Jeff Walker: Off-topic, but wouldn't it be interesting if American baseball worked like European football (soccer) leagues. Relegate the worst teams in each division each year and promote the best teams up. John Bear That's a wonderful idea. It would also create a great deal more interest in the lower echelons of each league, along with the pennant races. Of course then my once-beloved Giants would probably be fighting it out with Pulaski and Kingsport in the Appalachian League.
No major league owner is going to permit the devaluation of his/her franchise by allowing it to be remanded to the lower-level leagues. The money involved is entirely too huge for that. Worst (One season): Cleveland Spiders. No question. It wasn't just the record, it was the utter disarray in which they played most of the season before folding. Worst (Sustained Period): Bosox in the 40's - 60's, KC Royals recently, San Diego Padres ('69 - '82), Philadelphia/KC/Oakland A's ('30 - '70), Philadelphia Phillies for several sustained periods. Worst (All-Time, Same City): Original Washington Senators ("Washington: First in War, First in Peace, and Last in the American League.") and the St. Louis Browns (who began winning after becoming the Baltimore Orioles--not the same International League Orioles that signed an unknown named George Herman Ruth).
Come on now.. The Cubs won a pennant in 1945 just a year after the St. Louis Browns won their last one......
Agreed, and that is the real barrier in the US to such a model. Owners spend so much buying into the major leagues, that they have a huge vested interest in maintaining the exclusivity of their league. I'm guessing that European soccer clubs started much more informally, as amateur and semi-pro teams. The multi-tiered leagues developed around that.
A bit humorous that when you type "worst baseball team" on yahoo search the #3 listed site is Detroit Tigers. Locally here in San Diego area baseball the Imperial Valley CC Arabs lost every game a few years ago and twice gave up 30 runs or more this year but having seen them play are a little better than record indicates.
Back in 1997 Prairie View A&M snapped an 80 game losing streak after they defeated Langston 14-12. If losing 80 games weren't bad enough Prairie View is a NCAA Div. 1-AA school and Langston is NAIA and you're telling me that you can only beat them by two points?! Those guys should have been playing at the high school JV level. I remember this story.... I found it pathetic then and just as pathetic now. For fun, check out this "Game of the Century": http://www.cumberland.edu/about/gotc/pbp.html
Nope, I meant points. I just failed (miserably) at mentioning I was making reference to the football squad.