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1958 WORLD SERIES
Colonels Win First Title
LOUISVILLE (Oct. 10) -- Bob Porterfield turned the tables on his former masters, winning Games 2 and 5 to lead the once-hapless Louisville Colonels to their first United League championship.

GAME FIVE (box)     Louisville 5, Brooklyn 3
In yet another nail biter, the Louisville Colonels edged the Brooklyn Superbas 5-3 to win the 1958 United League World Series four games to one.  The game was knotted up at 2-2 in the seventh, as Sphinx Mossi dueled former Superba Bob Porterfield.  But the West champions pulled ahead with five singles off Bob Miller in the seventh, scoring three runs to build an insurmountable lead.  Closer Tom Acker, who pitched in four straight games, yielded the save opportunity to setup man Cliff Fannin, who got into trouble with a walk and a double before retiring Pete Runnels on a comebacker for the final out, which ignited a riotous celebration in Parkway Field and throughout the Bluegrass State. 
   Louisville was a surprise entry into the eight-team circuit in 1951, beating out such major league metropolises as Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh.  The Colonels play in the league's smallest park -- a retrofitted minor league stadium -- and were the league's whipping boy in their first four seasons, finishing 7th or 8th before finally posting their first winning season in 1955.  The club led the West Division for most of last season, before succumbing to a late St. Louis surge.  The Colonels came into the Series as underdogs, having won just 82 games, 17 fewer than the defending champion Superbas.  But the excellent pitching of Johnny Antonelli and Bob Porterfield, and some timely hitting, gave Mark Allen's club the edge in a string of thrilling games.

Brooklyn Staves Off Elimination
12-Inning Heroics Avoids Sweep in Louisville
LOUISVILLE (Oct. 9) -- Brooklyn beat back a four-run deficit to extend the series, but faces an uphill battle after falling behind 3-0 after a thrilling 5-4 Louisville win in Game 3.  Thirty-eight year-old Johnny Pesky was the Game 3 hero with an game-winning RBI double in the bottom of the ninth.

GAME THREE (box)  Louisville 5, Brooklyn 4
The Colonels took a commanding 3-0 Series lead with a 5-4 win in a thrilling Game 3 at Parkway Field.  Closer Tom Acker (27 regular season saves), blew a 4-2 lead in the ninth, as Brooklyn tied it up with four hits and an Elmer Valo error.  Acker did preserve the tie, whiffing Ralph Kiner with a runner on third to end the inning.  In the bottom of the ninth, Game 1 hero Andy Carey just missed a home run to left, then Valo singled two batters later and scored on Johnny Pesky's game-winning double.  The 38-year-old Pesky hit .268 with 32 RBIs during the regular season, in which in he saw the most plate appearances of his eight-year UL career.  The Superbas briefly led 2-1 after Pete Runnels' solo homer in the fourth, but the Louies went ahead on Wally Post's two-run blast the next half-inning.  Lew Burdette took the loss for Brooklyn and Louisville's Herm Wehmeier got no decision.

GAME FOUR (box)     Brooklyn 7, Louisville 5, 12 Inn.
Brooklyn stayed alive with a gutsy comeback that went into extra frames.  Game 1 winner Johnny Antonelli left the game after just one inning after complaining of stomach cramps, and was succeeded by a procession of Louisville pitchers, seven in all.  The Colonels posted four runs in the second inning, using five hits and an error to dig a deep hole for Bas starter Gene Conley.  But the defending champs chipped away at the lead, scoring four runs over the next three innings to tie the game.  George Kell's two-run double halved the lead in the third, and singles by Johnny Logan and Ralph Kiner in the fourth and fifth erased the deficit.  The score held at 4-4 for six innings, as Brooklyn's Bob Miller and Hoyt Wilhelm shut down the home team, and Carl Scheib, Cliff Fannin, and Bob Buhl posted zeroes for the Colonels.  Brooklyn went ahead in the 11th when Jackie Jensen dropped a pop fly, allowing Hobie Landrith to score.  But Louisville struck back, knotting it up again on Elmer Valo's RBI double.  But Acker's control problems were too much to overcome, as Brooklyn made the closer pay for two walks with back-to-back RBI singles by Hobie Landrith and Jim Delsing.  Dick Donovan closed out the game, forcing at least a Game 5.

Colonels Steal Two at the Frank
Antonelli, Porterfield Put Superbas in Deep Hole
BROOKLYN (Oct. 6) -- Louisville took the first two games of the 1958 with a pair of pitching gems by Johnny Antonelli and former 'Ba Bob Porterfield.

GAME ONE (box)    Louisville 2, Brooklyn 1
Johnny Antonelli tossed seven innings of shutout ball, as Moose Skowron broke a scoreless deadlock with a leadoff homer in the seventh and Elmer Valo added a run with a pinch-hit double.  Tom Acker got the save, despite allowing two hits and a walk, by retiring Pete Runnels and Jim Delsing with two runners on and one out.

GAME TWO (box)     Louisville 5, Brooklyn 2
Third baseman Andy Carey atoned for his two fielding errors with a two-run homer in the fifth that put the game out of reach.  Nellie Fox (1 HR in previous 125 games) homered off Don Mossi to start the scoring in the second inning.  Bob Porterfield held the Superbas to six hits and two runs in eight innings of work.  Carey's homer made it 4-0.  The Bas came back with two runs in the the sixth, but didn't score again, as Porterfield, then Acker, put the clamp down.