Pitcher Corey Kluber has been at the heart of Cleveland Indians'
American League Central division success.
They were helped by being disciplined at the plate; Chicago was the only
American League team to draw more than 400 walks in 1906, 1907, and again in 1908.
So Darvish will be off to Japan having racked up fantastic stats, but without the
American League pennant that Texas got two years in a row before Darvish arrived.
If one were to look at the whole of
American League history--or National League history for that matter--what stands out is not the 1965-75 period, but the years of the actual Yankee dynasty from 1921-1964.
Among the other renowned athletes are African-Americans such as Larry Doby (who was the first black man in the
American League as part of the Cleveland Indians), Leroy "Satchell" Paige, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Ernie Banks, as well as Hispanic players such as Orestes "Minnie" Minoso and Hector Rodriguez.
The Yankees and Red Sox, both with 97 wins, the best in baseball, should dominate the
American League East, finishing well ahead of their competition, with both teams making the playoffs.
Minnesota catcher Joe Mauer, one of the leading contenders for
American League MVP honours, slapped high-fives with fans as he circled the stadium with teammates.
However, the figures for the
American League show no such dips and rises but instead show a virtual straight-line decline in batting averages, run production, and ERA beginning in 1961 and continuing for the next seven years.
As manager of the New York Yankees for 11 seasons, he has won four World Series Championships, two
American League pennants and has been named Manager of the Year twice.
In Minnesota, Twins centre-fielder Torii Hunter, one of the greatest defensive players in baseball, made a mistake in diving to try to reach a hit by Oakland's Mark Kotsay which became an inside-thepark home run that culminated in Oakland heading back home to Califrornia with a 5-2 win and a two-game lead in the best-of-five
American League Divisional Series.
The most significant rule change in the game came in 1974 when the designated hitter was introduced to the
American League on an experimental basis, with the Yankees' Ron Bloomberg becoming the game's first DH.
She played in the WUSA before it folded and now, like many of her peers, bounces between leagues and around the globe: an
American league in the summer and internationally the rest of the year, everywhere from Japan to Italy.
