For years, Major League Baseball or MLB did not have any official championship trophy. In fact, it was left to the team owners of the winning team to choose which baseball awards to give. However, as the major sports grew more and more popular during the ‘70s and was gaining more recognition by being televised, the organizers decided that the winning team of the World Series competition should be handed out an official trophy.
In the year 1967, Balfour jewelers were assigned the job to design the first-ever trophy for the competition for the St. Louis Cardinals. Yet the championship trophy was not given a proper name until 1985; it got its name, the Commissioner’s Trophy, after around two decades. Since then, only once has the trophy not been awarded. This happened in 1994 due to the cancellation of the post-season competition because of a players' strike. In the year 2000, the job to design the trophy was assigned to Tiffany & Co., who came up with the current version of the World Series competition trophy.
The Commissioner’s Trophy features 30 gold-plated flags to represent each of the participating teams in the MLB competition. The base of the trophy is made of sterling silver, and it weighs approximately 30 pounds in total. The base of the trophy also carries the MLB commissioner’s signature. The trophy is created from scratch every year and the winning team’s name is inscribed on it. This allows the team to show off their past victories and relive the moments for years to come.
The World Series annual championship, also known as the “Fall Classic”, features the top teams from the MLB National League and American League. They come face-to-face after the post-season playoffs, and a best-of-seven series is held between the champion teams in October to decide the “best in the world”.
Ever since the Commissioner’s Trophy was introduced, the New York Yankees have won the title seven times, making them the top champions in the MLB. The second place is held jointly by the St. Louis Cardinals and the Oakland Athletics, who have won the World Series four times each.
For around twenty years, the Commissioner’s Trophy was presented to the winning team in their clubhouse. However, in the year 1997, the then acting commissioner of baseball, Bud Selig, decided that the trophy presentation should be done on the field, especially if the home team won the World Series championship. This soon became a fan-friendly tradition and is continued to this day.
Exploring the History of the MLB Championship Trophy
