The Forgotten World Series 'Doubleheader' of 1887
By Jeff Rooks
October 26, 2016
With the start time of World Series Game 2 moved up to 7:08 PM in order to avoid rain in the forecast, Twitter started to buzz about where there could be a World Series doubleheader. While it's extremely unlikely this would happen, there were two games played on the same day during the "World's Championship Series" way back in 1887.
1887 is a long time ago and obviously a number of things have changed in Baseball. At the time, the National League was the primary baseball league in the US and the championship was awarded to the team with the best record at the end of the season with no postseason games played.
When the rival American Association was founded in 1882, players, owners, and fans alike questioned which team was the true champion of baseball. The two leagues agreed to play an interleague game to decide a true national champion.
Promoted as "The Championship of the United States" or "World's Championship Series," terms of the series varied year to year and were negotiated in advance by team owners.
The 1887 series between the National League Detroit Wolverines and the American Association St. Louis Browns was to be 15 games played in ten different cities. On Thursday, October 20, 1887, they were scheduled to play Game 10 in Washington, DC, but the game was cancelled due to rain.
The teams were forced to make up the game on the morning of Friday, October 21 before travelling to Baltimore for Game 11 of the series. St. Louis won the first game, with Detroit winning the second. While not a true doubleheader, two "World's Championship Series" games were played on the same day.