New York Yankees

The New York Yankees are the most decorated franchise in professional sports, with 27 World Series championships, 40 American League pennants, and a roll call of legends that reads like a hall of fame unto itself. Founded as the Baltimore Orioles in 1901 before relocating to New York in 1903 and eventually becoming the Yankees, the franchise was transformed forever when it acquired Babe Ruth from the Boston Red Sox in 1920. Ruth's towering presence -- both literally and figuratively -- launched the Yankee dynasty and established the template of New York baseball glamour that endures to this day.

The franchise's history is organized into dynasties: the Murderers' Row teams of the 1920s with Ruth and Gehrig; the DiMaggio-led squads that won four consecutive titles from 1936 to 1939; the Mantle-and-Maris era of the 1950s and 1960s; the Bronx Zoo chaos of Reggie Jackson, Billy Martin, and George Steinbrenner in the late 1970s; and the Derek Jeter-led Core Four that won four championships in five years from 1996 to 2000. Each dynasty has had its own personality, but the common thread is an organizational expectation of excellence that borders on obsession. In the Bronx, a good season that falls short of a championship is treated as a failure.

Yankee Stadium, the current iteration of which opened in 2009 across the street from the original House That Ruth Built, is a monument to the franchise's self-regard -- cavernous, expensive, and adorned with the retired numbers and plaques of Monument Park. The Yankees' cultural footprint extends far beyond the Bronx: the interlocking NY logo is one of the most recognized symbols on Earth, worn as fashion by people who have never watched a baseball game. The franchise is loved and loathed in equal measure, inspiring devotion from its fans and resentment from everyone else. To root for the Yankees is to root for the empire; to root against them is to root for the idea that the little guy still has a chance.