The Cincinnati Reds' bid to win their second straight Temple Cup took a hit in the very first inning in the opening game at the Palace of the Fans. Emmet Heidrick and Jesse Burkett each smacked triples in the opening frame to give the Cardinals three runs before Cincy could even get to bat. That turned out to be enough: Cy Young did the rest, holding the Reds to two runs on six hits as St. Louis won, 6-2. The next day, George Winter (whose last start was a no-hitter!) dueled with Jock Menefee for thirteen innings, with the score knotted at two. Finally, St. Louis broke through in the fourteenth with five runs, including a two-run knock by Menafee himself. Suddenly, the Cup Final was headed to the Midwest with the Cards up, 2-0.
The Reds needed a win, and had a 3-2 lead in Game 3 in the eighth, but pinch-hitter Joe Sugden slapped a two-run single to give St. Louis a 4-3 lead. The Reds tied the game in the ninth on an RBI single by Charlie Erwin, but two errors and a walk-off walk by Lou Criger gave the Cardinals a 5-4 win and a 3-0 series lead. Backs against the wall, Cincy banged out seven hits in Game 4 behind Frank Kitson
en route to a 7-1 victory.
Back to Cincinnati, and Winter and Menefee hooked up in another classic pitcher's duel: ten innings later, neither team had crossed home plate. In the bottom of the eleventh, Kid Gleason led off with a single then went to second on a bunt by Sugden. After Jack O'Connor struck out, Jock Menefee decided to take matters into his own hands. Despite batting only .190 for season, Jock delivered his second big hit of the series and brought the Cup to old Saint Lou: the city's first world championship since the old Browns beat the White Stockings in 1886.
Over in the American, the Milwaukee Brewers took second place -- led by speedster Billy Hamilton, to whom the Brew Crew offered a three-year contract to play and manage. And play he did, batting .300 and swiping 120 bases.
In the Dauvray Cup, both teams won twice at home to set up a Game 5 in Wisconsin, in which the Saints' 3B Jimmy Collins was a one-man army: four hits, including two doubles and a triple, and six RBI in a 10-4 win. Back in Minnesota, Game 6 saw the Brewers leading, 1-0, in the fifth, looking to possibly force a Game 7. But the Saints had other ideas: a two-run double by pitcher Harvey Bailey gave St. Paul a 2-1 advantage, and the pennant winners added two more in the eighth. Milwaukee could do nothing with Bailey, who held the Brewers to six hits on the day, and the Saints had marched to their second straight Cup.
With the season finally over, attention turned to the Hot Stove League -- or, rather, the hot stove in a downtown Chicago hotel, where league prexies Spalding and Spalding were about to make an announcement...