.
Being as these are the final two teams, of the universe and of the world and of the country, it is proper to label the series 'the universe series', 'the world series' or 'the country series'.
I dunno, maybe I've been a programmer too long .
[Edited last by John Tillman on November 06, 2001 at 02:40 PM]

 

[BryanZ]

Because it sounds better than "American Series," "USA Series," or "North American Series?"

 

[Blaine Skerry]

quote: Players from all over the world want to come here because they wanna "play the best".
Yeah, that's it. It wouldn't have anything to do with the chance to be stinking, filthy rich. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

1) There was only one major baseball-playing country when the World Series became a permanent event (as opposed to the sporadic inter-league game it had been.)
2) The best teams were already called the "American" and "National" champions. Another name was needed for the winner of the inter-league series.
3) In 1903 everyone wasn't so friggin' touchy, and nobody really cared about the tiny minority that was.
4) It is now a tradition; the name stays.
5) If this is even on your radar as a problem you must have an infinitely better life than 99.999% of the human race. I'd have to go through a long list of things that piss me off, starting with weapons of mass destruction, before I got down to the name of a sporting event.
Regards,
Joe

 

[MickeS]

In 1903 everyone wasn't so friggin' touchy, and nobody really cared about the tiny minority that was.

Ah, the good old days.
They could have called it something like "The Champions Series", similar to how the champions from the European soccer leagues come together to play "The Champions League" (formerly European Champion Clubs’ Cup).
/Mike

 

[CharlesD]

Joseph,
I don't think anyone contributing to this thread thinks that this is a "problem" or think that it is a serious issue; Rob merely asked why a national sporting championship is considered to be a "World Championship". No big deal.
Some people just think that if you are going to have a "World Championship" it might be a good idea to have teams from more than one country!
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-- Will Work for Five Million Dollars
[Edited last by CharlesD on November 06, 2001 at 06:26 PM]