Throughout much of the twentieth century, the annual World Series baseball championship has consistently set standards for well-staged national sporting scenarios, earning its reputation as the "Fall Classic." There have been heroes, villains, fools, and unknowns who have stolen the spotlight from "superstars."

The term "World Series" was first coined for a nine-game series between the Boston Pilgrims and the Pittsburgh Pirates, an informal outgrowth of a 1903 "peace treaty" signed between the two competing "major" baseball leagues, the 27-year-old National League (N.L.) and the upstart 2-year-old American League (A.L.). The A.L. champion Pilgrims (later called the Red Sox) won, five games to three, to surprisingly good crowds and gate receipts. Yet the following year, manager John McGraw and owner John Brush of the runaway National League champion New York Giants refused to face the repeating Boston club, stating publicly that such a meeting...