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Professional baseball is organizedbaseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played inleagues and associatedfarm teams throughout the world.
Major League Baseball in theUnited States andCanada consists of theNational League (founded in 1876) and theAmerican League (founded in 1901). Historically, teams in one league never played teams in the other until theWorld Series, in which the champions of the two leagues played against each other. This changed in 1997 with the advent ofinterleague play.[1] ThePhiladelphia Phillies, founded in 1883, are the oldest continuous same-name, same-city franchise in both Major League Baseball and all of American professional sports.[2]
In addition to the major leagues, many North American cities and towns feature minor league teams. An organization officially styledMinor League Baseball, formerly the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues,[3] oversees nearly all minor league baseball in the United States and Canada. The minor leagues are divided into classesTriple-A,Double-A,High-A,Single-A, andRookie. These minor-league divisions are affiliated with major league teams, and serve to develop young players and rehabilitate injured major-leaguers. "Affiliated baseball" (archaically, "organized baseball") is often applied as an umbrella term for all leagues — major and minor — under the authority of theCommissioner of Baseball.[4]
Operating outside the Minor League Baseball organization are manyindependent minor leagues such as theAtlantic League,American Association,Frontier League, andEmpire Professional Baseball League.[5]
Japan has had professional baseball since the 1930s.Nippon Professional Baseball consists of two leagues, theCentral League and thePacific League, each with six teams.
South Korea has had professional baseball since 1982. There are 10 teams inKBO League.[6]
Taiwan has had professional baseball since the 1990s. TheChinese Professional Baseball League absorbedTaiwan Major League in 2003. There are 6 teams in the CPBL.
Other Asian leagues include three now defunct leagues, theChina National Baseball League,Israel Baseball League, andBaseball Philippines.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, players ofblack African descent werebarred from playing the major leagues, though several did manage to play by claiming to beCubans orNative Americans. As a result, a number of parallelNegro leagues were formed. However, afterJackie Robinson began playing with the major-leagueBrooklyn Dodgers in 1947, the Negro leagues gradually faded. The process of integration did not go entirely smoothly; there were some ugly incidents, including pitchers who would try to throw directly at a black player's head. Now, however, baseball is fully integrated, and there is little to no racial tension between teammates.
Between 1943 and 1954, theAll-American Girls Professional Baseball League fielded teams in severalMidwestern towns.