William Chase Temple (December 28, 1862 – January 9, 1917) was a coal, citrus, and lumber baron during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

[1] Between 1885 and 1889, he was a President and general manager of the Metropolitan Electrical Service Company in New York City.

The first and second-place teams of the league would play in a seven-game, post season, series to determine the winner.

However, after the series, the second place team New York Giants reportedly cheated some of the pennant winning first place team Baltimore Orioles players out of their money, immediately tainting the reputation of the championship Cup and prompting Temple to sell the Pirates in disgust, leaving baseball.

Dinkey stole most of the Duquesne players, as well as Temple himself, for his rival Homestead Library & Athletic Club.

[5][6] In a 1902 controversy, Temple and the now majority owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team, Barney Dreyfuss, were suspected of being the secret owners to the Pittsburgh Stars team of the first original National Football League (two decades before the beginnings of the separate modern NFL).

[7] In 1909, Temple founded the Florida Citrus Exchange in 1909 and served as the organization's general manager from 1910 until 1913.

[2] Temple died in 1917 in Winter Park, Florida, and is buried in the local Palm Cemetery.