The following is a timeline of franchise evolution in Major League Baseball. The histories of franchises in the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP), National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NA), Union Association (UA), and American Association (AA) before they joined the National League (NL) are also included. In 1900 the minor league Western League renamed itself the American League (AL). All of the 1899 Western League teams were a part of the transformation with the Saint Paul Apostles moving to Chicago and to play as the White Stockings. In 1901 the AL declared itself a Major League. For its inaugural major league season the AL dropped its teams in Indianapolis, Buffalo and Minneapolis and replaced them with franchises in Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore and the Kansas City Blues moved to Washington to play as the Senators.
In 2020, Major League Baseball designated the following seven Negro leagues from 1920–1948 as major leagues:[1] Negro National League I (NNL), Eastern Colored League (ECL), American Negro League (ANL), East–West League (EWL), Negro Southern League (NSL), Negro National League II (NNL), and Negro American League (NAL).
The timeline has not yet been fully updated to reflect that designation (in addition, the timeline does not include any non-National League/American League teams which existed at the Major League level from 1876 to 1915).
The History of organizational changes section includes all leagues and which have been designated as major league by MLB, listed chronologically by founding date:
National League (NL) (1876–present)
American Association (AA) (1882–1891)
Union Association (UA) (1884)
Players' League (PL) (1890)
American League (AL) (1901–present)
Federal League (FL) (1914–1915)
Negro National League I (NNL) (1920–1931)
Eastern Colored League (ECL) (1923–1928)
American Negro League (ANL) (1929)
East–West League (EWL) (1932)
Negro Southern League (NSL) (1932)
Negro National League II (NNL) (1933–1948)
Negro American League (NAL) (1937–1948)
^"MLB officially designates the Negro Leagues as 'Major League'". MLB.com. Retrieved 2022-10-23.
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