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MLB Baseball Terminology - MLB Baseball Glossary

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» Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of play in professional baseball in the world. More specifically, Major League Baseball ("MLB") refers to the entity that operates North America's two top leagues, the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational structure which has existed between them since 1920. MLB is one of the major professional sports leagues of North America.

Major League Baseball is governed by the Major League Constitution, an agreement that has undergone several incarnations since 1920, with the most recent revisions being made in 2001. Major League Baseball, under the direction of its Commissioner, hires and maintains the sport's umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, and television contracts. The 'closed shop' aspect of MLB effectively prevents the yearly promotion and demotion of teams into the Major League by virtue of their performance.

MLB also maintains a unique, controlling relationship over the sport, including most aspects of minor league baseball. This is due in large part to a 1922 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Federal Baseball Club v. National League which declared baseball is not considered interstate commerce (and therefore not subject to federal antitrust law), despite baseball's own references to itself as an "industry" rather than a "sport."

The production/multimedia wing of MLB is New York-based MLB Advanced Media, which oversees MLB Productions (video), as well MLB.com and all 30 of the individual teams' websites. It's charter states that MLB Advanced Media holds editorial independence from the League itself, but it is indeed under the same ownership group and revenue-sharing plan.