The 1892 World Series followed the first

split season A split season is a schedule format implemented in a variety of sports leagues. The season is divided into two parts, with the winners of both halves playing each other at the end for the overall championship. Split seasons are usually found in sp ...

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

history, with the first-half champion

Boston Beaneaters Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and financial center of New England, a region of the Northeastern United States. It has an area of and a ...

(102–48) playing the second-half champion

Cleveland Spiders The Cleveland Spiders were an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The team competed at the major league level from 1887 to 1899, first for two seasons as a member of the now-defunct American Association (AA), followe ...

(93–56) in a best-of-nine postseason series to determine the overall champion of the 1892 baseball season. After the first game ended in a 0–0 tie due to darkness, Boston won the next five games to win the championship. Contemporary newspaper reports referred to the games as the "World's Championship Series" or "World's Series". This was the last of the pre-modern-era World Series, and followed similar annual postseason competitions held from 1884 to 1890 between the champions of the National League and the American Association (which collapsed after the 1891 season). Later, the

Temple Cup The Temple Cup was a cup awarded to the winner of an annual best-of-seven postseason championship series for American professional baseball from 1894 to 1897. Competing teams were exclusively from the National League, which had been founded in ...

would be awarded to the winner of an annual postseason series between National League teams, from 1894 to 1897.

Background

Boston manager

Frank Selee Frank Gibson Selee (October 26, 1859 – July 5, 1909) was an American Major League Baseball manager in the National League (NL). In his 16-year Major League career, he managed the Boston Beaneaters (1890–1901) and Chicago Orphans / Cubs (1902 ...

worried that late-October weather conditions would lead to postponements and low attendance. Cleveland's player-manager

Patsy Tebeau Oliver Wendell "Patsy" Tebeau (December 5, 1864 – May 16, 1918) was an American first baseman, third baseman, and manager in Major League Baseball.

suggested that "the ostonBeaneaters fear the humiliation of possible defeat." Tebeau told '' Sporting Life'' that the cold weather was a "dodge … simply an excuse to avoid playing Cleveland."

Bookies A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays out bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. History The first bookmaker, Harry Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795, although similar ac ...

had the Spiders as the favorite, due to their pitching staff.

Cy Young Denton True "Cy" Young (March 29, 1867 – November 4, 1955) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher. Born in Gilmore, Ohio, he worked on his family's farm as a youth before starting his professional baseball career. Young entered t ...

had gone 36–12 in 49 starts, with a 1.93

earned-run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

. Meanwhile, Boston star Mike "King" Kelly had a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of only .189 for the year, and was described as "one of the biggest failures of the base ball season."

Series summary

''Boston won the series, 5–0–1.''

Hugh Duffy Hugh Duffy (November 26, 1866 – October 19, 1954) was an American outfielder and manager in Major League Baseball. He was a player or player-manager for the Chicago White Stockings, Chicago Pirates, Boston Reds, Boston Beaneaters, Milwau ...

of Boston batted .462 with nine

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

and six extra-base hits including a

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

. Had the series required more than six games to complete, the remaining games would have been played in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Game summaries

Game 1

The first game, which had started at three o'clock, had gone 11 scoreless innings when it was stopped at five o'clock due to darkness.

Game 2

Game 3

Game 4

After a travel day for the teams, the series moved to Boston with the Beaneaters leading, two games to none.

Game 5

John Clarkson started for Cleveland in place of Cy Young, who complained of a "lame arm".

Game 6

After an off-day (professional baseball games were not allowed on Sundays in Boston until 1929) the Beaneaters won their fifth game of the series to capture the championship. The 13 players on their roster split $1000 prize money.

Aftermath

The

abolished the

format for 1893, and did not play another split season until , which was caused by a players' strike. Multiple participants in the series were later inducted to the

National Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United St ...

: *

Jesse Burkett Jesse Cail Burkett (December 4, 1868 – May 27, 1953), nicknamed "Crab", was an American professional baseball left fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1890 to 1905 for the New York Giants, Cleveland Spiders, St. Louis Per ...

(Cleveland, OF) *

John Clarkson John Gibson Clarkson (July 1, 1861 – February 4, 1909) was an American Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He played from 1882 to 1894. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Clarkson played for the Worcester Ruby Legs (1882), Chicago Whi ...

(Cleveland, P) * George Davis (Cleveland, SS) *

(Boston, CF) *

King Kelly Michael Joseph "King" Kelly (December 31, 1857 – November 8, 1894), also commonly known as "$10,000 Kelly", was an American outfielder, catcher, and manager (baseball), manager in various professional American baseball leagues including the Na ...

(Boston, C) * Tommy McCarthy (Boston, OF) *

Kid Nichols Charles Augustus "Kid" Nichols (September 14, 1869 – April 11, 1953) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher who played for the Boston Beaneaters, St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies from 1890 to 1906. A switch hitter w ...

(Boston, P) *

(Boston, Mgr.) *

(Cleveland, P) John Clarkson had started the season with the Beaneaters, and signed with the Spiders after being released at the end of June. Pitcher Lee Viau also played for both Boston and Cleveland during 1892. The Beaneaters were later known as the Doves (1907–1910) and the Rustlers (1911) before adopting the nickname of "Braves" in 1912. The franchise relocated to

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

in 1953, and then moved to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

in 1966, where they remain members of the National League as the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

. The Spiders' final season was 1899, when they compiled a record of 20–134 (establishing a longstanding record for the worst major league season) after ownership moved their best players to the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

, and were one of four teams contracted out of the National League when the league reduced its size to eight teams prior to the season.

References

External links

The 1892 Season
at

Retrosheet Retrosheet is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose website features box scores of Major League Baseball (MLB) games from 1906 to the present, and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest since the 1930s. It also includes scores fr ...

{{1892 Boston Beaneaters

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

World Series Boston Braves postseason Cleveland Spiders 19th century in Boston History of Cleveland Baseball competitions in Boston Baseball competitions in Cleveland Hough, Cleveland South End, Boston