From: nissim@mary.fordham.edu (Leonard J. Nissim)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: European style league structure for baseball?
Date: 14 Dec 92 19:32:00 GMT
Organization: Fordham University
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In article <piiro01.724354118@convex>, 
piiro01@convex.zdv.uni-tuebingen.de (Dave Rodriguez) writes...
> 
>  European sporting leagues are organized hierarchically, the number of teams 
>in a league is fixed but the individual teams are not. Last place finishing 
>teams are sent down to the next level league at the end of the season and are
>replaced by top finishing teams from the lower league. I am interested in what
>readers may think of the possibility of such a system in American sports. What 
>would be the relative advantages and disadvantages? It would certainly seem to 
>make things more interesting for the fans of minor league teams as well as 
>provide some incentive for teams to avoid the "cellar". Comments?
> 
>                               David Rodriguez

No major league owner would even consider losing most of the value of her or 
his major league franchise by European style relegation to AAA for finishing
last.  Never.  It is very rare for a team to avoid the cellar for even 40 
years; at the risk of boring those who have seen it, here is the complete
list of the only teams to have done so:  

     Their have been only nine streaks, I believe, where a major league team 
has avoided the cellar for 40 or more consecutive years.  The three longest 
such streaks have all ended in the 1990's:

(** indicates that a team and perhaps also its league did not exist prior to 
    the first year of the streak.  Also, the modern nickname only is given.)

                                                                    Length of
    Team           In cellar    Streak NOT in cellar   In cellar     streak 
----------------   ---------    --------------------   ---------    ---------
Bklyn/LA Dodgers    1905        1906 to 1991            1992        86 years 
St.L. Cardinals     1918        1919 to 1989            1990        71 years
Boston Red Sox      1932        1933 to 1991            1992        59 years
Cleveland Indians   1914        1915 to 1968            1969        54 years
NY Yankees          1912        1913 to 1965            1966        53 years
Detroit Tigers       **         1901 to 1951            1952        51 years
Chicago Cubs         **         1876 to 1924            1925        49 years
Cinc. Reds          1937        1938 to 1981            1982        44 years
Bos/Mil/Atl Braves  1935        1936 to 1975            1976        40 years 

     When can the Dodgers' record be broken?  Not until 2055!  
     24 of the current 26 teams have finished in the cellar in the 1980's or in
the 1990's.  The only exceptions are: 
a) the Oakland Athletics (last in cellar in 1979; could break the Dodgers' 
record in 2066), and 
b) The KC Royals (NEVER in the cellar; streak of avoiding the cellar begins 
with their creation in 1969; could break the Dodgers' record in 2055). 

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Leonard Nissim, notorious Dodger fanatic     (nissim@mary.fordham.edu)  
Disclaimer:  "I speak only for myself."   
World Championships:  Brooklyn-----1955   
                      Los Angeles--1959  1963  1965  1981  1988
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Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball