American League Timeline of Events

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American League

The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major league status...

Timeline of Events

1899

10.11.1899

The Western League is renamed the American League.

1900

1.29.1900

The American League is organized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with 8 founding teams.

1933

7.6.1933

The first Major League Baseball All-Star Game is played in Chicago's Comiskey Park. The American League defeats the National League 4–2.

1947

7.5.1947

Larry Doby signs a contract with the Cleveland Indians baseball team, becoming the first black player in the American League. (Jackie Robinson had broken the color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers in the National League 11 weeks earlier.)

1973

4.6.1973

The American League of Major League Baseball begins using the designated hitter.