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The World Series celebrates 100 years. Date published: 10/24/2003
The World Series turns 100 ONE HUNDRED YEARS OLD, and still drawing sellout crowds--that's baseball's Fall Classic, the World Series, one of the most enduring sporting events in the history of man (and fan). The attraction to the game has bridged two World Wars, the Great Depression, the Cold War, four lesser conflicts, and the '60s. For that, baseball can take a bow. Fans watching this year's match-up between the New York Yankees and the Florida Marlins may not realize that those perennial bridesmaids, the Boston Red Sox, initiated the annual event. Part of the upstart American League, the Sox, in 1903, accepted a challenge from the Pittsburgh Pirates to play a series of games to decide which league was better. Led by 36-year-old pitcher Cy Young, the Sox won the series and a tradition was born. What is it about baseball that makes it the quintessential American game? Sing a few bars of "Take me out to the ball game" and people in the vicinity can almost smell the hot dogs. Elementary school kids who hate books readily memorize "Casey at the Bat." The thud of a ball in a leather glove, the crack of a wooden bat, the roar of a crowd watching a high fly ball arch over the center-field fence--these images virtually define "summer." From the beginning, baseball has been a mirror of the American melting pot. Lou Gehrig's parents emigrated from Germany, Yogi Berra's from Italy. Today's players bear names like Martinez, Matsui, and Mussina. Major League Baseball is the most successful multicultural project in the nation. The pace of the game makes it an intense battle of wills, more a chess game than the slugfest of other sports. The stare-down of the pitcher, the menacing stance of the batter, and the stone face of the manager mask the furious pressure on players. Betrayed by obsessive chewing (tobacco and gum) and nervous batting-glove adjusting, their tension erupts in joyous celebration at the strikeout, the home run, the stolen base. There is a science to baseball. With just a few players in motion at any one time, precise calculations of their performance can be made, giving the game a statistical depth matched by few sports. Applying that statistical knowledge, executing plays without error, and minimizing injuries can mean a trip for the team to the Fall Classic. Since 1903, the fans of October have seen Babe Ruth hit 15 home runs; Jackie Robinson, the first black to play MLB, make history; the Yankees win five Series in a row (beginning in 1949); and the Bosox succumb to the Curse of the Bambino more times than Beantown cares to count. As reliable as the leaf fall, as sure as the arrival of frosty air, comes the World Series. And America, as always, stands ready to root, root, root for the home--or any--team.
1. Be respectful. No personal attacks.
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