With only 76,000 people, Wilmington, Delaware was the 9th-smallest city in the NABU...but they were a metropolis compared to their opponent in the Cup Final, the Forest City club of Rockford, Illinois (31,000, larger than only Keokuk and Middletown). In the lid-lifter, Rockford, who had suffered some key injuries, had trouble dealing with the pain -- actually Payne, as in Qs starter Harley Payne. Allowing only three singles, he shut out Forest City, 3-0, as Frank Grant slammed a homer in the eighth. In the second game, Rockford raced to a 4-0 lead in the third, keyed by a double and triple by lead-off man John Kiley. But the Quicksteps chipped away with two runs in the fourth and another deuce in the sixth on John Tener's two-run blast. Rockford went back ahead in the seventh, but Wilmington settled matters with a three-run eighth, keyed by Walter Prince's two-run triple: 7-5 was the final, and the 'Steps had a 2-0 series lead.
Back in Illinois, the third game was a corker. Leading 6-3 in the seventh, the Qs suddenly had trouble out West -- actually, with Rockford right fielder Buck West, who hit a three-run homer to tie the game. (Payne, so masterful in Game 1, was pasted by 14 Forest City hits in this contest.) In the ninth, after reliever Foghorn Bradley got two quick outs, Law Daniels slapped a double and West was intentionally walked. Joe Quinn then dropped a single in front of Qs left fielder Ducky Holmes -- who booted the ball, allowing Daniels to lay down the Law and score the winning run. Game 4 was a pitcher's duel as Rockford's Gus Weyhing and Wilmington's Phil Knell each held the opposition to a single tally through eleven. But in the twelfth, it was Quinn again, hitting a sac fly scoring Lou Hardie to even the series.
In the fifth game, Rockford knew they needed to hold serve -- and win at least one game on the road -- to take the series. But the Quicksteps banged out 17 hits (including four each from Deacon McGuire and Tommy Corcoran) in a 9-5 win that sent the Qs back home with a 3-2 series lead. In Game 6, Payne gave up a quick run in the opening stanza, but shut down the Forest City offense after that, allowing just the one run through seven. Meanwhile, the Qs bats pounded Weyhing without mercy, scoring ten times -- with Holmes driving in six, including a three-run homer. Rockford made it interesting with six runs in the eighth, including a two-run double by pinch-hitter Dan McKeough, but it was too little, too late, as the Quicksteps brought the Cup to the Nation's First State with a 12-7 victory.
