Pre-modern baseball championship
The "Hall Cup " was awarded to the Giants for defeating the Browns in the 1888 series. Now on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York , the exhibit says the cup is "baseball's oldest existing World Championship trophy". The 1888 World Series was an end-of-the-year professional baseball season championship playoff series between the National League champion New York Giants and the old American Association champion St. Louis Browns .
The Giants won, 6 games to 4.[ 1] Tim Keefe went 4–0.[ 2]
This was the Browns' last appearance in a championship tournament and pre-modern-era World Series , the last of their four consecutive AA pennants. The club would later join the NL in 1892 and be renamed as the St. Louis Cardinals by 1900. It would be 1926 before they would win their next league pennant.
Game summary
Art Whitney Tim Keefe John Montgomery Ward
Game 1
October 16, 1888, at Polo Grounds in New York City; day game
Team
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
St. Louis Browns
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
3
5
New York Giants 0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
x
2 2
4
Win: Tim Keefe (1–0) Loss: Silver King (0–1)
Home Runs: none
Game 2
October 17, 1888, at Polo Grounds in New York City; day game
Team
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
St. Louis Browns 0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
3 7
4
New York Giants
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
6
1
Win: Elton Chamberlain (1–0) Loss: Mickey Welch (0–1)
Home Runs: none
Game 3
October 18, 1888, at Polo Grounds in New York City; day game
Team
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
St. Louis Browns
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
2
5
5
New York Giants 2
0
0
1
0
0
1
0
x
4 5
2
Win: Tim Keefe (2–0) Loss: Silver King (0–2)
Home Runs: none
Game 4
Game 5
October 20, 1888, at Polo Grounds in New York City; day game
Team
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
R
H
E
St. Louis Browns
0
0
3
0
0
1
0
0
4
5
5
New York Giants 1
0
0
0
0
0
0
5
6 9
2
Win: Tim Keefe (3–0) Loss: Silver King (0–3)
Home Runs: none
Game 6
Game 7
Game 8
Game 9
Game 10
Series stats
New York Giants
Batting
Player
G
PA
AB
R
H
2B
3B
HR
RBI
SB
BB
SO
AVG
OBP
SLG
Willard Brown 2
8
8
1
3
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0.375
0.375
0.500
Roger Connor 7
27
23
7
7
1
2
0
3
4
4
0
0.304
0.407
0.522
Ed Crane 2
7
7
1
1
0
0
0
2
0
0
1
0.143
0.143
0.143
Buck Ewing 7
27
26
5
9
0
2
1
6
5
1
3
0.346
0.370
0.615
Bill George 2
9
9
2
3
1
0
1
4
0
0
2
0.333
0.333
0.778
George Gore 3
13
11
5
5
1
0
0
0
2
2
2
0.455
0.538
0.545
Gil Hatfield 2
9
8
2
2
0
0
0
1
1
1
2
0.250
0.333
0.250
Tim Keefe 4
13
11
2
1
0
0
0
0
1
2
2
0.091
0.231
0.091
Pat Murphy 3
10
10
1
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0.100
0.100
0.100
Jim O'Rourke 10
40
36
4
8
0
0
0
1
3
4
2
0.222
0.300
0.222
Danny Richardson 9
39
36
6
6
2
0
0
6
3
3
5
0.167
0.231
0.222
Mike Slattery 10
39
39
6
8
2
0
0
5
6
0
5
0.205
0.205
0.256
Mike Tiernan 10
46
38
8
13
0
0
1
6
5
8
2
0.342
0.457
0.421
Ledell Titcomb 1
4
4
1
2
1
0
0
1
0
0
0
0.500
0.500
0.750
John Ward 8
30
29
4
11
1
0
0
6
6
1
0
0.379
0.400
0.414
Mickey Welch 2
7
7
2
2
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0.286
0.286
0.286
Art Whitney 10
38
37
7
12
0
1
0
12
2
1
4
0.324
0.342
0.378
Team Totals 10
366
339
64
94
10
5
3
55
38
27
30
0.277
0.331
0
Pitching
Player
G
W – L
SV
GS
CG
SHO
IP
H
HR
BB
SO
R
ER
ERA
Ed Crane 2
1–1
0
2
2
0
17.0
15
0
6
12
10
4
2.12
Bill George 1
0–1
0
1
1
0
10.0
15
1
3
4
14
8
7.20
Gil Hatfield 1
0–0
0
0
0
0
5.0
12
1
3
2
12
7
12.60
Tim Keefe 4
4–0
0
4
4
0
35.0
18
0
9
30
12
2
0.51
Ledell Titcomb 1
0–1
0
1
0
0
4.0
5
1
2
2
6
3
6.75
Mickey Welch 2
1–1
0
2
2
0
17.0
10
0
9
2
8
5
2.65
Team Totals 10
6–4
0
10
9
0
88.0
75
3
32
52
62
29
2.97
St. Louis Browns
Batting
Player
G
PA
AB
R
H
2B
3B
HR
RBI
SB
BB
SO
AVG
OBP
SLG
Jack Boyle 4
18
16
4
7
0
1
0
4
3
2
2
0.438
0.500
0.563
Elton Chamberlain 5
17
13
3
0
0
0
0
0
1
4
3
0.000
0.235
0.000
Charlie Comiskey 10
42
41
6
11
1
1
0
3
4
1
1
0.268
0.286
0.341
Jim Devlin 1
3
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0.000
0.000
0.000
Ed Herr 3
11
11
2
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
5
0.091
0.091
0.091
Silver King 5
16
15
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
6
0.067
0.125
0.067
Arlie Latham 10
45
40
10
10
0
0
0
3
11
5
6
0.250
0.333
0.250
Harry Lyons 5
18
17
0
2
0
0
0
1
0
1
5
0.118
0.167
0.118
Tommy McCarthy 10
41
41
10
10
1
0
1
9
6
0
0
0.244
0.244
0.341
Jocko Milligan 8
28
25
5
10
2
1
0
4
0
3
3
0.400
0.464
0.560
Tip O'Neill 10
43
37
8
9
1
0
2
11
0
6
3
0.243
0.349
0.432
Yank Robinson 10
42
36
7
9
2
1
0
7
2
6
12
0.250
0.357
0.361
Bill White 10
38
35
4
5
1
0
0
4
1
3
6
0.143
0.211
0.171
Team Totals 10
362
330
60
75
8
4
3
46
29
32
52
0.227
0.296
0
Pitching
Player
G
W – L
SV
GS
CG
SHO
IP
H
HR
BB
SO
R
ER
ERA
Elton Chamberlain 5
2–3
0
5
5
1
44.0
52
3
16
13
36
26
5.32
Jim Devlin 1
1–0
0
0
0
0
7.0
5
0
2
5
3
2
2.57
Silver King 5
1–3
0
5
4
0
35.0
37
0
9
12
23
9
2.31
Team Totals 10
4–6
0
10
9
1
86.0
94
3
27
30
62
37
3.87
Series summary
Game
Score
Date
Ballpark, City
Attendance
1
Browns 1 – 2 Giants
October 16
Polo Grounds , New York City4,876
2
Browns 3 – 0 GiantsOctober 17
Polo Grounds , New York City5,575
3
Browns 2 – 4 Giants
October 18
Polo Grounds , New York City5,780
4
Giants 6 – 3 BrownsOctober 19
Washington Park , Brooklyn, New York 3,062
5
Browns 4 – 6 Giants (8 innings)
October 20
Polo Grounds , New York City9,124
6
Giants 12 – 5 Browns (8 innings)October 22
Philadelphia Baseball Grounds , Philadelphia 3,281
7
Giants 5 – 7 Browns (8 innings)
October 24
Sportsman's Park , St. Louis, Missouri 4,624
8
Giants 11 – 3 BrownsOctober 25
Sportsman's Park , St. Louis, Missouri 4,865
9
Giants 11 – 14 Browns
October 26
Sportsman's Park , St. Louis, Missouri 711
10
Giants 7 – 18 Browns
October 27
Sportsman's Park , St. Louis, Missouri 412
References
National League American Association
Franchise Ballparks
Culture Lore Rivalries Retired numbers Pre-World Series Champions (2) Temple Cup Champions (1) World Series Champions (8) National League Division titles (9) Wild card (3) Minor league affiliates
Seasons (143)
1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
Franchise History Ballparks
Culture Lore Rivalries Key personnel Minor league World Series
League pennants
American Association National League
Division titles Wild card titles All Star Games hosted
Seasons (144)
1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
