The Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Royals became the first Canadian clubs in pro ball when they joined the Union Association in 1886. A half-decade later, both teams won the Union Cup (Toronto in 1890, Montreal in '91). The Maple Leafs were soon a solid contender in the NA, with players like Amos Rusie, Elton "Ice Box" Chamberlain and Negro star Sol White, who joined the club as a teenager in 1887. After taking the National pennant in 1896, they were heavily favoured to beat the Phillies in the Cup Final, as Philly barely made the Cup playoffs in the first place...but that's why ya play the games!
At first, it looked like the Leafs fans were right, as Toronto took the first two contests easily. Rusie shut down the Phils on the three hits in the opener, 7-0, as Bill Butler blasted a two-run triple, and 31-game winner Mark Baldwin allowed only one unearned run in the second contest, giving Toronto a 2-0 lead in a 6-1 win.
Back in Philadelphia, the Leafs seemed on their way to a back-breaking third straight win: Chamberlain and Rusie each drove in single runs in the first two innings, and the Phillies trailed, 2-0, after seven. In the eighth, a tiring Rusie allowed a double to Frank McCarton, then got two quick outs when Joe Werrick hit a sharp ground back to second base...but the normally sure-handed Sol White booted it, keeping the inning alive. Three singles and another error later, and the Phils took a 4-2 lead, and eventually the game; Rusie took the loss without allowing an earned run. Game 3 was a pitcher's duel between Baldwin and the Phillies' George Cuppy, and it remained scoreless after seven and a half. In the last of the eighth, Cuppy himself got things going with a single, then came all the way around to score on a Werrick single and a throwing error by RF Butler. That was the only tally in the game, and Philadelphia has tied the Cup Final at two.
The Phillies really needed another win in Game 5; a loss, and they'd be going back to Canada trailing, 3-2, and needing a pair of wins north of the border. But the Ice Box wasn't having it; he chilled the Phils' bats on four hits and drove in a run himself in a 7-1 rout. But the Phillie weren't done; back at Toronto Island Ballpark, Walt Goldsby's two-run double off Rusie keyed a three-run rally in the fifth, and the Leafs batters could do little with Cuppy, and the Cup Final was all even at three after a 4-1 Phillies victory.
Another year, another ultimate game in the Cup Final. It was arguably the worst weather ever for a Game 7 -- cold, dark and rainy. Batters could barely
see the ball, let alone
hit it: neither Baldwin nor Philly's Charlie Jordan had allowed a run. A downpour in the fifth inning caused most of the announced crowd of 18,875 to leave the premises, leaving only a bare few thousand left in the ballpark. But the umpires refused to call the game, and bade it go on.
That was all the Phillies needed. Wilbert Robinson's triple keyed a three-run rally in the fifth inning, then scored three more in the sixth on the soaking-wet field. The Phils went on to win, 7-2, and outraged Maple Leafs fans stormed the field, throwing mud and garbage at players on both teams, who barely escaped with their lives. They even invaded the umpire's room, but hulking Toronto catcher Chief Zimmer shouted, "Anyone who touches this man will have to answer to me!"
The Maple Leafs filed a formal protest the next day, but Commissioner Creighton turned Toronto down, pointing out that both teams had to play in the muck. So, the Philadelphia Phillies, who had won the American double the year before, placed a Centennial Cup on its mantle.