Babe Ruth first sixteen World Series, those played between 1903 and 1919, would not win another pennant until 1946, or another World Series until 2004, a drought attributed in baseball superstition to Frazee's sale of Ruth and sometimes dubbed the "Curse of the Bambino". The Yankees, on the other hand, had not won the AL championship prior to their acquisition of Ruth. They won seven AL pennants and four World Series with Ruth, and lead baseball with 40 pennants and 27 World Series titles in their history. When Ruth signed with the Yankees, he completed his transition from a pitcher to a
1969 Major League Baseball expansion for the 1968 Major League Baseball season. The American League had considered decreasing the number of games played by each team to 152 or 156 from 162 that had been played each season since 1961, and the National League either 162 or 165 games, but the leagues agreed to a 162-game schedule in a meeting on 10 July 1968. Each team would play 18 games against divisional opponents, and 12 games against league opponents in the other division. A best-of-five post-season playoff series between league division winners was also introduced. The Kansas City Royals have been the most successful of