When Was Major League Baseball’s First World Series Played?

DID YOU KNOW…?

When was Major League Baseball’s first World Series played?

By Jack Bagley

didyouknowcolumn@gmail.com

Copyright © 2025 Jack Bagley

March arrives like a lion, and goes out like a lamb.

Or something like that.

Well, it’s here, roaring its way into the calendar and bringing with it the last of winter and the first of spring.

That’s what I am waiting for, that first of spring. My favorite season, don’t you know.

Along with March comes more trivia, so let’s dive into that posthaste!

Did you know …

… smokers eat more sugar than non-smokers do? (Of course they do, to get that tobacco taste out of their mouths.)

… you have most likely seen a meldrop? You’ve even had one yourself, I would wager. Not sure what a meldrop is? Well, a meldrop (and I hope you aren’t eating when you read this) is a drop of mucus hanging from your nose. The obscure term comes to us from Old English, I’m told. (I’m not sure why someone would tell me that, but there you are.)

… an ancient ruler truly loved chocolate? According to some reports, the Aztec emperor Moctezuma II (1466-1520) drank more than a gallon of chocolate a day. (Sweet!)

… the blood of a spider is clear? (Not that I’m worrying about transfusing a tarantula or anything.)

… it really is possible to cook an egg on a sidewalk? Many of us have seen the televised attempts of meteorologists to prove how hot the ground gets by frying an egg on the sidewalk. Usually, though, they end up with a runny mess. However, if the sidewalk’s temperature is 158º Fahrenheit (70º Celsius) or higher, the egg will cook. (So will you if you’re silly enough to stand there and watch it.)

… a very effective treatment for alcoholism exists but is not used much? The first drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat alcohol dependence was disulfiram. It’s also the most effective one, though it is seldom prescribed. Why? In a way, disulfiram makes alcohol poisonous, so it’s usually the last resort for alcoholism treatment. And before you write in – yes, I am aware alcohol is already a kind of poison. The drug actually interferes with the body’s ability to make alcohol non-poisonous. (Thanks to Mason for the tip!)

… the first World Series was played in 1903? Major League Baseball was made up solely of the eight teams in the National League from 1876 until 1901, when the eight-team American League was formed. For the first two years, there were discussions of having the National and American League champions play for a “world’s title,” but many N.L. officials did not consider the A.L. a true major league. In 1903, though, the two champions – the Boston Americans of the A.L. (later to be called the Red Sox) and the Pittsburgh Pirates of the N.L. – agreed to a “World’s Series” of nine games, with the champion being the team that won five games first. In a stinging blow to the long-established National League, it was the American League upstarts from Boston who took five games, compared to only three wins for Pittsburgh. Additional trivia note: The sting of the N.L. losing the first World Series carried over into the next season. The New York Giants, N.L. champs in 1904, refused to play the champions of the A.L., again the Boston Americans. Business disputes were cited as the reason, but it all came down to a dislike by Giants manager John McGraw (1873-1934) for A.L. president Ban Johnson (1864-1931). The only other time a World Series was not held was in 1994, when a players’ strike caused the end of the season and the cancellation of the championship playoff series.

… elephants are terrified of bees? They are. In fact, elephants have been noted as having a special vocalization that warns others of bees. If we could translate it, it might say, “Run! The bees are angry!” (The little stingers.)

… a town in the United Kingdom weighs its mayor on the first and last day of the term? The Mayor of the town of High Wycombe, in Buckinghamshire, is weighed at the beginning and end of his (or her) term to ensure that Hizzoner did not gain weight at taxpayer expense. If there is a gain of weight, the mayor is publicly booed. (Well, at least they don’t try to surgically get their pound of flesh back.)

… the most expensive object ever constructed is not on Earth? It’s close, though. The International Space Station, currently in orbit above our heads, cost (so far) about $150 billion. (And going up, in more ways than one.)

… it is illegal in Southbridge, Massachusetts, to read books or newspapers in the streets after 8:00 p.m.? (Depending on the season, it’s also too dark.)

… twelve paintings done by a dictator still exist? Before he joined the German Army in World War I, Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) was a landscape and portrait painter. During his youth, Hitler produced about 300 paintings, and twelve of them still exist. Four of them are in the United States. It was his inability to gain admission to the Vienna Art Academy that caused him to eventually go into politics. (And we all know what happened after that.)

… a familiar gesture was created at a baseball game in 1977? Just about everybody has bestowed a “high five” on friends and family, but the gesture came about accidentally. In 1977, Dusty Baker (born 1949), then a player for the Los Angeles Dodgers, hit his 30th home run of that season. Heading back to the dugout, he passed teammate Glenn Burke (1952-1995), who was in the on-deck circle waiting to come to bat. Burke raised his hand in an excited greeting to Baker, who promptly raised his own hand and slapped Burke’s – and the high five was born. Asked about slapping Burke’s hand, Baker said, “It seemed like the thing to do.” (Indeed.)

Now … you know!