Historical Accident

Why baseball doesn't have a promotion and relegation system

Historical Accident

Have you ever wondered why baseball doesn’t have a promotion and relegation system like association football does in Europe?

Actually, the truth is that the European system is a big of a historical accident.

The origins of organized baseball started with the old National Association of Base Ball Players in 1857.

From The New York Daily Herald, January 23, 1857, page 8

This organization was basically a loose confederation of baseball clubs across the country. My understanding is that the Association didn’t do much in terms of laying down set rules.

From The New York Daily Herald, March 2, 1857, page 8

Its equivalent was the Football Association in England, which was formed in 1863.

From The Daily Telegraph, October 27, 1863, page 2

Now, the Football Association had more teeth. It was able to establish a nationwide competition that still exists to this day (the famous FA Cup), and it was able to establish and enforce a set of uniform rules.

The lack of uniformity led to numerous controversies in the very early years of baseball.

From The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 10, 1868, page 2

The biggest problem that both sports faced early on was the advent of professionalism.

Baseball dealt with it first, in 1868:

From The National Republican (Washington, DC), December 10, 1868, page 4

The National Association created two classes of teams — professional and amateur. However, its lack of organization and clarity led to its demise. It was replaced in 1871 with the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, which we know of today as the first professional baseball league.

From The Morning Republican (Scranton, PA), March 20, 1871, page 1

This all-professional organization turned out to be poor at enforcing the rules in the end, leading to the founding of the National League.

The National League was designed from the very beginning to be an exclusive league, one designed for wealthy teams with large geographic territories. In keeping with the spirit of the Gilded Age, the National League was an organization for monopolist owners — an approach that continues in professional sports in the United States to this day.

From The Chicago Tribune, October 24, 1875, page 5. This article likely provided the inspiration for the founding of the National League several months later.

From The Chicago Tribune, February 4, 1876, page 4

The Football Association also dealt with the problem of professionalism - and reluctantly decided to allow it in 1885.

From The Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, July 21, 1885, page 8

However, while professionalism led to the inevitable downfall of baseball’s original association, the Football Association was able to weather the storm.

When the Football League was formed in 1888, it sought to work with the Football Association, not against it.

From The Nottingham Evening Post, April 18, 1888, page 2

Like the National League, the Football League was designed to be exclusive. Only 12 clubs were allowed.

A group of clubs that did not make it in formed their own organization, which was called The Combination at first.

From The Liverpool Mercury, June 20, 1888, page 7

From The Daily Telegraph (Derbyshire), October 30, 1888, page 3

The Combination folded after less than a year. A 12 team group called the Football Alliance formed soon afterwards.

By 1892, the Football League offered a merger with the Football Alliance. It wasn’t on equal terms, however. The Football Alliance made up the original Second Division, and the Football League teams remained in the First Division.

The top 3 teams in the Second Division played “test matches” against the bottom 3 teams in the First Division. That was the equivalent of the “playoff” in modern association football.

From The Nottingham Evening News, April 24, 1893, page 3

Over time, the Football League merged with other smaller leagues, expanding its organization. In those days, however, promotion was not always automatic. Originally the teams were subject to election by the other teams in the Football League. Later, the teams had to meet certain requirements, including having stadiums that were up to a certain standard.

It’s therefore not entirely accurate to say that the promotion and relegation system is entirely merit based. In ways that we often overlook, the Football League (and today’s Premier League) actually resembles the old National League model.