Temple Cup

Temple Cup
Temple Cup, as shown on 1894 sheet music
SportBaseball
LeagueNational League
Awarded forPostseason champion
Sponsored byWilliam Chase Temple
CountryUnited States
History
First award1894
Editions4
Final award1897
First winnerNew York Giants (1894)
Most winsBaltimore Orioles (2)
Most recentBaltimore Orioles (1897)

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 1876 as the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs. There was only one major league at the time, following the folding of the American Association after the 1891 season, and the series was played between the first and second-place teams of the surviving National League. The series played for the Temple Cup was also known as the "World's Championship Series".[1]

The approximately 30-inch-high (76 cm) silver cup cost $800 (equivalent to $27,000 in 2023) and was donated by coal, citrus, and lumber baron William Chase Temple (1862–1917), a part-owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates at the time.[2] The Temple Cup is now in the collection of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

  1. ^ "Taking Home the Hardware: A History of the World Series Trophy". baseballhalloffame.org. Archived from the original on June 18, 2007. Retrieved May 14, 2007.
  2. ^ Ceresi, Frank. "The History Of The Temple Cup". BaseballLibrary.com. Archived from the original on 4 July 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2012.