BASEBALL MONTHLY
October 1890
Tigers Shock Brooklyn For Title
The celebrations and parties continue at this printing on the streets of Detroit as the local Tigers have brought the first championship to the midwestern city.
The Tigers upset what many considered the best team on the planet and they did it fairly easily. Detroit had the best record in the game in the regular season and behind the outstanding arm of Charley Radbourn who won three of the four games against Brooklyn.
This marked the first time that Brooklyn has lost a championship series, and the energy and enthusiasm that the Tigers showed in this series really shined through. The game has a fresh new champion and experts wonder how they did it and how this series wasnt more competitive.
A recap:
Game 1
| Tuesday, September 23rd, 1890 |
| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Brooklyn Bridegrooms | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| Detroit Tigers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 5 | 7 | 4 |
Behind Charley Radbourn the Tigers come out on top in the opener at home. Dan Brouthers was held hitless and Billy OBrien drove in three runs against Tom Keefe. Radbourn was the man of the game though as he would set the tone for the series.
Game 2
| Wednesday, September 24th, 1890 |
| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Brooklyn Bridegrooms | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 16 | 8 |
| Detroit Tigers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 13 | 9 |
As sloppy a game as one could imagine as the teams combined for 17 errors and 22 runs. Alex Voss labored and the Bridegrooms broke out to a 9 run lead early. George Van Haltren when 4-5 and scored three runs while John Grim went 4-6. Brooklyn was in control for the duration of this game and evened the series heading back east.
Game 3
| Friday, September 26th, 1890 |
| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Detroit Tigers | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 14 | 17 | 3 |
| Brooklyn Bridegrooms | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 7 |
A blowout as the Tigers retake control of the series again behind Charley Radbourn. Tim Keefe showed his age allowing 9 earned runs in the contest Phil Tomney went 4-6 and drove in four runs and the Tigers combined for 17 hits to stun the capacity Brooklyn crowd. The message sent in this game would resonate for the rest of the series.
Game 4
| Saturday, September 27th, 1890 |
| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Detroit Tigers | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 1 |
| Brooklyn Bridegrooms | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 6 |
The Brooklyn defense crumbled again as they commited 6 errors and let this crucial game slip away. Jack Jones was the hard luck loser as his defende commited three of those errors on the third inning when the Tiger plated three. Alex Voss wasnt great allowing 12 hits but was good enough when he had to be and the Tigers now stood a game away.
Game 5
| Sunday, September 28th, 1890 |
| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Detroit Tigers | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 4 |
| Brooklyn Bridegrooms | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 5 |
A historic Sunday in Brooklyn as a new champion was crowned. Buck Ewing went 4-5 and scored three runs as the Tigers opened up a 6-0 lead against who else but Tim Keefe. The proud Bridegrooms fought back and scored four runs in the 8th to cut the lead to one. But Charley Radbourn struck out the last two men he faced in perfect ninth inning and the dream was reality for the Detroit Tigers.