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Three Strikes, You’re OUT! The thumping and yelling and cheering of the crowd drowns out the birds chirping, the umpire’s call and the announcer’s beckon to the next batter up. But all of that racket is music to the ears of any player participating in the World Series. Imagine playing a game you love most in life. Imagine playing it all of your life for one chance—the chance to be the best team in the world.

For some baseball players, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Other players have gone to the World Series more than one. Some never get to go. Regardless, going to the World Series is a dream every professional and aspiring professional baseball player want to make true.

In 1903, the first World Series began. There were many post-season championships that occurred before 1903, including one that helped the World Series get its name. In 1994 the Providence Grays of the National League beat the New York Metropolitan Club of the American Association in a three-game series called the championship of the United States. Newspapers mistakenly called the winners the “champions of the world.” The American Association folded in 1891 and in 1901, to the National League’s dismay, the American League formed and claimed that they were just as good as the 20 year old National League.

Fighting between the two leagues pursued for 2 years because more than 100 National League players moved to the American League, lured by more money and comfort. In 1903, a “peace treaty” was signed by the two leagues which brought the two leagues under one governing body. This meant that they would share the same game rules and agree to allow trading among their teams.

At the end of the 1903 season, the two owners of the best teams of each league agreed to a best-of-nine series game for the “world championship.” The Boston Pilgrims and the Pittsburgh Pirates battled it out with the victory of the “World Series” going to Boston (currently the Boston Red Sox). It is in 1903 that the official World Series was born. One change was made in 1905; the series was changed to a best-of-seven affair. (It reverted to a best-of-nine series only for the years 1919-1921). Little has changed otherwise since its inception. Who will you be rooting for this year?