Wikipedia
First division is a term that has had various meanings, at various times, in the sport of baseball, but originally referred to the rankings within a league. Teams which ranked in the top half of the league standings table (e.g. the top 5 teams in a 10-team league) were said to have finished in the "first division", while teams in the bottom half of the standings were said to be in the "second division".
In the major leagues before 1969, players on teams finishing in the first division received monetary shares from the Players' Pool, which was funded by gate receipts from that year's World Series; specifically, prior to the aforementioned expansion, the team winning the World Series received 42% of this money, the team losing the World Series got 28%, with the second-, third- and fourth-place teams in each league being awarded 7½%, 5% and 2½% respectively. Concomitant with the expansion, 1% was taken from both of the World Series teams and given to each of the teams finishing in fifth place.
The New York Yankees finished in the first division for a record 39 consecutive years, from 1926 through 1964, all inclusive; by contrast, the Chicago Cubs once finished in the second division for 20 years in a row — between 1947 and 1966.
Usage examples of "first division".
The Earls of Gloucester and Hereford, who commanded the first division, were so far ahead that they did not hear the sound of the trumpet, and continuing their onward march crossed the Bannock Burn and moved on toward the Scotch array.
He belonged to our First Division, and recognized General McPherson, and stood by him until Major Strong came up.
Frustrated, Wilcox had even gone to Lee directly, but Lee had put him at ease, shown him the latest message from Anderson, Longstreet)s first division already very close now, and the rest of the corps was not far behind.
About 14 kilometers down the road, they ran into the tail of the French 2nd Armored Division, the first division to enter Paris, with its famous commander Gen.
We send you down to the First Division, the initial elements of which just arrived in New Zealand.
Just give me one brigade of the Forty-First Division, and we can stop them before Quantico.
But if Boyd ignored me on the question of landmines he might well have ignored me on the priority of First Division as well.
Then he took the first division and dropped onto the SheVa gun to the south.
It happened at the end of the 88/89 season when, after a home defeat by Derby, it looked as though we were going to miss out on the Championship after having led the First Division for most of the season.
Berg, the Rostovs' son-in-law, was already a colonel wearing the orders of Vladimir and Anna, and he still filled the quiet and agreeable post of assistant to the head of the staff of the assistant commander of the first division of the Second Army.
We had to leave a dozen tanks from our first division herding the Serbian infantry around, and two hundred more guarding the concentration camp and the base itself.
By the time he got his first division and his first red tab, Major General Andreev, looking about him at the shambles in Chechnya, recognized that Russia would be lucky to see another like Uncle Kolya.