After a hard-fought Legacy Cup with their Western League rivals, the Twin City Empire, the Brooklyn Whales have emerged from the 1902 season as Legacy Cup champions for the third consecutive year.
The Legacy Cup was a nail-biter of a series full of bad blood and lingering animosity after Brooklyn played spoiler to Twin City’s historic season in the 1901 Legacy Cup–emerging as champions in 1901 despite being heavy underdogs.
The Whales won the Legacy Cup at home in Brooklyn, 5 games to 4, with a late rally in Game 9 against Twin City’s rookie southpaw Pierce Adney. Twin City had forced a Game 9 after clawing back from a 4-2 deficit. The Empire held a lead going into the bottom of the eighth of the decisive match-up. But, the baseball gods favored Brooklyn on this day. Brooklyn catcher Richard “Deacon” Dunkley drove in the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning, and the Whales held on in the top of the 9th.
Brooklyn outfielder Joel Taylor was named MVP of the Legacy Cup, putting a cap on an excellent season that saw the new Whales’ batter hit .373/.404/.510 and lead the Legacy Baseball League in batting average, hits, runs batted in, and slugging.