In 1900 and 1901, Baltimore and infamous player/manager McGraw were awarded a charter franchise of the original 8 in the newly reorganized American League of Professional Baseball Clubs ("American League"), (out of the old minor level Western League) now claiming major league status under feisty president Ban Johnson, but again the team and city of Baltimore was sacrificed in favor of a New York City franchise - the "New York Highlanders", or occasionally known as the "New York Americans", as the team was transferred in 1903 to the nation's biggest city after only playing two seasons of ball of 1901 &amp; 1902, as one of the terms negotiated of the "peace pact" to end the "baseball wars" between the elder Nationals of 1876 and the fledging upstart American League of 1901, giving the newcomers a representative franchise in the one American city that was the biggest and most important. Another term of the truce was also with inauguration of a new championship game tournament series to be known as the World Series, also begun in 1903.