The Dauvray Cup was a

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

trophy A trophy is a tangible, durable reminder of a specific achievement, and serves as a recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are often awarded for sporting events, from youth sports to professional level athletics. In many sports medals (or, i ...

awarded in

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

from 1887 to 1893. Named after stage actress Helen Dauvray, who presented the cup, it was initially awarded to the winner of the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the Worl ...

between the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

and

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

. It was the first World Series trophy. The last National League-American Association series was in 1890, with the latter collapsing after the end of the following season. The cup was then awarded to the winner of the National League pennant. Like the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

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, the same trophy was used each season rather than a new one being made. The Dauvray Cup has since been lost.

History

The cup was named for its presenter,

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

actress Helen Dauvray. In 1887, Dauvray began a relationship with

John Montgomery Ward John Montgomery Ward (March 3, 1860 – March 4, 1925), known as Monte Ward, was an American Major League Baseball pitcher, shortstop, second baseman, third baseman, manager, executive, union organizer, owner and author. Ward, of English desce ...

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

for the

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and future Hall of Famer. Their marriage was announced in October of that year during the World Series. Dauvray first announced her intentions to present the trophy in newspapers on May 21, 1887. The announcement described the cup as "a $500 silver cup" in "the form of a true lovers' cup ... about twelve inches high". On June 1, the Gorham Silver Company began the process of creating the trophy. When some, including National League president Nicholas Young, suggested that the trophy was more for the owner of the winning team than the players, Dauvray agreed to award gold medals to the players of the winning team as well as one umpire. Some newspapers at the time, including the ''

Brooklyn Eagle :''This article covers both the historical newspaper (1841–1955, 1960–1963), as well as an unrelated new Brooklyn Daily Eagle starting 1996 published currently'' The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''King ...

'' and '' Police Gazette'', dismissed the trophy as a publicity stunt designed more to promote Dauvray herself than out of a fondness for baseball. The Dauvray Cup was first won in 1887 by the

Detroit Wolverines The Detroit Wolverines were a 19th-century Major League Baseball team that played in the National League from 1881 to 1888 in the city of Detroit, Michigan. In total, they won 426 games and lost 437, taking their lone pennant (and winning the p ...

of the NL, who defeated the St. Louis Browns in the

1887 World Series 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. It was played between October 10 and 26, and played in numerous neutral cities, as well as in D ...

. It would also be won twice by Ward's Giants, in 1888 and 1889. The cup was last awarded in 1893 to the

Boston Beaneaters Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...

. The Beaneaters had won the cup three years in a row, having won the NL pennant in 1891 and 1892 as well. The rules established at the creation of the cup stated that it would permanently belong to the first team to win it three years in a row. Dauvray, by that time no longer much interested in either Ward—they would divorce in November that same year—or baseball, took no steps to provide a new Dauvray Cup to replace the retired one. A replacement would be provided by

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, president of the

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, which became known as the

Temple Cup 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 1 ...

. According to

John Thorn John A. Thorn (born April 17, 1947) is a German-born sports historian, author, publisher, and cultural commentator. Since March 1, 2011, he has been the Official Baseball Historian for Major League Baseball. Personal profile Thorn was born in ...

, official historian of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

, the last mention of the presence of the Dauvray Cup was on November 12, 1893, in Newport,

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

. By June 1894, '' Sporting Life'' was wondering in print what had happened to it. The current location of the Dauvray Cup is unknown.

References

{{WorldSeries, state=collapsed Major League Baseball postseason Major League Baseball trophies and awards World Series trophies and awards Awards established in 1887 Awards disestablished in 1893 Lost objects 1887 establishments in the United States 1893 disestablishments in the United States