FanNation - The Republic of Sport

I am going to name the four teams, from the four major North American sports, which have won the most championships in the respective leagues.  I'm going to present some facts about each of the teams, conclude with my own thoughts on the subject, and then open the topic up for discussion.

New York Yankees - MLB

The Yankees came into the league as the Baltimore Orioles in 1901.  In 1903, they moved to New York, and became the New York Highlanders.  In 1913, they changed their name from the Highlanders to the Yankees; which they are presently known as the same today. 

During their 105 year existence, they have won 26 World Series, while winning 39 AL Pennants.  The World Series became an annual event in 1903.  Since then, there have been 101 series played.  (In 1904, no World Series was played; because the NY Giants declined to play the Boston Red Sox in the Series.  In 1994, there was no World Series because of the Strike.  That's why the math will seem off)  They have won 26 out of 101 World Series (25.7%), while playing in 39 (38.2%), and winning the Major League championship 26 out of their 104 championship eligible seasons (25%).  They have won 6 World Series, after free agency was introduced in the league in 1976. 

They are also the only team to be represented at every position in their Baseball's HOF.  They also played every team NL team to ever win a pennant, except for the Houston Astros,  in the World Series.

Montreal Canadians - NHL

The Montreal Canadien's were founded in 1909.  They have won 24 NHL/NHA Championships, or 25.3% of all championships played.  Their last championship was in the 92-93 season.

Free Agency was introduced to the NHL in 1995.  After that, the Canadiens have won 0 championships.

Boston Celtics - NBA

Boston Celtics were formed in 1946.  They have won 16 championships in their 60 year history (26.7%), while making winning 19 conference titles (31.7%, and makes for an 84.2% NBA Finals winning percentage), and 25 division titles (41.7%). 

Basketball adopted free agency in 1996.  Since then, the Celtics haven't won a single championship.

Green Bay Packers - NFL

The Green Bay Packers became a Pro Team in 1921. (Their history proceeds that, but that's when they became a professional team.)  Since going pro, they have won 9 NFL Championships, and 3 Super Bowls after the game was introduced.  That's for a total 12 championships over their 85 year existence at the pro ranks (14.1%). 

In 1992, free agency became a part of the NFL.  Since free agency, the Packers won 1 championship ('96). 

To be fair to the Packers I must mention the following.  The Packers are currently the only non-profit, community owned major league professional sports team in the United States. Currently, a total of 4,750,925 shares are owned by 111,967 stockholders - none of whom receive any dividend.

Conclusion

I'm not a fan of any of these sports franchises, but I still can't ignore the history that each organization has had to their respective sports/leagues.  With that said, I believe that the New York Yankees are the greatest sports franchise of all-time.  They won the most championships pre-free agency with 20, and the most post-free agency championships with 6; when compared to the rest of the teams I have listed above.  They have been the most dominate team in both eras.  I use free agency as an argument, because before free agency players came up through the farm system and had to stay with their teams, unless traded or sold elsewhere.   It was more important for these teams to snag talent at an early age, and build their teams around that talent.  Money and Market size wasn't as big of an issue back then, as it is today.  Post-free agency, the team with the most money can sign the best talent from another team; but they still need to draft good players, before they are eligible to leave for free agency, to fill holes in their team that they couldn't afford to fill through free agency.  It's a combination of who has the biggest pocket books and who has the best talent evaluators.  Salary caps are in most major sports, and prevent the wealthiest teams from snatching up all the best players in free agency.  Baseball doesn't have one.  Yet there are a lot of teams who still couldn't afford to pay players, like the Yankees do, even if there was a salary cap in place; and those teams have to rely on their farm system to be successful.  So salary cap, I find, is irrelevant; in regard to this topic.     The Yankees are the only team, out of these four, to go out and play the free agent game to try and quench their thirst for championships.  In sports, winning is everything; and the Yankees are the only team out of these four to show the nuts to do whatever is necessary to try to continue winning championships.  20 championships pre-free agency, and 6 post-free agency are enough to say that this franchise is the greatest all-time sports franchise in North America.  In my opinion. 

Note: I'm not talking about greatest sport's dynasty, but greatest sport's franchise.  I'm taking all history into account.  I didn't bring up the color barrier in sports, because they were all broken prior to free agency in all sports.  Teams still had to scout and farm black players in their own organizations prior to free agency.  So I feel that has little relevance.  However, I didn't address Negro League teams, which is totally relevant; because players in those leagues were of professional quality and weren't allowed in the Major League.  Some would argue that some of those teams could have competed against Major League teams.  I'm mostly an NFL and NBA fan, by the way. 

If you disagree, feel free to challenge me to a throwdown.  You better bring it though.  Like to see your comments on this though.