Notable Changes To Major League Baseball
Bud Selig helped introduce the following changes to Major League Baseball:
- Realignment of teams into three divisions per league, and the introduction of playoff wild card teams (1994)
- Interleague play (1997)
- Two additional franchises: the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, now the Tampa Bay Rays (1998)
- Transfer of the Milwaukee Brewers from the American League to the National League (1998)
- Abolition of the American and National league offices and presidencies, and inclusion of all umpiring crews into a common pool for AL and NL games, instead of having separate pools per league (2000)
- Unbalanced schedule (2001)
- Home field advantage in the World Series granted to the winner of the All Star Game in the same season (2003)
- Transfer of Montreal Expos franchise to Washington, D.C., becoming the Washington Nationals (2004)
- Dedicating April 15 as Jackie Robinson Day (2004)
- Stricter Major League Baseball performance-enhancing drug testing policy (2005)
- World Baseball Classic (2006)
- Introduction of instant replay in the event of a disputed home run call (2008)
- Introducing a second wild card playoff team in each league (2012)
- Requiring the Houston Astros to move to the American League (2013), as a condition of the sale of the team to Jim Crane, resulting in an odd number of teams in each league and interleague play throughout the season
During Selig's terms as Executive Council Chairman (from 1992–1998) and Commissioner, new stadiums have opened in Arizona, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Colorado, Detroit, Houston, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Arlington, St. Louis, Washington, D.C., New York City (Flushing, Queens and the Bronx), Minneapolis, and Miami.
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Famous quotes containing the words notable, major, league and/or baseball:
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—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
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“Stereotypes fall in the face of humanity. You toodle along, thinking that all gay men wear leather after dark and should never, ever be permitted around a Little League field. And then one day your best friend from college, the one your kids adore, comes out to you.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“I don’t like comparisons with football. Baseball is an entirely different game. You can watch a tight, well-played football game, but it isn’t exciting if half the stadium is empty. The violence on the field must bounce off a lot of people. But you can go to a ball park on a quiet Tuesday afternoon with only a few thousand people in the place and thoroughly enjoy a one-sided game. Baseball has an aesthetic, intellectual appeal found in no other team sport.”
—Bowie Kuhn (b. 1926)