List of pre-World Series baseball champions

The modern World Series, the current championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) between teams of the National League and the American League, began in 1903, and was established as an annual event in 1905. This article discusses major-league champions before 1905, including championship series contested in that era, primarily between teams of the National League and the American Association.

The 1886 series between the St. Louis Browns of the American Association and the National League "Chicagos" was billed as a "World's Championship" with a winner-take-all prize of the total gate receipts.

History

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Before the formation of the American Association (AA), which debuted in 1882, there were no playoff rounds—all championships went to the team with the best record at the end of the season.

In the initial season of the National League (NL) in 1876, there was controversy as to which team was the champion: the Chicago White Stockings, who had the best overall record (52–14), or the St. Louis Brown Stockings (45–19), who were the only team to have a winning record against every other franchise in the league. The teams agreed to play a five-game "Championship of the West" series, won by St. Louis, four games to one.

National League and American Association, 1882–1891

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The 1885 St. Louis Browns of the American Association

Beginning with an exhibition series after the American Association's birth in 1882, a championship series between the NL and AA regular-season champions was promoted and referred to as the "World's Championship Series" (WCS), or "World's Series" for short; however, these series are not officially recognized by Major League Baseball as part of World Series history.[1] Though early publications, such as Ernest Lanigan's Baseball Cyclopedia and Hy Turkin and S. C. Thompson's Encyclopedia of Baseball, listed the 19th-century games on an equal basis with those of the 20th century, Sporting News publications about the World Series, which began in the 1920s, ignored the 19th-century games, as did most publications about the Series after 1960. MLB, in general, regards 19th-century events as a prologue to the modern era of baseball, with the birth of the present American League in 1901.

In the second year of the WCS, a dispute in the 1885 series concerned Game 2, which was forfeited by the St. Louis Browns (AA) to the Chicago White Stockings (NL) when the Browns pulled their team off the field protesting an umpiring decision. The managers, Cap Anson (St. Louis) and Charles Comiskey (Chicago), initially agreed to disregard the game. When St. Louis won the final game and an apparent series championship, three games to two, Chicago owner Albert Spalding overruled his manager and declared that he wanted the forfeit counted. The result of a tied WCS was that neither team got the prize money that had been posted by the owners before the series (and was returned to them after they both agreed it was a tie).

Series within the National League, 1892–1900

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Following the collapse of the AA in 1891, four of its clubs (Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Brooklyn) were admitted to the NL. The league championship was awarded in 1892 by a playoff between half-season champions. This scheme was abandoned after one season. Beginning in 1893—and continuing until divisional play was introduced in 1969—the pennant was awarded to the first-place club in the standings at the end of the season. For four seasons, the pennant winner played the runners-up in the postseason championship series called the Temple Cup. A second attempt at this format was the Chronicle-Telegraph Cup series in 1900.

Champions before 1876

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Notes:

National Association of
Base Ball Players
  National Association of
Professional Base Ball Players
Year Champions   Year Champions Year Champions
1857 Atlantic (of Brooklyn) 1864 Atlantic 1871 Athletic (of Philadelphia)
1858[2] Mutual (of New York) 1865 Atlantic 1872 Boston ("Red Stockings")
1859 Atlantic 1866 Atlantic 1873 Boston
1860 Atlantic 1867 Union of Morrisania 1874 Boston
1861 Atlantic 1868 Mutual 1875 Boston
1862 Eckford of Brooklyn 1869 Atlantic The "White Stockings" became (1907) the Cubs, while
the "Red Stockings" were later (1912) named the Braves.
1863 Eckford 1870 Chicago ("White Stockings")

Champions from 1876 to 1904

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Notes:

  • Italicized names refer to years when two teams and their managers could claim equal status as champion, either because they did not play a series against each other, or because they tied such a series.
  • A third bracketed and asterisked number in a series score refers to a tied game, such as 3–3–(1)*
  • A dagger (†) indicates an exhibition series, such as in 1876, 1882 and 1883
Year Winning (or tying) team Manager Season Games Losing (or tying) team Manager Season Notes
National League champions
1876 St. Louis Brown Stockings George McManus 45-19 4–1 † Chicago White Stockings Albert Spalding 52-14 † unofficial Championship of the West
1877 Boston Red Caps Harry Wright 31–17          
1878 Boston Red Caps Harry Wright 41–19
1879 Providence Grays George Wright 55–23
1880 Chicago White Stockings Cap Anson 67–17
1881 Chicago White Stockings Cap Anson 56–28
National League versus American Association — exhibition
1882 Chicago White Stockings (NL) Cap Anson 55–29 1–1 Cincinnati Red Stockings (AA) Pop Snyder 55–25 † (exhibition series)
1883 Boston Beaneaters (NL) John Morrill 63–35 canceled Athletics (Philadelphia) (AA) Lon Knight 66–32 † (cancelled exhibition series)
National League versus American Association
1884 Providence Grays (NL) Frank Bancroft 84–28 3–0 Metropolitans (New York) (AA) Jim Mutrie 75–32 1884 World Series
1885 St. Louis Browns (AA) Charles Comiskey 79–33 3–3–(1)* Chicago White Stockings (NL) Cap Anson 87–25 1885 World Series
1886 St. Louis Browns (AA) Charles Comiskey 93–46 4–2 Chicago White Stockings (NL) Cap Anson 90–34 1886 World Series
1887 Detroit Wolverines (NL) Bill Watkins 79–45 10–5 St. Louis Browns (AA) Charles Comiskey 95–40 1887 World Series
1888 New York Giants (NL) Jim Mutrie 84–47 6–4 St. Louis Browns (AA) Charles Comiskey 92–43 1888 World Series
1889 New York Giants (NL) Jim Mutrie 83–43 6–3 Brooklyn Bridegrooms (AA) Bill McGunnigle 93–44 1889 World Series
1890 Louisville Colonels (AA) Jack Chapman 88–44 3–3–(1)* Brooklyn Bridegrooms (NL) Bill McGunnigle 86–43 1890 World Series
1891 Boston Beaneaters (NL) Frank Selee 87–51 no Series Boston Reds (AA) Arthur Irwin 93–42  
National League champions — (The 1894–1897 series were for the Temple Cup; the 1900 one for the Chronicle-Telegraph Cup)
1892 Boston Beaneaters Frank Selee 102–48 5–0–1 Cleveland Spiders Patsy Tebeau 93–56 1892 World Series
1893 Boston Beaneaters Frank Selee 86–44 no Series      
1894 New York Giants John Montgomery Ward 88–44 4–0 Baltimore Orioles Ned Hanlon 89–39 1894 Temple Cup
1895 Cleveland Spiders Patsy Tebeau 84–46 4–1 Baltimore Orioles Ned Hanlon 87–43 1895 Temple Cup
1896 Baltimore Orioles Ned Hanlon 90–39 4–0 Cleveland Spiders Patsy Tebeau 80–48 1896 Temple Cup
1897 Baltimore Orioles Ned Hanlon 90–40 4–1 Boston Beaneaters Frank Selee 93–39 1897 Temple Cup
1898 Boston Beaneaters Frank Selee 102–47 no Series        
1899 Brooklyn Superbas Ned Hanlon 101–47 no Series
1900 Brooklyn Superbas Ned Hanlon 82–54 3–1 Pittsburgh Pirates Fred Clarke 79–60 1900 Chronicle-Telegraph Cup
American League and National League champions
1901 Chicago White Sox (AL) Clark Griffith 83–53 no Series Pittsburgh Pirates (NL) Fred Clarke 90–49  
1902 Philadelphia Athletics (AL) Connie Mack 83–53 no Series Pittsburgh Pirates (NL) Fred Clarke 103–36
1903 Boston Americans (AL) Jimmy Collins 91–47 5–3 Pittsburgh Pirates (NL) Fred Clarke 91–49 1st modern World Series
1904 Boston Americans (AL) Jimmy Collins 95–59 no Series New York Giants (NL) John McGraw 106–47  
* tied game; † exhibition series
Sources: World Almanac and Book of Facts, 1929,[3] Baseball Almanac.com

Totals

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Championship of the National Association of Base Ball Players

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Team Number Years Current status
Brooklyn Atlantics 8 1857, 1859−1861, 1864−1866, 1869 Defunct (1875)
Brooklyn Eckfords 2 1862−1863 Defunct (1872)
New York Mutuals 2 1858, 1868 Defunct (1876)
Union of Morrisania 1 1867 Defunct (1873)
Chicago White Stockings 1 1870 Chicago Cubs (NL)

Championship of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players

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Team No. of
championships
Years Current status
Boston Red Stockings 4 1872–1875 Atlanta Braves (NL)
Philadelphia Athletics 1 1871 Defunct (1876)

Championship of the National League (through 1904)

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Team No. of
championships
Years Current status
Boston Red Caps/Beaneaters 7 1877–1878, 1883, 1891–1893, 1898 Atlanta Braves (NL)
Chicago White Stockings 6 1876, 1880–1882, 1885–1886 Chicago Cubs (NL)
New York Giants 4 1888–1889, 1894, 1904 San Francisco Giants (NL)
Brooklyn Bridegrooms/Superbas 3 1890, 1899–1900 Los Angeles Dodgers (NL)
Pittsburgh Pirates 3 1901–1903 Pittsburgh Pirates (NL)
Providence Grays 2 1879, 1884 Defunct (1885)
Baltimore Orioles 2 1896–1897 Defunct (1899)
Detroit Wolverines 1 1887 Defunct (1888)
Cleveland Spiders 1 1895 Defunct (1899)

Championship of the American Association

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Team No. of
championships
Years Current status
St. Louis Browns 4 1885–1888 St. Louis Cardinals (NL)
Cincinnati Red Stockings 1 1882 Cincinnati Reds (NL)
Philadelphia Athletics 1 1883 Defunct (1890)
New York Metropolitans 1 1884 Defunct (1887)
Brooklyn Bridegrooms 1 1889 Los Angeles Dodgers (NL)
Louisville Colonels 1 1890 Defunct (1899)
Boston Reds 1 1891 Defunct (1891)

Championship of the American League (through 1904)

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Team No. of
championships
Years Current status
Boston Americans 2 1903–1904 Boston Red Sox (AL)
Chicago White Sox 1 1901 Chicago White Sox (AL)
Philadelphia Athletics 1 1902 Oakland Athletics (AL)

Winner of the World's Championship Series

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Team No. of
championships
Years Current status
New York Giants (NL) 2 1888–1889 San Francisco Giants (NL)
Providence Grays (NL) 1 1884 Defunct (1885)
St. Louis Browns (AA) 1 1886 St. Louis Cardinals (NL)
Detroit Wolverines (NL) 1 1887 Defunct (1888)
Boston Beaneaters (NL) 1 1892 Atlanta Braves (NL)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ World Series Summary, Major League Baseball website, accessed 2006-10-24
  2. ^ Charlton, James. "The Chronology – 1858". Baseball Library. Baseball Library. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  3. ^ 1929 World Almanac and Book of Facts, 1971 reprint by Workman Publishing, ISBN 978-0-07-071882-1, pages 776-777