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Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest-level professional baseball organization in America and the oldest professional sports league in the US, dating back to the Civil War. It generates the second-highest revenue among the Big Four US sports organizations and features the longest season in professional sports. The league has endured numerous controversies and changes: the freewheeling (and dangerous) 19th-century Deadball Era, Jackie Robinson's breaking of the color barrier in the mid-20th century, and the performance-enhancing controversies of the 1980s and 1990s. In 2023, MLB implemented rule changes to speed up the game, drawing renewed interest in the sport. The 2026 season is the first to use Automated Ball Strike technology—first tested in the minor leagues and in MLB's 2025 spring training and All-Star Game—that defines the strike zone rather than relying on individual umpires' interpretations of it. Instead of allowing ABS to determine every ball or strike, though, each team now has a limited number of in-game challenges to umpires' calls, which will be settled by ABS.Explore Major League Baseball
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Each July 1, six-time Major League Baseball All-Star Bobby Bonilla gets $1.19M from the New York Mets, thanks to a 25-year-long deferred payment agreement. ESPNLong before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport. Athletics On SIWhy ‘Shoeless Joe’ Jackson was banned from Major League BaseballFew baseball stars are more infamous than "Shoeless Joe" Jackson, one of the game's greatest hitters. Jackson was part of the Chicago White Sox team (notoriously dubbed the "Black Sox") accused of fixing the 1919 World Series. This resource breaks down the criminal trial that investigated those allegations. Curiously, Jackson and his teammates were acquitted, but Major League Baseball commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis still banned them from the league for life. Society for American Baseball ResearchMajor League Baseball, explainedMajor League Baseball is America’s oldest professional sports league. Alongside triumphs, the league has faced scandals, including drug abuse and steroid use, shaping its path over the decades. Today, MLB embraces new rules, international talent, and a growing connection to legalized sports betting. 1440In 1975, a Major League Baseball clause that kept players legally tied to their teams after retirement was dismantled, creating the modern concept of free agency.When team owners created the reserve clause in 1879 the idea was to keep player salaries in control of the team, not the open market. It worked, and even baseball’s biggest stars needed offseason jobs to make ends meet. This Economic History Association article shows charts of the average MLB player salary by year where you can see the steep rise following the elimination of the reserve clause in 1975. Economic History AssociationThe first MLB All-Star Game was designed by a sports journalist who believed the spectacle would boost baseball's reputation during the Great Depression. HISTORY'A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.'- Jackie Robinson, the first Black MLB player (1919-1972) How fantasy baseball fights the loneliness epidemicExperts believe the erosion of traditional community organizations has led to a loneliness epidemic. This deep dive explores how fantasy baseball has filled the gap for some men, providing a stand-in social network. The RingerBallpark nachos—the messy but delicious combo of liquid cheese, pickled jalapenos, and tortilla chips—were invented for the Texas Rangers. Texas MonthlyLiza Minnelli's 'New York, New York' used to play after the Yankees lostFor a time, Minnelli's version of the song was played following defeats. After each Yankees victory, it was Frank Sinatra's version. Ultimately, the team stopped using Minnelli's version, though Sinatra's is still played after every Yankees win. Major League BaseballThe inventor of fantasy football first experimented with two other sports In the mid-1950s, Wilfred “Bill” Winkenbach, a part-owner of the Oakland Raiders, concocted two fantasy sports games: one for Major League Baseball and one for the Professional Golfers’ Association. In 1962, he invented fantasy football alongside two writers from the Oakland Tribune. A 1930s card game birthed modern fantasy sports"National Pastime" used the statistics of real Major League Baseball players to determine a winner, creating the template for the modern fantasy sports model. National Baseball Hall of FameBaseball legend Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak, which ended at 56, cost him a sponsorship deal with Heinz.The ketchup company promised the Yankees player $10,000 if he reached 57 hits to match the number on its iconic labels. When he snapped the streak, it was just one hit shy, at 56. HISTORYHow baseball shaped Black America during ReconstructionA cornerstone of the budding Black culture following the Civil War was baseball, with several clubs springing up in Black neighborhoods and leaders like Frederick Douglass cheering on the players, including his son, who played for a team in Washington. This detailed history of the early Black leagues unpacks how the game enhanced the upwardly mobile community—and why that fact led to the segregation of what would become Major League Baseball. Literary HubA new logo helped the NBA stay relevant in the '70sIn 1967, the American Basketball Association was formed, featuring a flashier style of offense. The competition caused player salaries to rise in both leagues. After watching Major League Baseball unveil its new logo, the NBA decided to use the same designer to create an iconic logo for the league. It debuted in 1971 and reignited basketball fans' interest. Creative BloqMLB 2023 rules changes were the most dramatic alterations in decades, drastically speeding up the game.For the 2023 Major League Baseball season, the league made its most dramatic rules changes in decades: banning the shift; enforcing a pitch clock; limiting pickoff plays; using bigger bases. This ESPN article breaks down each new rule, shares how it will be enforced, discusses why the rule change was needed, reveals what it meant in the minors, and tells what players are saying. ESPNBefore 1920, during the Deadball Era, a single baseball was used throughout a Major League game, leading to a notoriously dirty style of play.Baseballs today have bright white leather and 108 red stitches, giving them the iconic look we’ve come to expect in America’s pastime. But prior to 1921, baseballs weren’t uniform in size, were often made of different materials, and were used until they were dirty and lopsided. With historical photos, this Smithsonian Magazine article dives into how early baseballs were made and the evolution of the cork center. Smithsonian MagazineA Bay Area lab was supplying MLB players with steroidsThe Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative, also known as BALCO, began as a modest vitamin shop, but by the 1990s it was at the center of a doping scheme that rocked Major League Baseball and other professional sports. WonderyThe Pete Rose scandal was exposed by Sports IllustratedIn the spring of 1984, a reporter at Sports Illustrated answered a call on the newsroom tip line claiming player/manager Pete Rose was gambling on baseball games. That March, the magazine published the bombshell report that led Major League Baseball to investigate and then ban Rose for life. Sports IllustratedHow Shohei Ohtani made baseball fun againTo rise to the level of Major League Baseball in recent decades, a player needs to become a specialist in at least one of the sport's many skills: hitting, pitching, throwing, running, fielding. For decades, this specialization has made a so-called... GQIntegration of Latino players in MLBThe Senators’ spectacular losing record obscures one of the most important stories in baseball history: the club’s role in integrating Latino players into the major leagues Smithsonian Magazine
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