Since being launched in 1979, the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN), has been dedicated to meeting America’s sports entertainment needs.  In the late 1980s, ESPN realized that while baseball is one of the most American sports, there was a shortage of nationally televised games.  This problem was combatted with a contract between ESPN and the MLB.

On this day, January 5th, 1989, Major League Baseball signed a $400 million contract with ESPN to nationally broadcast 175 games starting in the 1990 season.  The contract would introduce programming such as Sunday Night Baseball, Wednesday Night Baseball and Tuesday/Thursday Doubleheaders. ESPN’s baseball programming was met with immediate success with Sunday Night Baseball quickly earning twice the rating average that ESPN was averaging as a network at the time.

The partnership between ESPN and the MLB only became more successful in the late 1990s with the famous home run record chase by Mark McGwire. ESPN has renewed its contract with the MLB several times since the original 1989 deal and the partnership is still successful today.