Expansion of the MLB
By Chad Paris
1969 The Year of Expansion
The reason of expansion was to keep the sport of baseball considered "USA's National Pastime." The reason they wanted to call it that was because the NFL was rising in the spotlight of the MLB. The expansion included the Kansas City Royals, San Diego Padres, Seattle Pilots and the Montreal Expos.
Marketing
The reason the MLB added more teams is so they could get money from the big cities that are now getting a team. And so people in those cities won't lose interest in baseball because the NFL was a competitor and was rising in those cities.
Expansion Draft
The expansion draft was held on October 15, 1968, The expansion draft is a draft for only the new teams entering the league. Every existing team has a chance to protect a certain number of players so the new teams cant draft their all star players. Each new team gets about 30 picks and they can only draft out of the league they are in. As in the National league for the Expos and Padres and the American League for the Pilots and Royals.