GAME 1 -- Cleveland 5, Chicago 1   BOX   LOG
Francis Leads Barons to 5-1 Win
Mathews, Flood Homer in 4-Run Fourth
CLEVELAND (Oct. 2) -- Earl Francis, who won just one game after Aug. 23 after an 18-5 start, shut down the West champion Chicago Colts with 8+ innings of four-hit ball, giving the Cleveland Barons a 5-1 Game One win in front of a World Series record crowd of 77,937 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.  Eddie Mathews and Curt Flood hit two-run homers in the fourth inning, and Francis kept Colt hitters off-balance all day.
   The Barons struck first in the bottom of the third, as Johnny Roseboro narrowly missed a three-run homer off Ray Herbert.  Flood led off the inning with a bunt single, and Chuck Hinton later walked, but Roseboro's long drive down the left field line was snared by Joe Adcock, and the former Colt receiver had to settle for a sac fly.  Chicago immediately got the run back when Adcock slapped a two-out double off the wall in right-center, then scored on Ernie Banks' single.
   The Mathews and Flood provided the home side with a four-run lead that never really was threatened as long as Francis was on the mound.  But when Turk Farrell, the club's first-round draft pick from 1958, came on in relief with one out in the ninth, things got interesting.  After Adcock flew out to right, Farrell coughed up singles to Banks and Ed Bailey, then walked Don Demeter to load the bases.  Jerry Lynch, 0-for-3 in the game to that point, then stepped to the plate with a chance to tie the game with one swing.  Instead, the 35-year-old third baseman popped up meekly to right field for the final out. 

Game Two Preview
George Brunet (8-13, 3.94) vs. Bob Friend (17-14, 3.61) 
"Lefty" Brunet, acquired from Washington in the Don Drysdale trade, has been less than impressive since joining the Colts in late July (2-5, 4.48 in 14 games, including 9 starts).  But Colts skipper Lance Mueller is banking on the fact that Brunet has dominated left-handed hitters, who have mustered only a .170 batting average and .481 OPS against the 30-year-old Michigander.
   Friend also switched clubs mid-season, but unlike Brunet, he has been an instrumental part of the Baron's pennant quest, posting a 12-8 record and 3.68 ERA in 22 starts.  Friend was 4-1 in September and split his two regular season starts against Chicago.

GAME 2 -- Cleveland 5, Chicago 4   BOX   LOG
Kuenn Homer Gives Barons 2-0 Lead
Flood 3-for-4, Friend Gets Win
CLEVELAND (Oct. 3) -- Harvey Keunn sent a 2-1 fastball over the fence in left field with Curt Flood aboard, erasing Chicago's lead and putting the Barons on top for good, en route to a 5-4 Game Two win.
   Chicago starter George Brunet got into trouble right out of the gate, loading the bases with one out in the first, but managed to escape having allowed just one run, on Moose Skowron's RBI groundout.  Chuck Hinton ripped an RBI double the next inning, plating Curt Flood for the second time in two innings, and the score held at 2-0 until the top of the fourth.  Joe Adcock led off that inning with a double, then scored on Ernie Banks' single up the middle.  The Colts took the lead on Ed Bailey-s 2-run homer in the sixth, and added a spare rib with Spanky Spangler's RBI double in the seventh, but the Barons rallied for three runs off Chet Nichols in the home half.  Flood and Hinton singled back-to-back with one out, and Flood scored on Bailey's throwing error on a steal attempt.  Two pitches later, Kuenn took Nichols out of the ballpark, sending the home crowd of 77,723 into a frenzy.  Bob Friend got the win, holding Chicago to eight hits and striking out six, and former Colts closer Don Elston nailed down the win with a perfect ninth.  Curt Flood is 5-for-7 in the Series and has scored half of Cleveland's 10 runs.
   The Series now shifts to Comiskey Park, after an off day, where Game 3 is set to feature a battle of aces, Johnny Podres (22-7, 1.81) vs. Don Mossi (25-5, 2.36).

GAME 3 -- Chicago 3, Cleveland 2      BOX   LOG
Sphinx Riddles Barons
Colts Get First Win at Home
CHICAGO (Oct. 5) -- Don Mossi allowed 12 hits but only two runs, as the Colts edged Cleveland 3-2 at Comiskey Field for their first win of the Series.  The clubs exchanged runs in the first inning on Harvey Kuenn's RBI single and Jim Busby's leadoff homer, but Chicago pulled ahead in the second when Norm Cash singled and later scored on Buck Rodgers' RBI single.  Cash scored again in the fourth when he and Willie "Puddin' Head" Jones ripped back-to-back doubles off Cleveland starter Johnny Podres.
   Podres was sharp most of the day, allowing just eight hits compared to Mossi's 12, but gave up hits at the wrong times and took the hard-luck loss.  The Barons scratched a run back in the fifth on three singles, but Mossi allowed just one baserunner in the next three innings.  Cleveland staged a rally off reliever Chet Nichols in the ninth.  With two out, Chuck Hinton walked and Kuenn singled, but with the tying run 90 feet from home, Eddie Mathews struck out swinging.  Mathews is just 1-for-8 since his Game 1 homer.
   Game Four probables are Steve Barber (13-8, 3.31) and Game 1 loser Ray Herbert (15-10, 3.64).

GAME 4 -- Chicago 2, Cleveland 1      BOX   LOG
Herbert's Redemption
Colts Knot Up Series
CHICAGO (Oct. 6) -- Ray Herbert came within two outs of a complete game shutout, going the distance for a 2-1 win to redeem himself for his Game 1 loss.  Steve Barber gave up just four hits, but like Podres in Game 3, ended up on the short end of the stick.  Norm Cash singled home Ernie Banks, who walked in the fourth, and the Colts scored again in the fifth.  Buck Rodgers led off with a double to left-center and scored three batters later on a Chuck Cottier RBI groundout.  The Barons got two men on base in the sixth and got a runner to third in the seventh, but did not score until the ninth.  Moose Skowron doubled off Herbert, reached third on Gus Bell's groundout, and scored on Harvey Kuenn's sac fly.  But Curt Flood flied out to right for the final out, and the Colts leveled the series at two games apiece.  It is the first time in five World Series that the Colts have managed two wins, having lost four straight Classics to the Brooklyn Superbas in five games.
 

GAME 5 -- Cleveland 5, Chicago 3      BOX   LOG
Colts Can't Reverse Early Deficit
Barons One Game From Title
CHICAGO (Oct. 7) -- The Cleveland Barons fended off a late rally to win 5-3, giving them two chances at home to clinch their first UL championship. Game One winner Earl Francis got off to a rocky start, allowing back-to-back singles to Spanky Spangler and Jim Busby, but got the new two batters out on infield line-outs. After Ed Bailey walked to load the bases, Joe Adcock singled home Spangler, but LF Gus Bell gunned down Busby at the plate for the final out, sparing Francis from giving up a big inning. Surprise Chicago starter Bob Grim, who had never started a game in his 12-year career, was solid in the first inning, allowing just one hit, but showed jitters in the second, giving up a single, home run, and a double before retiring a single batter. Bell's homer put Cleveland ahead, and after Curt Flood doubled and stole third, Francis' groundout brought home a third Baron run.
     Grim left the game after 2.2 innings, and his replacement George "Lefty" Brunet was effective, giving up five hits and two runs in 6.1 innings, though not effective enough to reverse Cleveland's lead. Harvey Kuenn's solo homer in the fifth made it 4-1, and Curt Flood got an RBI single in the eighth after Brunet walked Eddie Mathews and plunked Roman Mejias. Chicago 2B Chuck Cottier put on a fielding clinic, making no fewer than three spectacular plays, all with runners on base.
     Trailing 5-1 with just six outs left, the Colts did not give up. On the contrary, the departure of Francis and his replacement by Turk Farrell gave the home team new life. After CF Curt Flood robbed Spangler of a lead-off homer to straightaway center, Farrell walked Busby and Norm Cash halved the lead with a two-run shot on the next at-bat. With Terry Fox on the hill in the ninth, Jerry Lynch hit a leadoff single to bring the tying run to the plate. Lynch moved to second on pinch hitter Don Demeter's fielder's choice. Pinch hitter Lenny Green then sent a first-pitch fastball to the warning track in right-center, just missing a game-tying home run. Fox induced Spangler to ground out to second for the game's final out, sending the Series back to Cleveland with the Barons up three games to two.
     Francis went seven innings, allowing just six hits and one run, to win Player of the Game honors, although Harvey Kuenn was a close second with a 3-for-5 with a two-run homer.
     Game 6 probables are lefty Don Mossi (25-5, 2.36) (1-0, 2.35) and righty Bob Friend (12-8, 3.68) (1-0, 4.50).

GAME 6 -- Chicago 8, Cleveland 3       BOX   LOG
Chicago Uses Longballs to Rout Barons
Adcock Homers Twice, Sphinx Wins Again
CHICAGO (Oct. 9) -- Facing elimination in front of 77,000-plus hostile fans, the Chicago Colts used four home runs, including three in the first three innings and two by Joe Adcock, to rout the hosting Cleveland Barons 8-3, forcing the first UL World Series Game 7 in six years.  Don Mossi pitched a seven-hit complete game for his second win of the series.  Adcock started the homer-fest with a leadoff longball in the top of the second, and Banks and Adcock each homered in the third for an early 4-1 Colts lead.
     Cleveland starter Bob Friend, failing on the mound, produced at the plate, launching a 427-foot homer to straightaway center to cut the lead to 4-2.  But Mossi was too good, retiring 11 straight batters from the third to seventh innings, and the Barons wouldn't score again until the eighth, by which time Chicago had put the game out of reach.  The Colts took a 6-2 lead in the fourth on an Ernie Banks' sac fly and a wild pitch.
     Mossi lost some focus in the bottom of the eighth.  After Roman Mejias reached on a Chuck Cottier fielding error, Mossi threw a wild pitch and allowed back-to-back singles to Dick Groat and Curt Flood, the latter scoring Mejias.  But Chuck Hinton and Harvey Kuenn both failed to deliver in RBI situations, and the Colts added a pair of insurance runs in the ninth to put the game away.
     The Colts tallied 13 hits, ironically matching the series high established by Cleveland in Game 3, when Cleveland got 13 hits but lost to Mossi 3-2.  Jim Busby and Jerry Lynch each had three hits.
     Cy Young winner Johnny Podres (0-1, 3.86) will try to put the Series away for Cleveland in Game 7, while Chicago will hand the ball to Ray Herbert (1-1, 3.38).

GAME 7 -- Chicago 4, Cleveland 1       BOX   LOG
Banks Blasts Colts to Championship
Herbert Stellar as Chicago Celebrates 1st UL Title
CHICAGO (Oct. 10) -- For the second day in a row, the Chicago Colts faced elimination on the road, and for the second time they overcame all obstacles, defeating the Cleveland Barons 4-1 in front of World Series-record crowd of 77,940.  Ray Herbert battled Cy Young winner Johnny Podres for six scoreless innings, and the Colts ultimately prevailed after MVP Ernie Banks delievered a three-run homer off Pete Richert in the eighth inning.  Herbert earned Player of the Game honors, holding the Barons to just six hits--all singles--over seven innings of work.  He got some help from his defense, as the Colts' fielding was again stellar. 
   With the bases loaded in the bottom of the third, Bill "Moose" Skowron had a chance to do some major damage.  He cranked a ball deep into the left-center field gap, but LF Joe Adcock made a diving catch at the warning track, saving three runs.  Adcock put the Colts on the board first with a two-out double in the top of the sixth, and again the defense was instrumental in preserving the lead, as Ernie Banks and Chuck Cottier made diving infield plays, and Adcock again caught a ball at the track, this time off the bat of Eddie Mathews.
   Podres was nearly untouchable early on, at one point retiring 11 straight batters, but when he made mistakes, he paid, as the Colts ripped three doubles off of him, including the back-to-back two-baggers in the sixth that gave Chicago the lead.  But Podres was pulled after seven innings of five-hit ball, and his replacement Pete Richert proved to be a pivotal figure in this back-and-forth championship series.  Jim Busby walked, then reached second on Cottier's sacrifice, and Adcock then walked to occupy the empty first base.  Ernie Banks then delivered a 445-foot blast to straightaway center that took the oxygen out of Cleveland Municipal Stadium.  Banks homered twice in the Series, in Games 6 and 7, but the Series MVP went to Joe Adcock (.308, .654 SLG, 1.054 OPS) , who led the Colts with five extra-base hits and 17 total bases.  Adcock homered twice in Game 6, and gave the Colts the lead in the sixth inning of Game 7, but his diving catch with the bases loaded in the third was perhaps the turning point of the Series.  "If Cocky misses that ball, we're looking at a 3-0 ballgame with a Cy Young winner on the mound," Herbert said.
   Chicago's victory ends four years of postseason futility, as GM Lance Mueller and the Windy City celebrate their first UL championship.  Chicago is the sixth team to win a UL title, and the first new winner since 1959, when the San Francisco Spiders also won Games 6 and 7 on the road to upset Brooklyn and nab their first league championship.
   Chicago's prospects looked grim, literally, after Game 5.  Lance Mueller's surprise decision to start reliever Bob Grim blew up in his face.  Grim got behind early and the Barons never looked back en route to a 5-3 win.  And with two chances to win the Series at home, Cleveland could forgive themselves for feeling confident.  But like the Superbas six years earlier, the Barons were unable to convert either opportunity, and had the misfortune of watching the visitors celebrate a league championship in their ballpark.
   Herbert was routed 5-1 in Game 1, but bounced back to win Games 4 and 7, in which he gave up just one earned run in 16 innings.  Don Mossi won both his starts (Games 3 and 6), posting a 2.16 ERA and allowing just one walk in 16.2 innings.
   Podres was 22-7 and led the league with a 1.81 ERA during the regular season, but went 0-2 in the Series despite a 0.93 WHIP.  The Barons hit .276 (58-210) in the Series, but take away Curt Flood (12-28) and Harvey Kuenn (12-29) and the rest hit just .222.  Johnny Roseboro was 0-for-23, Chuck Hinton hit .192 (5-26), and club HR and RBI leader Eddie Mathews hit .208 (5-24) with just one home run.  "It's frustrating because we know we could have won it," Mathews lamented after the game.  "But on the bright side, this ballclub is solid and I have no doubt we'll be back next year."