2.2K
In 1901, baseball was a notoriously rowdy sport. Seeing an opportunity, sports entrepreneur Ban Johnson founded the American League with umpires to keep the peace and higher player salaries to attract talent.
One of the first teams Johnson founded was the Boston Americans, who went on to win their first World Series against the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1903. In 1907, they seized an opportunity for a nickname by printing red socks on their uniforms.
In 1919, owner Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees to finance Broadway play “No, No, Nanette.” This inadvertently created the “Greatest Rivalry on Earth.”