BYRON BANCROFT “BAN” JOHNSON was the founder of the American League and served as its first president. At the turn of the 19th century, The National League was baseball’s top professional league, but was gaining a reputation for an increasingly rough and rowdy style of play.  

Johnson established the American League in 1900 as a cleaner, more orderly alternative, and many top players from the National League were lured over with higher salaries. The American League was soon recognized as a second professional baseball league, a direct, bitter rival of the established National League. The champions of each league began playing a “World’s Series” in 1903, a competition that came with enormous bragging rights as the superior league. The two professional leagues would spend decades competing for players and prestige before eventually merging. 

A highly visible and hands-on leader, Ban Johnson’s outsized personality dominated the successful new league, making him one of baseball’s all-time influential figures. Forced out of power in 1927, Johnson would die a few years later, leaving behind a massive legacy.