1887 Detroit Wolverines season

The team won the 1887 National League pennant, then defeated the St. Louis Browns in the 1887 World Series.

On March 13, after training in Macon, Georgia‚ the Wolverines began a six-week exhibition tour through the South and Midwest.

It remained Bennett Park until 1912, when the newly built stadium on the same site was named Navin Field.

Rowe was part of "The Big Four" (along with Dan Brouthers, Deacon White, and Hardy Richardson) that Detroit owner Fred Stearns purchased from the Buffalo Bisons for $7,000 before the 1886 season.

Third baseman Deacon White was also part of "The Big Four" acquired from Buffalo before the 1886 season, and is the second of four future Hall-of-Famers on the team.

[citation needed] According to Lee Allen in The National League Story (1961), White was one of the last people to believe that the earth is flat.

His 1887 total of 166 RBIs stood as a major league record for 40 years until Lou Gehrig broke it in 1927.

Center fielder Ned Hanlon was the fourth future Hall of Famer on the 1887 Detroit team.

Though inducted into the Hall of Fame based on his later performance as a manager, Hanlon was a good fielding center fielder who had tremendous speed and range.

In 1886, Baldwin had a record of 42–13 (the most wins ever by a Detroit pitcher) with a 2.24 ERA in 487 innings pitched, striking out 323 of 1936 batters faced.

They also led the National League in team batting average, runs scored and slugging.

Wolverines batters dominated the National League leader board: Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; Avg.

= Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Note: pitchers' batting statistics not included Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts The Detroit Wolverines defeated the St. Louis Browns in the 1887 World Series, 10 games to 5.

After the Wolverines won the National League pennant, owner Fred Stearns challenged the American Association champion St. Louis Browns.

This early "world series" consisted of fifteen games – played in Pittsburgh, Brooklyn, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, Baltimore and Chicago, as well as Detroit and St. Louis.