The 1960’s

The 1960’s

The baseball landscape in the 1960’s was dominated by expansion and pitching. League batting averages dropped nearly every year, and had fallen by 20+ points in both leagues between 1961 and 1968. A major part of the reason was a change in the strike zone in 1963 that favored pitchers (the strike zone being defined to include the top of the shoulders and the bottom of the knees). By 1968, when the Major League average had dipped below .240 for the first time since 1908, baseball men decided enough was enough and reverted to the previous definition of the strike zone (which ran from the armpits to the top of the knees). Batting averages rose to .2XX in the NBL and .2XX in the ABL in 1969.

Four franchises were added in 1966: The NBL got Denver and San Diego, while the ABL added Atlanta and Montreal after the original Habitants relocated to Los Angeles and were transferred to the Senior Circuit. Two years later the owners voted to expand the playoff field as well, offering more teams a chance to play relevant games late in the season, resulting in predictable increases in attendance.

1960

Baseball rang in the new decade with good pennant races all around; three of the four divisions were decided by two games. In order to win its third straight NBL West title, Cincinnati (91-71) had to weather challenges from Dallas (89-73), the Chicago Traders (87-75), and a surprising Kansas City (82-80) club which stayed in the race until late in the season. San Francisco (102-60) trailed the Chicago Hawks (98-64) for much of the campaign but rolled past them in September to repeat in the ABL West; the Seagulls’ four-game margin of victory was the largest in either league. Both Eastern Divisions crowned new champions, as Philadelphia (96-66) slipped by an injury-plagued Cleveland (94-68) squad, while Baltimore (85-77) fought off challenges by the New York Empires (83-79) and Toronto (80-82).

Matt Garrison (.337) of the Hawks and Jim Horrigan (.378) of the Quakers were the batting champions, while Los Angeles’ Bill Fulton (41) and Cincinnati’s Barry Sheridan (44) were the home run kings. Fulton (114) edged Seattle’s Tom Howard (113) to pace the Junior Circuit in RBI, while two players, Cincinnati’s Ralph King and Cleveland’s John Sublett, claimed the top spot in the Senior Circuit, both driving in 111.

The Nationals shut out the Americans in the All-Star Game in Brooklyn, giving each loop seven victories in the all-time series.

In the NBL, Witness York (27 HR/83 RBI/.317 BA) of Cincinnati won his sixth Most Valuable Player Award, while Hamilton Craft (40 HR/101 RBI/.280 BA) of Los Angeles kept pace in the ABL, winning his fourth MVP trophy in five years. In contrast, the leagues’ Royal Ricketts Awards went to two first time winners, Cleveland’s Skip Shannon (25-11/3.27 ERA/179 K) and the Hawks’ Al Charrette (17-9/2.69 ERA/182 K). The top rookies in their respective leagues were Jose Nova of Milwaukee (11 HR/35 RBI/.270 BA) and Willie Purter of Twin Cities (9-9/ 3.45 ERA/71 K).

Philadelphia needed just six games to eliminate Cincinnati in the NBL Championship Series, while Baltimore took San Francisco the full seven in the ABL tourney before yielding. The World Series was a rematch of the 1946 Fall Classic, the first to pit the champions of the modern rival circuits. The Quakers prevailed again, downing the Seagulls in seven games to bring Philadelphia its 11th world title.

Augustus Bagley, Hampton Bunker, Mitchell Decker, and Tom McMullin were the new Hall of Famers this year, swelling the hallowed Hall’s membership to 55.

NBL Season statistics

ABL Season statistics

Weekly standings

1961

Three of the divisional races were all but academic by early September, as Los Angeles (109-53), Cleveland (100-62), and Cincinnati (93-69) had built large leads over their nearest competitors. The odd division out, and therefore the most exciting, was the ABL East, in which five of the six teams jockeyed for position for nearly the entire summer. With a week to play, Baltimore, Detroit, and New York were tied for first, with Boston a game back and Toronto trailing by four. When the dust settled the Lords had earned the title over the Empires by the margin of a single game.

Chicago’s Union Field hosted the All-Star Game, a 4-3 thriller won by the Americans on a walk-off RBI-double by San Francisco’s Randy Paterson. The victory gave the Junior Circuit an 8-7 edge all-time.

Paterson's hot bat also earned him the ABL batting title, although his .315 clip paled next to that of Cincinnati’s Ralph King, who hit .358 to pace the Senior Circuit. King also led his loop in RBI with 149, while teammate Barry Sheridan paced the circuit in home runs with 51. The top ABL sluggers were Baltimore’s Armando Landa, who hit 47 homers, and Los Angeles’ Bill Fulton, who knocked in 113 runs.

Los Angeles was widely expected to advance to the Fall Classic, so it was no surprise when the Pobladores dispatched Baltimore in five games in the ABL Championship Series. A bit more surprising was Cincinnati’s triumph over Cleveland in six games to take the NBL flag. The Packers were underdogs again in the World Series, but took just six games to upset L.A. and claim their first world title since 1908. It was Cincinnati’s fourth overall.

Two players who began their careers in the Negro Leagues and ended them in the majors, catcher A.J. King and first baseman Jesse Russell, were selected as the Hall of Fame’s 56th and 57th members.

NBL Season statistics

ABL Season statistics

Weekly standings

1962

Cleveland’s Bobcats rolled to 115 regular season wins, dominating the NBL East, while Cincinnati (95-67) caught fire in September to turn a relatively close NBL West race into no contest. San Francisco (100-62) had a double-digit lead over Chicago in late August before seeing it slowly melt away into an uncomfortable two-game cushion with a week to play, but the Seagulls rebounded and took the ABL West title by five games. The ABL East appeared to be headed towards its usual multi-team photo finish, as six games separated the top five teams in July. A month later, Detroit held a seven-game lead, but the Wolverines fell apart during the season’s final two months while Montreal (88-74), a cellar-dweller just a season before, flew past them. It was the Habs’ first division crown.

Tom Austin’s bases-clearing first-inning triple helped lift the ABL over the NBL in the All-Star Game in Brooklyn‘s venerable Flatbush Park. The Juniors had now taken 9 of the 16 interleague meetings in the Mid-Summer Classic.

Cincinnati’s Ralph King hit .349 to repeat as the NBL batting champion, while teammate Barry Sheridan won his sixth home run crown with 52 and his third RBI title with 132. In the ABL, first time winners took all three titles: Detroit’s Dave Wynn hit .358, Montreal’s Nana Hubbard belted 45 homers, and Boston’s Armando Carrillo knocked in 120 runs. Vern Gould of Cleveland posted league-leading marks in ERA (2.13) and wins (26), while Washington’s Dave Allen fanned 209 to pace the Senior Circuit. Seattle’s Dick Reinke posted the top ERA in the ABL at 2.54, while San Francisco’s Mike Myers (24 wins) and Detroit’s Mark Johnson (218 strikeouts) topped the loop in those respective categories.

The Most Valuable Players were Cleveland’s Joe Rafferty (32 HR/122 RBI/.282 BA) and Los Angeles’ Hamilton Craft (42 HR/105 RBI/.208 BA). The Royal Ricketts Award winners were Gould (26-4/2.13 ERA/117 K) and Myers (22-10/2.98 ERA/153 K), and the Rookies of the Year were Rob Lockner (8 HR/77 RBI/.266 BA) of the Knickerbockers and Charlie Sokol (6-10/4.11 ERA/90 K) of Twin Cities.

For the second year in a row, an all-Ohio NBL Championship Series saw a favored Cleveland team fall to Cincinnati; it took seven games this time around. San Francisco got past Montreal in five games for the ABL flag, setting up a California/Ohio Fall Classic for the fourth time in seven years. The Seagulls spoiled Cincinnati’s bid to become the first repeat champion since 1951, downing the Packers in six games. It was San Francisco’s second world title.

Home run king Melbourne Trench and Negro League/Major League great Richard Willin were this season’s Hall of Fame inductees, the 58th and 59th players so honored.

NBL Season statistics

ABL Season statistics

Weekly standings

1963

Cleveland amassed the league’s best record (103-59) again, cruising to the NBL East crown, while Toronto (94-68) repeated Montreal’s feat from the previous season—following up a last place finish with a division title—in the ABL East. The times they were a-changin’ in both Western Divisions: in the ABL the Chicago Hawks (96-66) ended California’s seven-year stranglehold on the top spot by relegating San Francisco to a second-place finish and Los Angeles to a third, while in the NBL Kansas City (90-72) achieved the first division crown by a team from the 1955-1956 expansion.

San Francisco’s Harry Osborn, 41 years young, made sure his final All-Star Game at-bat would be a memorable one—a two run homer off Cleveland’s Matt Rutledge in the bottom of the ninth to give the ABL a 6-5 win, its third straight in the Midsummer Classic. The Junior Circuit now held a 10–7 edge all-time.

The venerable Osborn had plenty of heroics left for the rest of the season, capturing the ABL batting crown with a .310 average, while youth was served in the NBL as 26-year-old Gary Williams of Brooklyn hit .316 to capture Senior Circuit hitting honors. Joe Seidler’s league-topping tallies in home runs (38) and runs batted in (102) gave the Bluebirds a clean sweep in the offensive Triple Crown categories, while two first basemen named Armando led the ABL in home runs and runs batted in. Lando of Baltimore hit 39 dingers, Carillo of Boston knocked in 108 runs.

Mike Myers of San Francisco won the most games (21) and logged the lowest ERA (1.95) in the ABL, as Bob Schar of Boston paced that circuit in strikeouts (233). St. Louis’ Jimmy Trent won 20 and fanned 232 to lead the NBL in those two categories, while Jose Juarez of Cleveland posted the best ERA in the loop at 1.94. Two players who had been traded for one another a couple of seasons prior won Most Valuable Player Awards; Cleveland’s Joe Rafferty (26 HR/96 RBI/.311 BA) took the honor in the NBL and Toronto’s Grammercy Locke (30 HR/82 RBI/.309 BA) earned the trophy in the ABL. Trent (20-12/3.05 ERA/232 K) and Schar (14-8/2.31 ERA/233 K) were their respective leagues’ Royal Ricketts Award honorees.

The upstart Bulls pushed the Bobcats to a Game Seven before bowing in the NBLCS; the ABLCS also went the distrance, with Toronto emerging victorious. Hard John Horvath’s three-run blast in the bottom of the ninth of Game Six sealed Cleveland’s third World Championship.

Pitcher Percell Russell, Negro League and L.A. Pobladores’ star, was the lone selection to the Hall of Fame. Russell was the Hall’s 60th member.

NBL Season statistics

ABL Season statistics

Weekly standings

1964

Kansas City’s (98-64) blistering second half turned what had been a close three- or four-team NBL West race into no contest, while Cleveland (103-59) again raced off to the best record in baseball, enough to keep a surprisingly feisty Pittsburgh (97-65) squad at arm’s length in the NBL East. Boston (98-64) survived a brief hot streak by Montreal (87-75) that briefly made the ABL East race competitive. The most exciting race was in the ABL West, as Los Angeles—division leaders for almost the entire campaign—strived all season long to put a comfortable distance between themselves and Chicago. They could never do it, and the Pobladores (92-70) ran out of steam at the end, dropping their final four games to allow the Hawks (93-69) to overtake them and repeat as division champions.

For the second straight year the All-Star Game ended with a home run, this time off the bat of Kansas City’s Danny Phillips. The blast gave the Nationals a 4-3 victory, their first in the Midsummer Classic since 1960. The NBL now trailed the ABL in the all-time series, 10–8.

Cleveland star Joe Rafferty’s 30 home runs and 106 runs batted in were league-leading marks in the NBL; Dallas’ John Darnell (.328) was the loop’s bating champion. In the ABL Los Angeles’ Ralph King hit for the highest average (.314), Montreal’s Nana Hubbard hit the most home runs (52), and Chicago’s Bill Ray knocked in the most runs (117). The NBL’s circuit-pacing moundsmen were Cleveland’s Doug Leonard (2.18) in ERA, the duo of of Cleveland’s Fred Ahrens (20) and Milwaukee’s Mel Hartman (20) in wins, and Washington’s Dave Allen (224) in strikeouts; The ABL’s leaders in the same categories were Los Angeles’ Ernie Backman in ERA (1.95) and wins (20) and Chicago’s Bobby Peters in strikeouts (241).

In the NBL, Cleveland’s Scat Batkin (29 HR/93 RBI/.315 BA) won his 6th Most Valuable Player Award; Ray (31 HR/117 RBI/.307 BA) was a first-time winner in the American. Hartman (20-10/2.42 ERA/207 K) and Diego Favela (13-6/2.11 ERA/181 K) of the Hawks were the Royal Ricketts Award honorees, while the Rookie of the Year trophies were picked up by Dallas’ John Darnell (7 HR/65 RBI/.328 BA) in the NBL and Detroit’s Booker Lee (13 HR/62 RBI/.282 BA) in the ABL.

Kansas City rode their hot second half into the postseason, stunning the favored Bobcats and wrapping the ABLCS up in five games. Chicago’s Hawks, who had seemingly lived on the razor’s edge all season, by now seemed most comfortable in no-room-for-error situations, winning back-to-back seven-game series over Boston and Kansas City to emerge as world champions. It was the franchise’s second title.

Milton Currie, the premier defensive shortstop of the first two decades of the 20th Century, was the lone Hall of Fame honoree this year. Currie was the Hall’s 61st inductee.

NBL Season statistics

ABL Season statistics

Weekly standings

1965

Cleveland (97-65) coasted to its fifth consecutive NBL East title, but the other three races were competitive well into September. Kansas City (101-61) and the Chicago Hawks (99-63) emerged as repeat champions of their respective divisions, while the ABL East held its annual down-to-the-wire donnybrook, with Boston and New York locked in mortal combat all summer long. The Empires (90-72) bested the Terriers by a single game.

While the race for the division title lacked drama, two NBL East batsmen staged a photo finish for the Senior Circuit’s batting crown. Jim Horrigan of Philadelphia and Harry Rhodes of Brooklyn were both were credited with a .312 average but the slide rules revealed Horrigan’s .3123 mark as superior to Rhodes’ .3116. Another Flatbush denizen, Joe Seidler, gave the Bluebirds a clear league leader with 38 round-trippers, while the Traders’ Jeff Madsen paced that circuit with 102 RBI. The loop’s leaderboard-topping moundsmen were Cleveland’s Paul Wiley, who posted a 2.26 ERA; Milwaukee’s Bart Dunsley, who won 21 games; and Fred Harrison, who fanned 205 batters while splitting time between Brooklyn and Cleveland. The Bobcats swept the postseason awards: Harold Batkin (25 HR/60 RBI/.328 BA) was the Most Valuable Player, Harrison won the Royal Ricketts Award, and Joe Clabaugh (14-11/3.26 ERA/127 K) was the Rookie of the Year.

In the Junior Circuit Detroit’s Dave Wynn hit .343 to coast to the batting title, while Los Angeles’ Bill Fulton posted the top marks for home runs (43) and runs batted in (110). John Pardoe of Baltimore paced the loop with a stingy 1.79 ERA, while Al Huicochea won a league-leading 18 games during a season spent with two teams, Detroit and Los Angeles. The Hawks’ Bobby Peters struck out 250 hitters to top the circuit. Peters (15-8/2.29 ERA/250 K) and Pardoe (16-4/1.79 ERA/175 K) took home MVP and Rookie of the Year honors, respectively, while Tom Adams (22 HR/104 RBI/.312 BA) of Montreal won the loop’s MVP award.

The NBL won a second-straight All-Star Game, 8-5 at Brooklyn’s Flatbush Park, to close the gap in the all-time series to one game. The ABL still held the edge, 10-9.

The postseason flew by, as Chicago swept New York and Kansas City needed only five games to eliminate Cleveland. This set up a rematch of the 1964 Fall Classic, which once again ended in frustration for the Bulls and a World Championship for the Hawks, their third since 1954.

The Hall of Fame opened its doors to four new members: John Deloge, Tom Dillard, Billy Hall, and Dick Whitney. The Hall now housed 65 plaques.

In a long-anticipated move, the leagues announced a four-team expansion for the 1966 season. Two divisions—one in each league—would get two expansion teams each, and there would be some reshuffling to maintain geographical integrity and an equal number of teams in each division. It began with a sale and a cross-country move; the Montreal Habitants’ new ownership received approval to relocate to Southern California and the NBL West as the Los Angeles Blockbusters, transferring their old name, stadium, and branding to a new expansion team which would retain the City of Saints’ place in the ABL East. The Blockbusters would be joined by the expansion Denver Burros and San Diego Captains, making the Senior Circuit a bicoastal loop at long last, while the expansion Habitants and the rest of the ABL East would welcome the Major Leagues’ first representative from the Deep South in the expansion Atlanta Generals. To complete the restructuring, Cincinnati swapped divisional alliances from the NBL West to the NBL East, while Dallas switched leagues, moving from the NBL West to the ABL West.

NBL Season statistics

ABL Season statistics

Weekly standings

1966

Dallas (106-56) took over first place in their new divsion, the ABL West, in mid-May and never looked back; by season’s end they had built a 25-game lead. The former Montreal Habitants, now known as the Los Angeles Blockbusters (98-64), also made themselves at home in a new division, the NBL West, but came up short at the finish line, as Kansas City (99-63) slipped past them to win a fourth straight divisional crown. It was business as usual for Cleveland (103-59), as the Bobcats won the NBL East for the sixth year in a row. Boston and New York once again fought for ABL East dominance right down to the wire, this time with the Terriers (90-72) prevailing by a single game.

New owners in Washington, eager to drum up interest in a franchise that had achieved only one winning season in its first 11 tries, held a year-long “Re-Name the Rough Riders” contest. The winning entry was “Eagles”, and the team would begin play under that monicker in 1967. Ironically, the team’s final season as the Rough Riders was their best to date (86-76 and a 3rd place finish).

For the second year in a row Philadelphia’s Jim Horrigan found himself in a neck-and-neck race for the NBL batting crown, this time edging Cleveland’s Harold Batkin by a single percentage point, .326-.325, while Pittsburgh’s Don Keough easily paced that loop in home runs (55) and runs batted in (124). St. Louis’ Bruce Cardenas was the Senior Circuit’s leader in ERA (1.59) and strikeouts (225), while Cincinnati’s Joe Clabaugh topped the loop in wins (21). Dallas’ Randy Paterson led the Junior Circuit in batting with a .321 clip, while Los Angeles’ Hamilton Craft led in home runs (38) and Armando Carrillo led in runs batted in (112). At the top of ABL’s pitching leaderboards were John Pardoe of Baltimore (whose 2.1541 ERA bested Toronto’s Joe Scott’s by a mere .0002 of a run), Bob Scahr of Boston (22 victories), and Dario Perez of Dallas (277 strikeouts). MVP hardware went to Batkin (50 HR/110 RBI/.325 BA) and the Pobladores’ Hamilton Craft (38 HR/96 RBI/.271 BA), while Royal Ricketts trophies were doled out to Cardenas (19-6/1.59 ERA/225 K) and Perez (19-6, 2.35 ERA, 277 K).

The All-Star Game at Milwaukee’s Municipal Stadium was a 7-2 triumph for the Nationals, their third in a row. The all-time series was now tied at ten wins apiece.

Cleveland and Kansas City met for the fourth straight year to settle the NBL crown; this time the Bobcats gained revenge for their losses the previous two seasons, taking the series in five games. Meanwhile Dallas celebrated their first postseason berth since 1957 by downing Boston in six games.

Since moving to Dallas in 1955, the Wranglers had made one World Series appearance, losing to Los Angeles in 1957; the Bobcats had won two World Championships since then. Their postseason pedigree made Cleveland a slight favorite, but Dallas made relatively quick work of them, winning in five games, the franchise’s first title since 1888.

Three former Negro League players—all of whom also posted substantial numbers in integrated basball—were inducted into the Hall of Fame: Dave Bacon, Don Green, and Jim Griffin. Baseball’s highest honor had now been bestowed on 68 individuals.

NBL Season statistics

ABL Season statistics

Weekly standings

1967

St. Louis finished four games ahead of Kansas City in the NBL West and Dallas finished seven games ahead of San Francisco in the ABL West, but neither of those races were as close as the final tally suggested; meanwhile the champions of the two Eastern Divisions, Pittsburgh and Detroit, coasted to divisional titles by double-digit margins. It was the least competitive set of races in recent memory.

Double-threat Chris Hull of the Knickerbockers emerged as a star, winning the NBL batting title with a .315 average while winning 15 games as a pitcher. Denver’s Bob Messinger led the Senior Circuit with 35 home runs and 100 runs batted in. Jimmy Trent of St. Louis led that loop’s pitchers in ERA with a 2.03 mark, while Brooklyn’s Dick Conway paced the circuit in victories with 21 and New York’s Dave Torre led in strikeouts with 233. The Most Valuable Player Award went to Denver sophomore Guillaume Moret (34 HR/71 RBI/.295 BA), the Royal Ricketts Award to Pittsburgh’s Dick Witt (17-5/2.67 ERA/167 K), and the Rookie of the Year Award to San Diego’s Randy Barnes (17 HR/66 RBI/.303 BA).

In the Junior Circuit, Chris Beeler of Detoit was the top hitter, batting .312, Los Angeles’ Hamilton Craft was the top slugger with 31 home runs, and San Francisco’s Bob Raab was the most productive, driving in a league-high 89 runs. Bob Schar of Boston posted the loop’s lowest ERA (1.88) and tied Dallas’ Ken Morrison for the most victories (21). Dario Perez of Dallas fanned 287 to top the circuit. The Wranglers’ John Darnell (4 HR/70 RBI/.308 BA) was the loop’s Most Valuable Player, while Schar (21-8/1.88 ERA/236 K) won the Royal Ricketts Award and Detroit’s Juan Rodriguez (18-6/2.70 ERA/176 K) was the Rookie of the Year.

The NBL regained the edge in the all-time All-Star Game series with their fourth consecutive victory, a 4-2 decision in Atlanta. The Seniors now boasted 11 wins in the 21 contests.

The defending champion Wranglers took care of Detroit in six games to take the ABL flag, while Pittsburgh required the full seven to get past St. Louis in the NBL. The Industrials were no match for Dallas in the World Series, bowing in five games. It was the third title for the Buffalo/Dallas franchise.

The Hall of Fame opened its doors to its 69th, 70th, and 71st members, all of them pitchers: Chuck Hathaway, Joe Shannon, and Tony Williams.

The idea of adding an additional round to the postseason to include more teams had its origins in the negotiations for the 1966 expansion, but it it took until the 1967-1968 pffseason for the owners to agree on a plan. Beginning in 1968, there would be four postseason qualifiers in each league—the two division winners plus the non-division winners with the best records—thus doubling the postseason field.

NBL Season statistics

ABL Season statistics

Weekly standings

1968

86-win San Francisco was the sole entrant of the new eight-team playoff system that failed to amass 90 more more wins during the season. The additional tier, dubbed the “Divisional Round”, saw the Knickerbockers get past Pittsburgh, Brooklyn dispatch St. Louis, Detroit down San Francisco, and Dallas slip by Boston; all but the latter series went 6 games, while the Dallas-Boston tilt went the full seven.

The NBL won its fifth straight All-Star Game by a 3-1 score at Cincinnati. The victory gave the Nats 12 wins in 21 tries.

New York’s Chris Hull hit .318 to repeat as the NBL batting champion; ageless Ralph King of Denver topped the loop in homers with 28 while his teammate Jamie Robinson led in RBI with 100. Bob Peters of the Chicago Traders was the ERA king ERA with a 1.96 mark, Brooklyn teammates Damon Rutherford and Jorge Sandoval tied for the league lead in victories with 18, and Dave Torre of New York repeated as the strikeout champ, fanning 240. Denver’s Guillaume Moret (25 HR/66 RBI/.290 BA) won his second consecutive MVP award; Bobby Peters (14-12, 1.96, 224 K) won his second Royal Ricketts Award, giving him one in each league and one apiece for both Chicago teams. The Rookie of the Year Award went to Cincinnati’s Ron Brown (12 HR/41 RBI/.265 BA).

In the ABL, 39-year-old Harold Batkin added to his legend by collecting his third batting title with a .331 average; Twin Cities’ Steve Garcia led the league in home runs with 36 and tied with San Francisco’s Bob Raab for the lead in RBI with 92. Baltimore’s Larry Diego posted a 1.73 ERA to lead all moundsmen while Juan Rodriguez of Detroit posted 21 wins to top the circuit. Dario Perez of Dallas won his third straight strikeout title with 247. Batkin (29 HR/83 RBI/.331 BA) was an easy choice for MVP (his 9th selection), while the Hawks’ Kevin Edwards (17-7/2.08 ERA/226 K) was the Royal Ricketts Award winner. Jorge Luna (14 HR/61 RBI/.266 BA) of Toronto was the Rookie of the Year.

Detroit (111-51) and Dallas (106-56) squared off for the ABL Championship for the second year in a row; the Wranglers prevailed in seven games. The NBL Championship required neither team to board a plane or pack a suitcase, being an interborough affair between the Knickerbockers (92-70) and Bluebirds (91-71). New York took the series in six games.

The Fall Classic lived up to its name. Dallas’ Dario Perez tossed the first-ever World Series no-hitter in Game Two, but the Knicks claimed victory in three of the first four contests to force the two-time defending champs into a deep hole. Needing to win three straight to dig out of it, the Wranglers did just that, with series MVP Perez giving them a total of 17.2 scoreless innings in the series. Dallas’ third consecutive world championship matched a feat accomplished only by the 1926-1928 Knicks, the 1943-1945 Knicks, and the 1947-1949 Chicago Traders.

NBL Season statistics

ABL Season statistics

Weekly standings

1969

Matt Legrow’s 2-run double in the bottom of the ninth gave the ABL an 11-10 victory in the All-Star Game, its first since since 1963. The Nationals still led the all-time series, 12-10.

Philadelphia’s Jeff Murchison hit .335 and knocked in 124 runs to pace the NBL in those two categories while Los Angeles’ Ernie Ronnebaum hit 41 home runs to lead all challengers. In the Junior Circuit Baltimore’s Armando Landa also topped his league in two categories, hitting 48 home runs and collecting 136 RBI; San Francisco’s Don Johnson was the loop’s top hitter with a .360 average. Denver’s Guillaume Moret (25 HR/66 RBI/.290 BA) won his second consecutive MVP award; Bobby Peters (14-12, 1.96, 224 K) won his second Royal Ricketts Award, giving him one in each league and one apiece for both Chicago teams. The Rookie of the Year Award went to Cincinnati’s Ron Brown (12 HR/41 RBI/.265 BA).

NBL Season statistics

ABL Season statistics

Weekly standings