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".
William Chase Temple
1894 New York Giants
1895 Cleveland Spiders
1896 Baltimore Orioles
William Chase Temple was a coal, citrus, and lumber baron during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was also a part owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from baseball's National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, established 1876. He also established the Temple Cup, a silver trophy awarded to the winner of a best-of-seven, post-season Major League Baseball championship series that was conducted for four seasons in the National League, from 1894 to 1897. He became the first sole owner of a professional American football team, in 1898.
William Chase Temple