History
Although the World Series as we know it didn't begin until 1903, major-league baseball had several post-season championship series before that.
The first came in 1884, when the Providence Grays of the National League beat the New York Metropolitan Club of the American Association in a three-game series for "the championship of the United States." Newspapers, however, called the Grays the "champions of the world."
For the next six years, there was a post-season series between the NL and AA pennant-winners, ranging in length from six to fifteen games. But the American Association folded after the 1891 season, and there was no series that year.
In 1892, the National League expanded to twelve teams by taking in four of the AA's former franchises. To sustain interest, the league played a split season and the first-half winner played the second-half winner for the championship. The press and fans weren't crazy about the idea, though, so the split season was dropped in 1893.
William C. Temple, the owner of the Pittsburgh team, in 1894 offered a trophy to the winner of a seven-game series between the NL's first- and second-place teams. He also specified that the winning team should receive 65 percent of the gate receipts, with 35% going to the losing team. That series continued through 1897.
The American League claimed major-league status in 1901 and a two-year war with the National League ensued. But the National Agreement signaled a truce and the 1903 pennant winners, Boston of the AL and Pittsburgh of the NL, agreed to play a nine-game series after the 1903 season for the "world championship."
In 1904, the NL's New York Giants refused to play a post-season series because owner John T. Brush and manager John McGraw both held grudges against Ban Johnson, the AL president. The National Commission then mandated a World Series, beginning in 1905. Ironically, Brush drew up the rules, which called for a seven-game series.
The five-of-nine format was used from 1919 through 1921, but it reverted to a best-of-seven series in 1922.
