Baseball got thrown a curveball by the NFL on Thursday, causing it to reconsider starting up its games again on Friday, ESPN.com's Jayson Stark reported Thursday.

According to one source, baseball was advised by the administration that it felt resuming this weekend was a good idea, hence its earlier efforts to get teams prepared to pick back up the schedule on Friday after postponing games Tuesday through Thursday.

Baseball and postponements

Uncertainty after Tuesday's attacks could prevent Major League Baseball from completing its 162-game schedule for the first time since 1995, when teams played 144 games after a lockout. The interruption also ended the 1994 season in August. The last postponement of games for reasons other than labor disputes, stadium problems or weather was after Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Three cities were to hold opening games on April 8, but those games were postponed. All openers on April 9 were also postponed. Later that summer, games were postponed in New York and Washington due to funeral services for Robert F. Kennedy in those cities. Other games were ordered to start only after the services had been held. All regular-season games were postponed after the D-Day invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. Exhibition games were canceled on April 12, 1945, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt died. All Games were also postponed on Aug. 2, 1923, following the death of President Warren Harding. Other than labor disputes, the last time that Major League Baseball was forced to endure a season that was not of full length was in 1918 due to World War I. Both leagues voted to cut the season short and ended play on Labor Day, Sept. 2. The World Series began on Sept. 5, between the Red Sox and Cubs. That year, American League president Ban Johnson wanted to close down the season on July 21, after Secretary of War Newton D. Baker declared baseball a non-essential occupation, subjecting all players to the "work or fight" order issued by Provost Marshal General Enoch Crowder. That ruling sent many players to working in essential defense industries, such as shipyards. Later, Baker declared all players exempt from the draft ruling until Sept. 1. On Jan. 15, 1942, President Roosevelt gave baseball the go-ahead to continue play after the U.S. entered World War II. "I honestly think it would be best for the country to keep baseball going," he wrote in his famous "green light" letter. Roosevelt also encouraged more night games to be played so war workers could attend. However, New York police commissioner Lewis Valentine ruled the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants play during the day, for fear that lights at Ebbets Field and the Polo Grounds could potentially aid Nazi submarines in the Atlantic Ocean near New York. -- ESPN.com

However, Stark reported, baseball people were under the impression the NFL got the same advice and were surprised when the NFL announced Thursday that it would not play this weekend.

Phillies manager Larry Bowa told ESPN's Bob Ley that the team bus is turning around and heading back toward Philadelphia, an indication that the team has been told it's not playing baseball this weekend. The bus was on its way to Cincinnati, where the Phillies were scheduled for a weekend series against the Reds.

The result is that baseball may play its first World Series games in November -- and Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn could get to finish at home -- as a result of the terrorist attacks that have devastated the United States and disrupted the schedule.

Games through Thursday were called off by Wednesday, raising the total to 45, the most postponed since 1918. Major League Baseball has not specified when play will resume, or when or if the postponed games from Tuesday through Thursday will be made up.

The Pittsburgh Pirates left their ballpark in buses at 11:15 a.m. ET Thursday to travel to Chicago, where they were scheduled to play the Cubs starting Friday.

There's a good chance the regular season would be extended beyond its scheduled finish on Sept. 30 to make up the postponed games.

One major league general manager told ESPN's Peter Gammons that baseball's tentative plan was to resume games Friday and that all three days of postponed games will be made up at the end of the regular season. This would push back the start of the playoffs from Tuesday, Oct. 2, to the weekend.

What will happen if baseball now extends is postponement through the weekend is not known.

With new series scheduled to start Friday, commissioner Bud Selig said he'll announce a decision about the weekend games Thursday.

"I think many people would hope we'd start Friday," Selig said. "But I haven't made that judgment yet. I'm not close to making it.

"I think I'll know when the right time is. But it is a very difficult, a very difficult decision."

But he also knows baseball -- long touted as America's pastime -- has a history of helping heal the country. When World War II was going on, President Franklin D, Roosevelt urged baseball to continue playing, saying it would boost the country's morale.

When an earthquake devastated the San Francisco Bay area Oct. 17, 1989, about 30 minutes before the start of World Series Game 3 at Candlestick Park, San Francisco asked the games to resume 10 days later.

"There's a sentiment I'm feeling and hearing that people would like to see life go on now," Arizona Diamondbacks owner Jerry Colangelo said. "What I'm hearing out of Washington, you look at the telecasts, they want people to get back to being as normal as possible. And maybe that is part of the healing process as we continue to work through this tragedy."

There is the possibility of the Fall Classic producing its first Mr. November.

It also means that Ripken and Gwynn could finish their Hall of Fame careers at home instead of on the road. Ripken and the Baltimore Orioles were to end the season at Yankee Stadium, while Gwynn and the San Diego Padres were set to finish in San Francisco.

"Obviously, there are some issues that come up because of people who bought tickets to the last series and now it wouldn't be the last series," Gwynn said. "Other than that, I'm really not that worried about it."

The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon have brought professional and college sports to a standstill nationwide. In addition to Major League Baseball postponing a full schedule of regular-season games for the first time since Martin Luther King's assassination in 1968, many college football games were called off and the NFL won't decide until Thursday morning whether to play Sunday and Monday.

Charles Steinberg, the Padres' vice president for public affairs, said even if the Padres play at home in October they would keep plans for the "Thanks Tony Weekend" on Sept. 21-23.

Some players weren't even looking that far ahead, worried instead about security in ballparks.

"If you could pull off hijacking four planes in one day, I imagine you could bomb a stadium," Astros first baseman Jeff Bagwell said.

Said the Braves' Brian Jordan: "If I were a fan, I would not be sitting in no stadium watching a baseball game."

Selig consulted with his security staff and had no such concerns.

"They've assured me we can play and be safe," he said.

With teams unable to fly, many chartered buses to head home: the Minnesota Twins from Detroit, the St. Louis Cardinals from Milwaukee, the Cleveland Indians from Kansas City, the New York Mets from Pittsburgh, the Toronto Blue Jays from Baltimore and the Cincinnati Reds from Chicago.

The Indians arrived home at 11 a.m. early Thursday after a 14-hour trip and the Mets arrived at 2:30 a.m. after a 7-hour trip. The Blue Jays got back to the SkyDome at 8:30 a.m. following 12 hours on the road.

After speaking with many teams throughout the day, Selig wasn't sure when play would resume.

"What I'm trying desperately to do here is be as sensitive as I can and do what's right for the country," he said.

Some thought teams should play ball.

"My first fax today was from a very, very angry fan who thought we'd been gone too long already," Selig said.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.