Bubba's Nemesis: The Battle for the 1962 Championship of the Fayetteville Babe Ruth League

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