At first, it looked as though the 1894 Centennial Cup Final was going to be just like the other Cup Finals: a total snooze-fest. In the opener at Worcester Driving Park, the Red Stockings spotted the Ruby Legs a 2-1 lead before scoring five times in the sixth, keyed by Joe Ellick's two-run double; Cincy would go on to win, 10-3. In Game 2, Worcester led 3-0 behind 26-game winner Martin Duke before the Reds offense got to work, putting up another five-spot, this time in the seventh inning; both teams added a single ducat and the game ended, 6-4, favour Cincinnati.
Ho-hum...with two quick wins on the road, all the legendary Red Stockings would have to do is win twice at their equally-legendary ballpark, the Palace of the Fans. With Cincy scoring two quick tallies in the opening stanza, it looked like ball fans would have to get out yet another broom.
But the pennant-winning Ruby Legs had other ideas; they mauled Reds starter Scott Stratton for six runs in the third followed by five more in the fourth, and by the time the dust cleared, Worcester had a 12-5 win in front of a stunned crowd. The crowd stayed stunned in Game 4, as the Ruby Legs' hurler Martin Duke matched pitches with Bob Black; the Cincy ace held Worcester to three runs, but Duke tossed a four-hit shutout, evening the Cup Final at two games apiece. And in the fifth game, Red Stockings fans had barely taken their seats when the Rubies' Tim Shinnick led off the game with a home run, which led to Worcester scoring five times before the home team even got to bat. Joe Flynn and John Goodman each had three hits, and the impossible had happened: Worcester had not only beaten Cincinnati in their own park, but had
swept them out, now needing only one win back in Massachusetts to claim the Cup.
Back in Worcester, the Ruby Legs were just four outs away from the Cup after taking a 6-3 lead in the sixth game, with Ruby Legs' starter "Pink" Hawley getting two quick outs in the eighth. But a walk, three quick singles and a costly throwing error later, the Reds had even the count at six, and the game went to extra innings. In the twelfth, three errors, including two by 1B Goodman (who also went 0-for-5 on the day) led to two Cincy runs, and an 8-6 win...and a Game 7.
There had never been a Cup Final in which the home team lost every game, so the Worcester fans were certainly concerned when the finale began. Could the Ruby Legs break this crazy curse? The Red Stockings jumped in front, 4-1, until Joe Flynn slammed a three-run homer to tie it in the fifth. But Cincy struck back with three of their own in the top of the sixth, including a two-run double by Dan Brouthers, then added another in the seventh. Worcester pulled one back in the eighth to make it 8-5, but the Ruby Legs came up lame after that, giving the Red Stockings their eighth Cup title and second in a row! Hail, Red Stockings!
