1965

Hackbart Division				Shiloh Division
Bergen	117	49	...	Mimosa	106	57	...
South Starrucca	112	51	3.5	Cleveland	80	81	25
Long Island	108	50	5	Wilderness	47	114	58
Hyde Park	41	121	74	Newmarket	45	112	58

Gorney Division				Brown Division
Siouxland	87	75	...	Baltimore	95	66	...
Waukesha	87	79	2	Norfolk	94	68	2
Bradenton	65	95	21	Fortney	78	84	18
Mexicali	61	100	26	Kilkenny	69	89	25

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Comments –

Stu McCorkindale - The Barflies return home needing only a split of the final two games in Bergen to claim the championship. Bulldog Bouton will try his hand at winning the series against southpaw Mickey Lolich of Mimosa in a game two rematch that saw neither pitcher staying around for the final bell.

Lolich doesn't appear to have his "A" game today as Aaron greets him with a double and moves to 3rd on a passed ball by Battey. Lanier follows with a single to left to plate Aaron with the game's first run. One out later Mantilla delivers a double and the Barflies send Lanier home but to no avail as Leon Wagner guns him down. Given a reprieve, Lolich squanders it by tossing up a gopher ball to Tommy Davis and Bergen takes a 3-0 lead.

The Mirthmakers get on the board in the 4th when Lou Brock leads off with a homer to cut the Bergen lead to 3-1. Callison reaches on a fielder's choice and scores Mimosa's second run when Mantilla throws Boyer's two hopper into rightfield for a crucial error. The teams battle into the Bergen 7th with some drama but no pay off and the score stays 3-2.

Looking for a repeat of some earlier magic, the Barflies send Jimmie Coker to the plate to hit for Bouton but Lolich hangs tough and the Barflies call on Eddie Fisher to work the 8th. Fisher works an uneventful inning but puts everyone on the edge of their seats when he hits Ron Hunt with a pitch to open the 9th. The Barflies immediately turn to relief ace Al McBean who gets Battey before walking Ernie Banks to put two runners on with one out. Willie Smith comes out of the Mimosa dugout to hit for Lolich and a conference on the pitcher's mound ensues about bringing in left Hal Woodeshick to face the portside hitting Smith. The Barflies elect to stay with McBean and Al responds by feeding Smith a DP pill. But Banks plows into Lanier and the Barflies have to settle for one as Hunt takes 3rd and Smith claims 1st.

As Lou Brock moves towards home plate McBean looks into the Bergen dugout to see if Woodeshick will get the call to face Brock. But all he gets from Bergen manager Casey Cuyler is a slight nod so Al returns to the rubber with the tying and winning runs on base. Brock manages to get the count to 2-2 before taking an ill-advised cut at a ball out of the strike zone and going down swinging. McBean vaults off the mound knowing he has saved his final game of the season and given Bergen their first modern (okay, semi-modern) championship in a 3-2 nail biter.

In the post-game locker room celebration catcher Bob Rodgers confesses that the Barflies were afraid of the Mirthmakers. "For all our success during the regular season we saw Mimosa as the most dangerous team in the league. We think they're going to be even tougher next season so we count ourselves as very fortunate we managed to sneak by them in this tight series." (Editor’s note: Mimosa did, in fact, win the 1964 championship.)

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