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St. Louis' First Undisputed World Championship
by Richard Leech

Primary reference: Glory Fades Away by Jerry Lansche, 1991, Taylor Publishing.

    The 1926 Cardinals' stunning victory over the mighty New York Yankees in the "23rd" World Series was not St. Louis' first world championship, as many people believe.  That momentous championship actually occurred 40 years earlier when the St. Louis Brown Stockings (or Browns) of the American Association defeated the Chicago White Stockings of the National League in October, 1886.  It should be a little interesting to note that those Browns were the direct predecessors of today's Cardinals, and the White Stockings were the predecessors of today's Cubs!  (The rivalry had begun!)
    Actually, the same Browns and White Stockings played each other for the world championship in 1885 and each could lay claim as champions, or at least as half-champions, since they played to a most unsatisfactory tie.  While it can be debated forever exactly what a tie championship means, there is no doubt that the 1886 Browns were St. Louis' first undisputed world champs.
    The Browns became a charter member of the new American Association (AA) in 1882, recognized as a major league, which competed with the established National League (NL), founded in 1876.  Then, at the end of the 1884 season, a series of games was arranged between the champions of the two leagues for the first "World Championship" between champions of two comparable leagues.  Providence (NL) defeated Hartland (AA) as the first World Champs.
    In 1885 the St. Louis Browns began their string of four consecutive AA championships.  The World Championship of 1884 must have been successful since a similar arrangement was made for the two champions to compete again after the 1885 season.  Led by two stellar baseball strategists and leaders, Chicago's Cap Anson and St. Louis' Charles Comiskey, the White Stockings and Browns battled to a 3-3-1 tie in games.  Neither side was happy with this result and, with the two teams again leading their leagues in 1886, it looked for a while as though the World Championship games would not be played.
    However, St. Louis owner Chris Von der Ahe wanted to play and sent Captain Comiskey to Chicago for personal negotiations.  Comiskey returned with a surprise agreement: a "winner take all" series, with the winner to get all the gate receipts and the loser nothing.  Comiskey stated in his biography, Commy, that he didn't expect Von der Ahe would like this arrangement and was very surprised when he jovially accepted.  The series would be a best-of-seven games format with the seventh game, if necessary, to be played in a neutral city.
     The White Stockings were heavily favored to defeat the Browns easily with many people expecting a 4-0 shutout.  Chicago was the site of the first three games with National League rules being used.  5,000 paying customers attended in fairly unpleasant weather as future Hall of Famer John Clarkson threw the first pitch for the White Stockings at 3 PM on October 18th.  There was nothing especially remarkable about the game and the Browns fell to Clarkson's five-hit, 6-0 shutout.
    The next day the weather was much better as 9,000 fans turned-out to see their boys continue the slaughter of the Browns, but the Browns had other ideas.  Left fielder Tip O'Neill smacked a two-run inside-the-park home run in the first inning and hit another inside-the-park in the fifth inning, the first two-home-run game by a player in a World Championship game.  Bob Caruthers was masterful on the mound for the Browns, giving up only a single in the first inning, with the final score 12-0.  This game undoubtedly stunned the baseball world since the National League (in general) and the White Stockings (in particular) were believed far superior to the American Association teams.
    Chicago was so upset by this game that rumors circulated that the White Stockings' players had been drinking late into the night before the game, and also that the players "laid down" to ensure the series would go more than four games, thereby increasing the gate receipts for the champions.
    Bob Caruthers was so enthused by his performance that he convinced Von der Ahe and Charles Comiskey, the on-field captain, to let him pitch the next game.  This decision appeared doomed from the start as Caruthers walked four batters in the first inning before 6,000 spectators.  Caruthers was as ineffective throughout the game as he had been outstanding the day before, giving up two home runs and twelve hits as the White Stockings won, 11-4.  John Clarkson gave up eight hits as he won his second game.
    With Chicago leading two games to one, the two teams traveled to St. Louis on the same train.  The weather on October 21st was cold but 10,000 spectators arrived at Sportsman's Park in heavy coats.  At 3:15 PM the White Stockings jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first inning against pitcher Dave Foutz.  This did not deter the Browns as they pecked-away at Clarkson for single runs in the second and third innings, aided by three Chicago errors.  Tip O'Neill knocked-in the second run as he was thrown out at the plate in another inside-the-park home run attempt.  In the fifth inning, with runners on first and second and two out, O'Neill came to the plate.  Clarkson walked him intentionally despite being ordered to pitch to him by Captain Anson, possibly the first intentional walk in history.  Three runs scored as shortstop Bill Gleason slashed a ground single through the infield, followed by a similar hit by first baseman and Captain Comiskey.  Chicago scored twice in the sixth inning to tie the game, 5-5.  The Browns scored a run in the bottom of the sixth and, with two on and two outs, Clarkson intentionally walked O'Neill for the second time.  Shortstop Gleason met the challenge once again as he lined a single to center scoring two more runs.  The White Stockings did not score in the seventh inning and the game was called because of darkness with the Browns on top, 8-5.
    The fifth game began on October 22nd in better weather with the teams even at two games each.  Captain Anson started regular shortstop Ned Williamson as pitcher for the White Stockings and relieved him with right fielder Jimmy Ryan, unexplained decisions that greatly upset the Chicago press in the next day's papers.  The Browns won the game rather easily, 10-3, aided greatly by five walks by Williamson, four wild pitches by Ryan, and two passed balls.  This game was also stopped in the seventh inning because of darkness.  The Chicago press accused their team of making a farce of the game by playing only to maximize the players' profits.
    Chicago owner Al Spalding asked Chris Von der Ahe to start the next game earlier so the full nine innings could be played.  The sixth game began at 2:18 PM with the third capacity crowd in St. Louis in attendance.  With Clarkson on the mound again and pitching superbly, Chicago scored three scattered runs in six innings off of Caruthers, as the Browns not only failed to score but had no hits and just one base runner.  In the seventh O'Neill finally solved Clarkson with a double but was thrown out stretching for a triple.  The Browns tied the game in the eighth inning as third baseman Arlie Latham struck the big blow, a two-run triple.  The White Stockings failed to score after the sixth inning.  In the bottom of the tenth center fielder Curt Welch led-off with a single, followed by an infield single by right fielder Foutz.  Second baseman Yank Robinson moved both runners up with a sacrifice bunt, putting the winning run for the World's Championship on third with one out.  Exactly what happened next has been reported differently by historians.  Whether the next pitch to Browns' batter Doc Bushong was a wild pitch or passed ball is uncertain. The important fact is that the pitch eluded the Chicago catcher and Welch scored the winning run.   Some reports say that Welch made a daring slide, others say he crossed the plate easily, while yet others say his slide was unnecessary.  This run to win the Series has become known as "The $15,000 Slide" in reference to the approximate total value to the winning team.
    Receipts for the six games totaled $13,920, with each Browns' player receiving $580.  The supremely confident Chicago fans were believed to have suffered at least $100,000 in gambling losses.  It was also reported that many of the Chicago players lost heavily by betting on the games.
    The day after the final game the Browns played an exhibition with the St. Louis Maroons, a weak member of the National League in 1885 and 1886.  One of the most popular players in baseball, King Kelly of the White Stockings, and two other Chicago players attended the game and presented a silver trophy and floral arrangement to the Browns, declaring that the Browns had beaten them fairly and St. Louis had treated the Chicago team well.
    The people of St. Louis were overjoyed with their first world championship.  No one knew that the team name would change to "Cardinals" in a few years, or even dreamed that it would be 40 long years before they were again "World Champs."