Baseball's Five Most Influential Seasons

It's pretty obvious that baseball is my favorite sport.  It always has been.  And much like a lot of others I'm fascinated by how the sport developed over the years, particularly at the Major League level.  Here are five seasons that I believe to be the most influential to Major League Baseball's development:

5. 1941

(Bettmann/Corbis)

Our fifth most influential season checks in with a couple of unbreakable records, and careers that would dramatically change.   It was the most recent year baseball saw a .400 hitter in Ted Williams, and most likely the last.  Not to mention, that kid in the Bronx recorded a hit for a lot of games in a row—56 to be exact.  It was naturally one of the greatest offensive years the league had seen, with records surpassed by nobody for the last 75 years.  That December, Pearl Harbor catapulted the United States into World War II. Star players, including Williams, would sacrifice parts of their careers to fight for their country.  The players’ decisions to fight altered the course of MLB history, both through their shortened careers and their places as heroes in the sport and society.

4. 1919

(National Baseball Library)

1919 was one of the most controversial years in early twentieth century Major League Baseball.  The massive scandal surrounding the Chicago White Sox intentionally throwing the World Series allowed the commissioner to flex his muscles, and let future players know what the consequence would be for gambling in baseball (looking at you, Pete Rose).  Eight total players were banned from the league, giving way to the term “Black Sox” that we infamously use in baseball lingo today.  Perhaps a story just as big came during the offseason, as Babe Ruth was formally sold to the Yankees.  This would give birth to not only the most famous rivalry in baseball, but also professional sport history.  For such significant events to occur in the league’s early years was a sign that there would be many ups and downs for years to come.

3. 1935

(AP Photo)

There was not much going on in the baseball world in 1935.  Well, not much except one of the most revolutionary ideas in both baseball and other professional sports.  1935 saw the first Major League Baseball night game.  The concept of night games didn’t just make viewing a game in the dark easier—it welcomed a new demographic of spectators into the sport.  All of a sudden, people who worked during the day could still go and see baseball games because they were played after working hours.  Night baseball eventually translated well to television as teams could secure primetime slots to gain exposure to the rest of the nation.  Today, night games have very much become a regular, almost necessary, aspect of the season.

2. 1922

(David Greenberg)

While nothing particularly special occurred within the scope of the actual season, May 22^nd was the sole reason Major League Baseball exists as it does today.  On this date, the MLB gained a special antitrust exemption from the Supreme Court despite multiple factors that violated antitrust laws.  Similar to the other major professional sports leagues, the MLB is essentially a monopoly and can prevent any sort of rival league from gaining traction.  The Supreme Court decision helped Major League Baseball remain the single major professional baseball league in the country.  In terms of antitrust laws, Major League Baseball should technically be illegal but it has continued to exist throughout the years and will never give way to anything else. 

1. 1994

(Getty Images)

It was the year the Montreal Expos were going to win the World Series. Okay, that’s not THE reason but it would have been awesome.  1994 was actually one of two seasons in the Modern Era in which a World Series was not played. Why? Well, simply put, the season stopped on August 11^th.  It was a shame too, since Tony Gwynn was hitting .396 at the time and Ken Griffey Jr. was chasing Roger Maris’ 33-year-old home run record. The players decided to strike as a response to the new collective bargaining agreement that was set to take effect the following season.  In that new CBA, the league would operate with a salary cap that would have restricted player salaries.  The owners would have had much more power and money than the players, so the players decided to strike until an agreement was reached.  The two sides eventually came to terms and as we know today, there is still no salary cap. Since 1994 there has been labor peace in Major League Baseball, far surpassing the other three major leagues that have each experienced some form of labor conflict in the last six years.