also compiled perhaps his best defensive season with a 2.0 Defensive WAR rating that was the highest among all players in the National League. He also led the league's catchers in fielding percentage (.955), double plays (13), and putouts (425), and ranked second in range factor (7.38). The 1887 season was the pinnacle in the history of the Detroit Wolverines. The team won the National League pennant with a 79–45 record and then defeated the St. Louis Browns in the 1887 World Series. Bennett's WAR rating of 1.7 was the lowest during his time in Detroit, but still a respectable showing. Even though he was limited by injury to 46 games during the regular season, Bennett still finished with the sixth highest Defensive WAR rating among all players in the league and compiled a .363 on-base percentage. In his only World Series, Bennett had nine RBIs, 11 hits, and a triple, stole five bases, and scored six runs. During the 1887 season, an excursion of fans from Bennett's home town in Pennsylvania traveled to watch Bennett play in Detroit. They presented him with a wheel barrow loaded with 500 silver dollars, which Bennett then wheeled around the field "to the delight of 5000 people." During the 1888 season, Bennett rebounded with one of the best seasons of his career. His overall 4.2 WAR rating was the third highest of Bennett's career, and his 2.2 Defensive WAR rating was the highest of his career and the second highest in the National League. Despite being the eighth oldest player in the league, he broke his own major league record with a .966 fielding percentage. The Wolverines as a whole finished in fifth place with a 68–63 record. With high salaries owed to the team's star players, and gate receipts declining markedly, the team folded in October 1888 with the players being sold to other teams. On October 16, 1888, the Wolverines sold Bennett, Dan Brouthers, Charlie Ganzel, Hardy Richardson and Deacon White to the Boston Beaneaters for a price estimated at $30,000. Chest protector Bennett has been credited with inventing the first chest protector worn by catchers. According to Bennett, his wife worried about his safety as "a target for the speed merchants" and saw a need for a form of body armor to protect her husband from broken ribs. Bennett and his wife designed a homemade shield by sewing thick strips