The 1962 Fayetteville [Arkansas] Babe
Ruth League (BRL) season had many highlights:
●Pitchers
threw five no-hit and five one-hit games.
●In
one game, Collier Rexall scored 23 runs; in another, United Commercial Traveler (UCT) scored ten runs in the first inning before making an out.
●In
the first few games of the season, Brad Jenkins carried his team, First National Bank, to four straight wins (he was
the winning pitcher in three of them), winning
the last one by stealing home in extra innings.
●Near
the end of the season, Robert Wilks went 10 for 10, including
three home runs,
plus several walks, over a four-game stretch, leading
his team, Collier Rexall,
to a victory in each of them.
●In
the second half of the season, OK & Milady came from behind three times in their final
at bat for last inning wins; five of its last seven games were determined by
one run.
●Fayetteville
Milk won its regular season last game by scoring 8 runs in the last inning.
Yes, it was an exciting season. At
different times, different players got crucial hits, made spectacular catches,
and carried out other heroics that made the
season fun to watch.
In the battle to determine the
championship team, two teams — United Commercial Travelers (UCT) and
Fayetteville Milk — stood out, and a third — OK & Milady Cleaners —
challenged them with a surprisingly strong second half. Despite the challenge,
UCT and Fayetteville Milk won their division titles and met in a
two-out-of-three-games playoff to determine the league championship.
During the season, these two teams played
against each other four times, and UCT won all four games. Aside from these
games, both UCT and Fayetteville Milk lost only two games each. So, in summer 1962, UCT was Fayetteville
Milk's nemesis. And I personally
thwarted Fayetteville Milk's best player, Bubba McCord. Of the four
UCT-Fayetteville Milk games, we pitched against each other three times, and UCT
and I won all three. Sherlock Holmes had Moriarity as a nemesis, the Sheriff of
Nottingham had Robin Hood, Seinfeld had Newman, and, in 1962, Bubba had me.
For the whole story, go to this link for a Word document with all of the details: https://www.dropbox.com/s/t3ot9zj1lpkweo3/59006218
