Official Online Store For Shop USA Sports - Sports Memorabilia

The History of the World Series
Before the birth of the World Series in 1903, there were other postseason championships that took place as early as 1884. Although they are not officially recognized as part of World Series history, they provide a basis for the establishment of what has become recognized as "The Fall Classic".
The Fall Classic has provided us with many magical moments. The first World Series, in 1903, was a best-of-nine affair arranged between the champions of the older National League (founded in 1876) and the American League. The AL's Boston Pilgrims upset the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5 games to 3.
The 1904 NL champion New York Giants refused to play Boston the following year, so there was no Series. But the league presidents ironed out their differences, and the Series resumed in 1905, when the Giants agreed to play Philadelphia in a best-of-seven game series.
Since then the World Series has followed the best-of-seven format, except from 1919-21, when it returned briefly to best-of-nine.
As for the World Series Baseballs…..it has pretty much been 1 standard game baseball per year from 1978-1999 (with variations in the stamping color). In 2000 the stamping color changed to an all gold layout (the red stitching remained the same) which has remained that way through 2008. In 2000 Rawlings produced a commemorative World Series Baseball tagged “The Subway Series”…..from my research this was the first year that an additional commemorative baseball for the World Series was produced. In 2001 there was a Version 1 and Version 2 World Series Baseball (pre-9/11 and post-9/11). Version 1 was limited production, as the design was changed after 9/11 to a patriotic bunting. Version 2 was actually used in the games that year. Also, in 2001, Rawlings produced an American Flag World Series Baseball with Red/Blue stamping which was used for the ceremonial first pitch at each of the World Series games. In both 2002 & 2003 only 1 version was produced. In 2004 Rawlings produced a World Series Champions Baseball in addition to the game baseball…..these were official game baseballs that were modified for commemorative purposes by adding the logo of the World Series victor on the left and the scores of each of the games on the right, all branded in gold. In 2005 they added the Dueling Teams Baseball that contained the logo of both World Series Teams…..and Rawlings continues to offer these 3 product versions for the World Series through 2008….and beyond.