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91-635: Sunday Night Baseball is an exclusive weekly telecast of a Major League Baseball game that airs Sundays at 7 p.m. ET /4 p.m. PT on ESPN during the regular season. The games are preceded most weeks by the studio show Baseball Tonight : Sunday Night Countdown presented by Chevrolet prior to the first pitch. A few telecasts each season appear on ESPN2 rather than ESPN due to conflicts with other programming; however, starting in 2022, ESPN2 will also air Sunday Night Baseball with alternate commentary for eight games per season. The series debuted on April 15, 1990 with coverage of New York Mets against
182-538: A Sunday Night Baseball telecast between the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox , which was being played at the same time and was ultimately won by St. Louis by the score of 9–1. Jon Sciambi , the lead voice for ESPN Radio 's MLB coverage , will fill in for Ravech when the latter is on assignment for ESPN, most notably during the Little League World Series . In 2024, it was reported that ESPN
273-530: A 2006–07 investigation produced the Mitchell Report , which found that many players had used steroids and other performance-enhancing substances , including at least one player from each team. Each team plays 162 games per season, with Opening Day traditionally held during the first week of April. Six teams in each league then advance to a four-round postseason tournament in October, culminating in
364-667: A batter could foul off any number of pitches with no strikes counted against him; this gave an enormous advantage to the batter. After the 1919 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds, baseball was rocked by allegations of a game-fixing scheme known as the Black Sox Scandal . Eight players— "Shoeless" Joe Jackson , Eddie Cicotte , Claude "Lefty" Williams , George "Buck" Weaver , Arnold "Chick" Gandil , Fred McMullin , Charles "Swede" Risberg , and Oscar "Happy" Felsch —intentionally lost
455-406: A chance for recreation and for taking their minds off their work even more than before." With the approval of President Roosevelt, spring training began in 1942 with few repercussions. The war interrupted the careers of stars including Stan Musial , Bob Feller , Ted Williams , and Joe DiMaggio , but baseball clubs continued to field their teams. Branch Rickey, president and general manager of
546-731: A game winning three-run home run in the New York Mets ' 3–2 win over the New York Yankees . Rafael Furcal completed an unassisted triple play for the Atlanta Braves against the St. Louis Cardinals on August 10, 2003. It was the 12th such play in baseball history. In the fifth inning, the shortstop caught pitcher Woody Williams ' liner with the runners moving in a hit and run attempt, stepped on second base to retire catcher Mike Matheny and tagged Orlando Palmeiro before he could return to first. On April 22, 2007,
637-506: A grand jury in Pittsburgh related to cocaine trafficking. The 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike from August 12, 1994, to April 25, 1995, caused the cancellation of over 900 games and the forfeit of the entire 1994 postseason. Routinely in the late 1990s and early 2000s, baseball players hit 40 or 50 home runs in a season, a feat that was considered rare even in the 1980s. It later became apparent that at least some of this power surge
728-658: A little better in subsequent campaigns—but in their eighth season (1969) the Mets became the first of the 1960s expansion teams to play in the postseason, culminating in a World Series title over the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles. In 1966, the major leagues moved to the "Deep South" when the Braves moved to Atlanta. In 1968, the Kansas City Athletics moved west to become the Oakland Athletics . In 1969,
819-671: A man for many reasons. Color is not one of them." That year, Robinson won the inaugural Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award (separate NL and AL Rookie of the Year honors were not awarded until 1949). Less than three months later, Larry Doby became the first African-American to break the color barrier in the American League with the Cleveland Indians. The next year, a number of other black players entered
910-413: A new National Agreement which tied independent contracts to the reserve-clause contracts. The agreement also set up a formal classification system for minor leagues, the forerunner of today's system that was refined by Branch Rickey . Several other early defunct baseball leagues are considered major leagues, and their statistics and records are included with those of the two modern major leagues. In 1969,
1001-431: A one-armed outfielder, got the chance to advance to the major leagues. However, MLB rosters did not include any black players through the end of the war. Black players, many of whom served in the war, were still restricted to playing Negro league baseball . Wartime blackout restrictions , designed to keep outdoor lighting at low levels, caused another problem for baseball. These rules limited traveling and night games to
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#17327802407671092-501: A rebellion by players against the hated "reserve clause", which restricted the free movement of players between clubs. Teams came and went; 1882 was the first season where the league's membership was the same as the preceding season's, and only four franchises survived to see 1900. Competitor leagues formed regularly and also disbanded regularly. The most successful was the American Association (1882–1891), sometimes called
1183-543: A single-game MLB attendance record in their first home appearance with 78,672 fans. In 1961, the first Washington Senators franchise moved to Minneapolis–St. Paul to become the Minnesota Twins . Two new teams were added to the American League at the same time: the Los Angeles Angels (who soon moved from downtown L.A. to nearby Anaheim ) and a new Washington Senators franchise. The NL added
1274-540: A successful Baltimore chop, the batter hits the ball forcefully into the ground, causing it to bounce so high that the batter reaches first base before the ball can be fielded and thrown to the first baseman. The adoption of the foul strike rule—in the NL in 1901, in the AL two years later—quickly sent baseball from a high-scoring game to one where scoring runs became a struggle. Before this rule, foul balls were not counted as strikes:
1365-639: Is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan . Baseball's first all-professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings , was founded in 1869. The first few decades of professional baseball saw rivalries between leagues, and players often jumped from one team or league to another. These practices were essentially ended by the National Agreement of 1903, in which AL and NL agreed to respect each other's player contracts, including
1456-476: Is now the exclusive carrier of Blue Jays games, and English-language rightsholder of all post-season games. Beginning in 2014, TSN has contracted directly with MLB for rights to SNB and other ESPN MLB telecasts through 2021. Sportsnet may still air individual games in the event of a scheduling conflict between all of TSN's channels. Previous carriers of Sunday Night Baseball were TSN (1990–2000), The Score (2001–2002), and Sportsnet (2003 – May 9, 2010). In French,
1547-500: Is usually mounted 20 feet above the stands in foul territory and travels back and forth along the first base line from behind home plate to the foul pole. A complete list of broadcasters , with their period of tenure on the show (beginning years of each season shown). ESPN Domingo de Grandes Ligas ( Major League Sunday ) is also broadcast in Spanish on ESPN Deportes , with Ernesto Jerez on play-by-play and Luis Alfredo Alvarez as
1638-613: The 2021 season . On January 7, 2022, ESPN announced that Karl Ravech would become the fourth play-by-play announcer for Sunday Night Baseball , joined by analysts David Cone and Eduardo Pérez. On May 14, 2023, ESPN was widely criticized for its decision to implement a split screen between its coverage of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Playoff Western Conference semifinal series between the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers and
1729-852: The Boston Braves became the Milwaukee Braves , the St. Louis Browns became the Baltimore Orioles , and the Philadelphia Athletics became the Kansas City Athletics . The 1958 Major League Baseball season began to turn Major League Baseball into a nationwide league. Walter O'Malley , owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers and "perhaps the most influential owner of baseball's early expansion era," moved his team to Los Angeles, marking
1820-682: The Boston Red Sox manager, his predecessor Terry Francona was hired to join Shulman and Hershiser for the 2012 season. Francona stayed with ESPN for only one season before he was hired by the Cleveland Indians to be their manager for the 2013 season . Francona was replaced by John Kruk , who had been part of the Baseball Tonight team since 2004. Like Miller and Morgan before them, Shulman and Hershiser also formed
1911-596: The Great Depression , baseball's popularity had begun a downward turn in the early 1930s. By 1932, only two MLB teams turned a profit. Attendance had fallen, due at least in part to a 10% federal amusement tax added to baseball ticket prices. Baseball owners cut their rosters from 25 men to 23, and even the best players took pay cuts. Team executives were innovative in their attempts to survive, creating night games, broadcasting games live by radio, and rolling out promotions such as free admission for women. Throughout
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#17327802407672002-620: The Houston Astros and the New York Mets in 1962. The Astros (known as the "Colt .45s" during their first three seasons) became the first southern major league franchise since the Louisville Colonels folded in 1899 and the first franchise to be located along the Gulf Coast . The Mets established a reputation for futility by going 40–120 during their first season of play in the nation's media capital—and by playing only
2093-763: The Montreal Expos in Montreal . From its inception through 2010 , the series featured the broadcast team of play-by-play commentator Jon Miller and color commentator Joe Morgan . Steve Phillips joined them for the 2009 season , and Orel Hershiser did so for the 2010 season following Phillips' dismissal by the network. From 2004 until 2006 , Sam Ryan served as the field reporter , but she left to join New York City 's WCBS-TV and CBS Sports in June 2006. On July 2, 2006, Bonnie Bernstein joined
2184-611: The National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP). The NABBP existed as an amateur league for 12 years. By 1867, more than 400 clubs were members. Most of the strongest clubs remained those based in the Northeastern United States. For professional baseball 's founding year, MLB uses the year 1869—when the first professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings , was established. A schism developed between professional and amateur ballplayers after
2275-487: The National Basketball Association (NBA). Baseball games are broadcast on television, radio, and the internet throughout North America and in several other countries. MLB has the highest total season attendance of any sports league in the world; in 2023, it drew more than 70.75 million spectators. MLB also oversees Minor League Baseball , which comprises lower-tier teams affiliated with
2366-678: The National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. Formed in 1876 and 1901, respectively, the NL and AL cemented their cooperation with the National Agreement in 1903, making MLB the oldest major professional sports league in the world. They remained legally separate entities until 2000, when they merged into a single organization led by the commissioner of baseball . MLB
2457-517: The New York Yankees against the Baltimore Orioles , was broadcast on Sunday Night Baseball . The Mariano Rivera 500th career save (and also his 1st lifetime RBI) was broadcast on Sunday Night Baseball from Citi Field (home of the New York Mets ). During the May 1, 2011, broadcast between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies , ESPN announced the death of Osama bin Laden , the mastermind of
2548-647: The Red Sox became the fifth team in Major League history to hit four consecutive home runs, doing so in the third inning of a 7–6 victory over the Yankees . On April 29, 2007, a canceled broadcast occurred between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals when Cardinals relief pitcher Josh Hancock was killed in a car accident earlier in the day at 12:35 A.M. while driving under the influence. In place of
2639-552: The SNB team for the 2018 season as analyst and play-by-play respectively. For the 2020 season abbreviated due to COVID-19 , Mendoza left SNB as part of her new deal with ESPN, leaving Vasgersian and Rodriguez, who broadcast all games from a studio at ESPN's Bristol, Connecticut headquarters. ABC televised a Sunday Night Baseball matchup between the Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Cubs on August 8, 2021. The broadcast marked ABC's first broadcast of Sunday Night Baseball and
2730-516: The September 11 attacks , at the end of the 8th inning. At the top of the 9th inning with 1 out and Daniel Murphy at bat, fans at Citizens Bank Park erupted with U-S-A! chants despite the fact that no announcement of the news had been made in the stadium. Fans learned about the events through social media and mobile news apps. Appropriately, the Mets game against the Chicago Cubs on September 11
2821-617: The Sunday Night Baseball broadcast team as a color commentator. For the 2016 MLB season , former Yankees player Aaron Boone joined Shulman and Mendoza in the broadcast booth as the second color commentator for SNB . Shulman stepped down at the conclusion of the 2017 season , while Boone left the booth after being named new Yankees manager. On January 23, 2018, ESPN announced that Alex Rodriguez and Matt Vasgersian would join Jessica Mendoza, Buster Olney , and
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2912-412: The Sunday Night Baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Cubs aired exclusively on ABC. It was the first time since 1995 that a regular season Major League Baseball game aired on ABC. The White Sox won the game 9–3. The telecasts also utilize the K Zone , a computer-generated on-screen graphic that accurately outlines the strike zone and pitch location. A Skycam is also used; it
3003-621: The Texas Rangers . In 1977, baseball expanded again , adding a second Canadian team, the Toronto Blue Jays , as well as the Seattle Mariners . Subsequently, no new teams were added until the 1990s and no teams moved until 2005. By the late 1960s, the balance between pitching and hitting had swung in favor of the pitchers. In 1968—later nicknamed "the year of the pitcher" —Boston Red Sox player Carl Yastrzemski won
3094-550: The Washington Nationals ' first game at Nationals Park on March 30, 2008. The Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves , 3–2, on Ryan Zimmerman 's walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth. President George W. Bush , who threw out the ceremonial first pitch prior to the game, joined Jon Miller and Joe Morgan in the ESPN booth during the telecast. The final game played at Yankee Stadium on September 21, 2008, pitting
3185-628: The World Series , a best-of-seven championship series between the two league champions first played in 1903. The New York Yankees have the most championships with 27. The reigning champions are the Los Angeles Dodgers , who defeated the New York Yankees in the 2024 World Series . MLB is the third-wealthiest professional sports league by revenue in the world after the National Football League (NFL) and
3276-817: The first and second Negro National Leagues (1920–1931 and 1933–1948), the Eastern Colored League (1923–1928), the American Negro League (1929), the East–West League (1932), the Negro Southern League (1932), and the Negro American League (1937–1948). In 2021, baseball reference website Baseball-Reference.com began to include statistics from those seven leagues into their major-league statistics. In May 2024, Major League Baseball announced that it
3367-442: The "beer and whiskey league" for its tolerance of the sale of alcoholic beverages to spectators. For several years, the NL and American Association champions met in a postseason championship series—the first attempt at a World Series . The two leagues merged in 1892 as a single 12-team NL, but the NL dropped four teams after the 1899 season. This led to the formation of the American League in 1901 under AL president Ban Johnson , and
3458-541: The 1870s. In 1876, the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs (later known as the National League or NL) was established after the NA proved ineffective. The league placed its emphasis on clubs rather than on players. Clubs could now enforce player contracts, preventing players from jumping to higher-paying clubs. Clubs were required to play the full schedule of games instead of forfeiting scheduled games when
3549-557: The 1960s and 1970s, as baseball expanded, NFL football had been surging in popularity, making it economical for many of these cities to build multi-purpose stadiums instead of single-purpose baseball fields. Because of climate and economic issues, many of these facilities had playing surfaces made from artificial turf , as well as the oval designs characteristic of stadiums designed to house both baseball and football. This often resulted in baseball fields with relatively more foul territory than older stadiums. These characteristics changed
3640-463: The 1990s. During the 1980s, baseball experienced a number of significant changes the game had not seen in years. Home runs were on the decline throughout the decade, with players hitting 40 home runs just 13 times and no one hitting more than 50 home runs in a season for the first time since the Dead-ball era (1900–1919). The 1981 Major League Baseball strike from June 12 until July 31 forced
3731-403: The 2010 season, ESPN announced that the television contracts of Miller and Morgan would not be renewed. Miller was offered, but chose to decline, a continued role with ESPN Radio. Play-by-play announcer Dan Shulman joined color commentators Hershiser and Bobby Valentine as the new Sunday Night Baseball crew beginning in 2011 . In an essential trade deal, following the hiring of Valentine as
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3822-491: The American League batting title with an average of just .301, the lowest in the history of Major League Baseball. Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny McLain won 31 games, making him the only pitcher to win 30 games in a season since Dizzy Dean in 1934. St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Bob Gibson achieved an equally remarkable feat by allowing an ERA of just 1.12. Following these pitching performances, in December 1968
3913-854: The American and National Leagues both added two expansion franchises . The American League added the Seattle Pilots (who became the Milwaukee Brewers after one disastrous season in Seattle) and the Kansas City Royals . The NL added the first Canadian franchise, the Montreal Expos , as well as the San Diego Padres . In 1972, the second Washington Senators moved to the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to become
4004-476: The Brooklyn Dodgers, began making efforts to introduce a black baseball player to the previously all-white professional baseball leagues in the mid-1940s. He selected Jackie Robinson from a list of promising Negro league players. After obtaining a commitment from Robinson to "turn the other cheek" to any racial antagonism directed at him, Rickey agreed to sign him to a contract for $ 600 a month. In what
4095-818: The Dodgers when they came to town, abandoning the Negro league teams that they had followed exclusively. Robinson's promotion met a generally positive, although mixed, reception among newspaper writers and white major league players. Manager Leo Durocher informed his team, "I don't care if he is yellow or black or has stripes like a fucking zebra. I'm his manager and I say he plays." After a strike threat by some players, NL President Ford C. Frick and Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler let it be known that any striking players would be suspended. Robinson received significant encouragement from several major-league players, including Dodgers teammate Pee Wee Reese who said, "You can hate
4186-683: The Great Depression, no MLB teams moved or folded. The onset of World War II created a shortage of professional baseball players, as more than 500 men left MLB teams to serve in the military. Many of them played on service baseball teams that entertained military personnel in the US or in the Pacific. MLB teams of this time largely consisted of young men, older players, and those with a military classification of 4F , indicating mental, physical, or moral unsuitability for service. Men like Pete Gray ,
4277-496: The MLB Playing Rules Committee voted to reduce the strike zone from knees to shoulders to top of knees to armpits and lower the pitcher's mound from 15 to 10 inches, beginning in the 1969 season. In 1973, the American League, which had been suffering from much lower attendance than the National League, sought to increase scoring even further by initiating the designated hitter (DH) rule. Throughout
4368-557: The Red Sox' David Cone also shutting out the Yankees for eight innings, before allowing an RBI double by Enrique Wilson in the ninth. It was the only scoring of the Yankees' 1–0 win. Additionally, Cone was the most recent pitcher to record a perfect game having done so two years earlier as a Yankee against the Montreal Expos . On June 16, 2002, Sunday Night Baseball covered a Subway Series at Shea Stadium in which Mo Vaughn hit
4459-770: The Special Baseball Records Committee of Major League Baseball officially recognized six major leagues: the National League, American League, American Association, Union Association (1884), Players' League (1890), and Federal League (1914–1915). The status of the National Association as a major league has been a point of dispute among baseball researchers; while its statistics are not recognized by Major League Baseball, its statistics are included with those of other major leagues by some baseball reference websites, such as Retrosheet . Some researchers, including Nate Silver , dispute
4550-486: The World Series in exchange for a ring worth $ 100,000 ($ 1,712,780.35 in 2022 dollars). Despite being acquitted, all were permanently banned from Major League Baseball. Baseball's popularity increased in the 1920s and 1930s. The 1920 season was notable for the death of Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians . Chapman, who was struck in the head by a pitch and died a few hours later, became the only MLB player to die of an on-field injury. Both leagues quickly began to require
4641-401: The attacks on September 21. On August 30, 2015, during a game between the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers , Jake Arrieta threw a no-hitter. This was the first no-hitter aired on Sunday Night Baseball . This was the first Sunday Night Baseball game to have a female commentator in the booth, Jessica Mendoza . On July 3, 2016, Sunday Night Baseball aired the Fort Bragg Game ,
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#17327802407674732-414: The bottom of the eleventh, 15–14. The twelve-run comeback tied the Major League record for largest deficit overcome in a game. On September 2, 2001, Mike Mussina of the New York Yankees came within one strike of a perfect game against the Boston Red Sox . The effort was broken up on a single by Carl Everett , with Mussina settling for a one-hitter. The game itself was an exciting pitchers' duel, with
4823-474: The cancellation of 713 total games and resulted in a split-season format. In 1985, Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb 's all-time hits record with his 4,192nd hit, and in 1989 Rose received a lifetime ban from baseball as a result of betting on baseball games while manager of the Cincinnati Reds . Rose was the first person to receive a lifetime ban from baseball since 1943. 1985 also saw the Pittsburgh drug trials which involved players who were called to testify before
4914-403: The center field fence, and the Huntington Avenue Grounds of the Boston Red Sox , which was 635 feet (194 m) to the center field fence, thus home runs were rare, and "small ball" tactics such as singles , bunts , stolen bases , and the hit-and-run play dominated the strategies of the time. Hitting methods like the Baltimore chop were used to increase the number of infield singles. On
5005-443: The club was no longer in the running for the league championship, which happened frequently under the NA. A concerted effort was made to curb gambling on games, which was leaving the validity of results in doubt. The first game in the NL—on Saturday, April 22, 1876 (at Jefferson Street Grounds in Philadelphia )—is often pointed to as the beginning of MLB. The early years of the NL were tumultuous, with threats from rival leagues and
5096-463: The color analyst. This version is also presented on the Spanish feed of ESPN Latin America . The Brazilian feed, in Portuguese, has Romulo Mendonça doing the play-by-play and Paulo Antunes as the analyst. They broadcast from ESPN Brasil studios in São Paulo . ESPN Radio has aired a weekly Sunday Night Baseball broadcast since 1998. Currently, Jon Sciambi calls play-by-play of the games, with Chris Singleton serving as color analyst. Sciambi
5187-573: The condition of the baseball itself. The baseball used American rather than the modern Australian wool yarn and was not wound as tightly, affecting the distance that it would travel. More significantly, balls were kept in play until they were mangled, soft and sometimes lopsided. During this era, a baseball cost three dollars, equal to $ 52.72 today (in inflation-adjusted USD ), and owners were reluctant to purchase new balls. Fans were expected to throw back fouls and (rare) home runs. Baseballs also became stained with tobacco juice, grass, and mud, and sometimes
5278-432: The contentious reserve clause . The period before 1920 was the dead-ball era , when home runs were rarely hit. Professional baseball was rocked by the Black Sox Scandal , a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series . Baseball survived the scandal, albeit with major changes in its governance as the relatively weak National Commission was replaced with a powerful commissioner of baseball with near-unlimited authority over
5369-496: The crew as the new field reporter, but did not return in 2007 primarily due to her request to cut back her schedule because of her continued recovery from a bout with deep vein thrombosis in October 2006. Beginning in 2006, Peter Gammons joined the broadcasts as a field reporter in the scouts position. Gammons, however, suffered a brain aneurysm and didn't return until September 2006. In 2010, Miller and Morgan began their 21st consecutive season working together for ESPN. Following
5460-417: The dissolution of ESPN Deportes Radio . From 1990 to 1997, CBS Radio aired Sunday night games, usually with Jerry Coleman and John Rooney announcing. Outside the US, this weekly game was also broadcast live on Five in the UK from 1997 until 2008 and at the time was the longest running programme on the channel. In Latin America the game is broadcast on ESPN Latin America . When the NFL season begins,
5551-404: The first major league franchise on the West Coast. O'Malley also helped persuade the rival New York Giants to move west to become the San Francisco Giants. Giants owner Horace Stoneham had been contemplating a move to Minnesota amid slumping attendance at the aging Polo Grounds ballpark when O'Malley invited him to meet San Francisco Mayor George Christopher in New York. After Stoneham
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#17327802407675642-415: The first professional sporting event held on an active military base, and the first MLB regular season game held in North Carolina . The Miami Marlins defeated the Atlanta Braves , 5–2. On May 7, 2017, during the game between the Chicago Cubs and the New York Yankees , they broke the MLB strikeout record as both teams combined made 48 strikeouts (Yankees 22 and Cubs 26). In addition, the 18-inning game
5733-415: The first regular season matchup it had broadcast since its involvement in the Baseball Network in 1995. In 2021, ESPN and Major League Baseball agreed to a new contract that would last through the 2028 season. Beginning in 2022, ESPN would keep Sunday Night Baseball as its Game of the Week broadcast, but would no longer televise non-exclusive weeknight games unlike in previous years. It also gave ESPN
5824-454: The founding of the Cincinnati club. The NABBP split into an amateur organization and a professional organization. The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players , often known as the National Association (NA), was formed in 1871. Its amateur counterpart disappeared after only a few years. The modern Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves franchises trace their histories back to the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players in
5915-488: The game is moved to ESPN Dos only for the audience in Mexico, Central America, Venezuela, Colombia and the Caribbean Islands. In Canada , Sunday Night Baseball has aired on the TSN family of channels (usually on TSN2 ) since May 16, 2010. This was initially under a sublicensing agreement with Sportsnet , the primary Canadian rightsholder for Major League Baseball, in a deal through which TSN transferred its remaining rights to Toronto Blue Jays games to Sportsnet, which
6006-428: The game, special programming hosted by Miller and Morgan was shown. The game was later made up on September 10, 2007, where the Cubs defeated the Cardinals 12–3, though the game was not broadcast as the Game of the Week. On August 5, 2007, Tom Glavine of the New York Mets became the 23rd pitcher in history to record his 300th win. He did it in an 8–3 victory over the Chicago Cubs . Sunday Night Baseball broadcast
6097-459: The grounds crew cleaned up the broken glass that fell onto the field, the stadium PA system played the music from The Natural . The Chicago Cubs and the Mets at Citi Field on September 11, 2011, was broadcast on Sunday Night Baseball as part of the 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001; New York was targeted by the terrorists in the attacks of that day and the Mets hosted the first major professional sports event held in New York City since
6188-429: The hole " between the corner and middle infielders. Starting pitchers were no longer expected to throw complete games ; it was enough for a starter to pitch 6–7 innings and turn the game over to the team's closer , a position which grew in importance over these decades. As stolen bases increased, home run totals dropped. After Willie Mays hit 52 home runs in 1965, only one player ( George Foster ) reached that mark until
6279-401: The juice of licorice, which some players would chew for the purpose of discoloring the ball. Also, pitchers could manipulate the ball through the use of the spitball (In 1921, use of this pitch was restricted to a few pitchers with a grandfather clause ). Additionally, many ballparks had large dimensions, such as the West Side Grounds of the Chicago Cubs, which was 560 feet (170 m) to
6370-507: The lead team on ESPN Radio's World Series coverage. Prior to the 2014 season , Hershiser left ESPN to become an analyst for the Dodgers on SportsNet LA , and was replaced by Curt Schilling ; however, Schilling's subsequent diagnosis of and treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer led to his being unavailable to ESPN for most of the season. Shulman and Kruk worked as a two-man booth until Schilling joined them in September. On August 30, 2015, former softball player Jessica Mendoza joined
6461-404: The major league clubs, and the MLB Draft League , a hybrid amateur-professional showcase league. MLB and the World Baseball Softball Confederation jointly manage the international World Baseball Classic tournament. In the 1860s, aided by soldiers playing the game in camp during the Civil War , "New York"-style baseball expanded into a national game and spawned baseball's first governing body,
6552-603: The major leagues. Satchel Paige was signed by the Indians and the Dodgers added star catcher Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe , who was later the first winner of the Cy Young Award for his outstanding pitching. MLB banned the signing of women to contracts in 1952, but that ban was lifted in 1992. There have been no female MLB players since then. From 1903 to 1952, the major leagues consisted of two eight-team leagues whose 16 teams were located in ten cities, all in
6643-572: The major-league status of the Union Association by pointing out that franchises came and went and that the St. Louis club was deliberately "stacked"; the St. Louis club was owned by the league's president and it was the only club that was close to major-league caliber. In December 2020, Major League Baseball announced its recognition of seven leagues within Negro league baseball as major leagues:
6734-471: The nature of professional baseball, putting a higher premium on speed and defense over home-run hitting power since the fields were often too big for teams to expect to hit many home runs and foul balls hit in the air could more easily be caught for outs. Teams began to be built around pitching—particularly their bullpens—and speed on the basepaths. Artificial surfaces meant balls traveled quicker and bounced higher, so it became easier to hit ground balls " in
6825-527: The northeastern and mid-western United States: New York City had three teams and Boston , Chicago, Philadelphia , and St. Louis each had two teams. St. Louis was the southernmost and westernmost city with a major league team. The longest possible road trip, from Boston to St. Louis, took about 24 hours by railroad. After a half-century of stability, starting in the 1950s, teams began to move out of cities with multiple teams into cities that had not had them before. From 1953 to 1955, three teams moved to new cities:
6916-436: The option to produce an alternate telecast on its sister networks (such as the popular alternate "StatCast" seen on ESPN2), as well as simulcasts on ESPN+ . Matt Vasgersian left ESPN after the 2021 season to focus more on his duties for MLB Network and Bally Sports West , as he is the lead announcer for the Los Angeles Angels , which in part, due to SNB , saw his role taken by Daron Sutton and Rich Waltz for most of
7007-519: The point that the 1942 season was nearly canceled. On January 14, 1942, MLB Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis wrote to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt , pleading for the continuation of baseball during the war. Roosevelt responded, "I honestly feel that it would be best for the country to keep baseball going. There will be fewer people unemployed and everybody will work longer hours and harder than ever before. And that means that they ought to have
7098-490: The program is carried on Réseau des Sports with Alain Usereau and Marc Griffin working as the announcers. Major League Baseball Major League Baseball ( MLB ) is a professional baseball league and the highest level of organized baseball in the United States and Canada . One of the "Big Four" major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada , MLB comprises 30 teams, divided equally between
7189-542: The reserve clause, led to the organization of the Major League Baseball Players Association to collectively bargain with the owners, which in turn led to the introduction of free agency in baseball. Modern stadiums with artificial turf surfaces began to change the game in the 1970s and 1980s. Home runs dominated the game during the 1990s. In the mid-2000s, media reports disclosed the use of anabolic steroids among MLB players;
7280-533: The resulting bidding war for players led to widespread contract-breaking and legal disputes. The war between the AL and NL caused shock waves throughout the baseball world. At a meeting at the Leland Hotel in Chicago in 1901, the other baseball leagues negotiated a plan to maintain their independence. A new National Association was formed to oversee these minor leagues. After 1902, the NL, AL, and NA signed
7371-571: The sport. MLB rose in popularity in the decade following the Black Sox Scandal, and unlike major leagues in other sports it endured the Great Depression and World War II without any of its teams folding. Shortly after the war, Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier . Some teams moved to different cities in the 1950s and 1960s. The AL and NL added eight clubs in the 1960s: two in 1961, two in 1962, and four in 1969. Player discontent with established labor practices, especially
7462-454: The use of new, white baseballs whenever a ball became scuffed or dirty, helping bring the "dead-ball" era to an end. The following year, the New York Yankees made their first World Series appearance. By the end of the 1930s, the team had appeared in 11 World Series, winning eight of them. Yankees slugger Babe Ruth had set the single-season home run record in 1927, hitting 60 home runs; breaking his own record of 29 home runs. Afflicted by
7553-399: Was "absorbing the available Negro Leagues numbers into the official historical record." The period between 1900 and 1919 is commonly referred to as the "dead-ball era". Games of this era tended to be low-scoring and were often dominated by pitchers, such as Walter Johnson , Cy Young , Christy Mathewson , Mordecai Brown , and Grover Cleveland Alexander . The term also accurately describes
7644-455: Was a Sunday night game to mark the tenth anniversary of the attacks. On July 17, 2011, a game between the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays went scoreless into the 16th inning before the Red Sox scored in the top of the inning, leading to a 1–0 victory. This game was also notable for a foul ball hit by the Rays' Sean Rodriguez that hit and broke a lamp in the catwalks of Tropicana Field . As
7735-902: Was a result of players using steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs . In 1993, the National League added the Florida Marlins in Miami and the Colorado Rockies in Denver . In 1998, the Brewers switched leagues by joining the National League, and two new teams were added: the National League's Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix and the American League's Tampa Bay Devil Rays in Tampa Bay . 2017 Major League Baseball season Too Many Requests If you report this error to
7826-517: Was also the longest interleague game yet in MLB history and longest Sunday Night Baseball game yet broadcast. The Yankees won, 5–4. On August 12, 2018, during a game between the Washington Nationals and the Chicago Cubs , David Bote hit a pinch-hit walk-off grand slam with his team down 3–0 and down to their final strike to give the Cubs a stunning 4–3 victory. As previously mentioned, on August 8, 2021,
7917-749: Was expected to opt out of its contract with the MLB at the end of the season. Starting in 2022, alternate telecasts of eight Sunday Night Baseball games aired on ESPN2 with Michael Kay and Alex Rodriguez calling the games. The presentation, nicknamed "KayRod Cast", will be similar to the Monday Night Football " Manningcast " hosted by Peyton and Eli Manning . These altcasts ended when Rodriguez signed an exclusive deal with Fox Sports . On May 28, 2000, Pedro Martínez and Roger Clemens faced off in an epic pitchers' duel at Yankee Stadium . Both pitchers threw complete games and combined for 22 strikeouts, 13 for Clemens, 9 for Martinez. The game
8008-619: Was later referred to as "The Noble Experiment", Robinson was the first black baseball player in the International League since the 1880s, joining the Dodgers' farm club, the Montreal Royals , for the 1946 season. The following year, the Dodgers called up Robinson to the major leagues. On April 15, 1947, Robinson made his major league debut at Ebbets Field before a crowd of 26,623 spectators, including more than 14,000 black patrons. Black baseball fans began flocking to see
8099-449: Was persuaded to move to California, Time magazine put O'Malley on its cover. MLB Commissioner Ford C. Frick had opposed the meeting, but the dual moves proved successful for both franchises—and for MLB. Had the Dodgers moved out west alone, the St. Louis Cardinals —1,600 mi (2,575 km) away —would have been the closest NL team. Instead, the joint move made West Coast road trips economical for visiting teams. The Dodgers set
8190-529: Was preceded by Gary Thorne (2008–09), Dan Shulman (2002–07), and Charley Steiner (1998–2001), while Singleton was preceded by Dave Campbell (1999–2010) and Kevin Kennedy (1998). As of 2020, the reserves for Sciambi include Shulman and Roxy Bernstein . In Canada, this program airs on CJCL , the flagship sports radio station for Sportsnet . TUDN Radio also airs Sunday Night Baseball in Spanish, after
8281-405: Was scoreless until Trot Nixon hit a two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning. Martinez then got the final three outs in the bottom of the inning to secure the victory. ESPN was on hand for the Cleveland Indians ' historic comeback against the Seattle Mariners on August 5, 2001. The Indians trailed 14–2 after six innings, but scored twelve runs in the final three innings before winning in
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