The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, it is sometimes called the Senior Circuit. The other league of Major League Baseball is the American League, founded in 1901 (sometimes called the "Junior Circuit," or "Junior Loop" because it started 25 years after the NL). The two league champions of 1903 arranged to meet in the World Series and, after the 1904 champions failed to do likewise, the two leagues have arranged to meet in that annual culmination of the American baseball season, failing to do so only in the strike-shortened 1994 season. National League teams have won 46 of the 108 World Series played between these two leagues from 1903 to 2011. The San Francisco Giants are the reigning League Champions. The New York/San Francisco Giants lead the league with 22 National League titles, with the St. Louis Cardinals leading the NL with 11 World Series championships.
Famous quotes containing the words national and/or league:
“I would dodge, not lie, in the national interest.”
—Larry Speakes (b. 1939)
“I am not impressed by the Ivy League establishments. Of course they graduate the best—it’s all they’ll take, leaving to others the problem of educating the country. They will give you an education the way the banks will give you money—provided you can prove to their satisfaction that you don’t need it.”
—Peter De Vries (b. 1910)