The fifth edition of the Temple Cup -- the Baltimore Orioles had played in each of the first four editions, winning the last two in 1896 and 1897 -- was a barn-burner.
In Game 1 in Philadelphia, six Phillies errors led to six unearned runs and a 6-2 Brooklyn win; the Phils responded with a 13-hit attack (four by Delahanty, three by Lajoie) in Game 2, taking a 6-3 win and leveling the series.
Back in Washington Park in Brooklyn, Philadelphia booted away Game 3 when a bad throw by 2B Lajoie led to John Anderson reaching base; back-to-back singles by Jones and Hughes then gave the Dodgers a 4-3 win and a 2-1 series lead. But Philly stormed back in Game 4, with 16 hits -- every man in Phils line-up getting at least one safety -- and a 9-2 win. The Phillies would produce 12 more hits in the fifth game -- but so would Brooklyn, including three from Doc Casey and two from Joe Kelley (and 3 RBI) in a 7-3 victory and a 3-2 series lead.
Poised just one game away from an upset victory, though, the Brooklyn bats would fail them in Game 6, managing only one run on six hits off Al Orth in a disheartening 6-1 loss. That meant it would be one game for all the marbles:
Game 7 promised to be a tight, well-played affair...it was not. In the third, Delahanty slapped an RBI single followed by Lajoie's two-run triple; that was more than enough, as Wiley Piatt scattered seven Brooklyn hits in a 9-0 Phillies triumph, bringing the Temple Cup to the City of Brotherly Love for the first time:
What would happen in the off-season, as the 19th century gave way to the 20th? Stay tuned!