The 1887 World Series was won by the Detroit Wolverines of the National League, over the St. Louis Browns of the American Association, 10 games to 5.

Detroit was not yet the Motor City, and was not ready to support major league baseball.

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

The Wolverines and the Browns would play "a series of contests for supremacy" of the baseball world.

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.