The Milwaukee Brewers culminated the 10-month realignment debate by becoming the first major league baseball team to switch leagues this century.
The Brewers will move from the AL to the NL next season, a shift approved Wednesday by baseball's ruling executive council. Milwaukee, which had been in the AL Central, will play in a six-team NL Central. It leaves the NL with 16 teams and the AL with 14."I think it's a wonderful thing
for baseball," said home-run king Hank Aaron, who started his career with the Milwaukee Braves in 1954 and ended it with the Brewers in 1976. "It's a great day for Milwaukee."
There was no announcement after the 45-minute conference call among nine executive council members. Three council members, who spoke on the condition they not be identified, confirmed the decision was made. Two said the Brewers' shift would be announced today, and one said the decision was unanimous.
Owners gave the council permission to make the final decision when they approved a one-team realignment in a telephone vote Oct. 15. While Kansas City was given first choice to switch, the Royals preferred to stay in the AL.
Milwaukee, the team owned by acting commissioner Bud Selig, had said it would move to the NL in the event Kansas City declined.
While Milwaukee has been an American League town since the Seattle Pilots moved there prior to the 1970 season and became the Brewers, its first experience in major league baseball was as an NL city. The Braves moved from Boston and played in Milwaukee from 1953 to 1965 before moving to Atlanta.
"Milwaukee's first identification was with the National League," said Aaron, who played with the Brewers. "Nothing against the AL. They won a championship there (1982). But we won a World Series (1957)."
Selig, reached at his home in Milwaukee, refused to even confirm the council call took place.
As part of the realignment, the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays will join the AL East and the Detroit Tigers will shift to the AL Central. The NL Central will become baseball's largest division with six teams.
"You got five other teams to contend with, as opposed to four or three," Houston Astros president Tal Smith said. "But I don't think it's that big a deal."
A baseball team shifting leagues would have been inconceivable until just a few years ago. While the NL formed in 1876, the AL began as a challenger in 1900.
They signed an agreement in January 1903 not to raid each other's players, but the two were staunch competitors for decades - not even willing to share office space in the same building until 1984.
Most financial distinctions between the leagues disappeared with the owners' revenue-sharing agreement in March 1996. Last season, the teams began inter-league play.
While the switch is unprecedented for baseball, it has happened in other sports.
In the AFL-NFL merger, Baltimore, Cleveland and Pittsburgh agreed to join the AFL teams and form the AFC for the 1970 season. When the ABA folded, the NBA accepted Denver, Indiana, New Jersey and San Antonio for the 1976-77 season.