In 1997, Vancouver and Newark faced each other in a thrilling seven-game World Series -- their only post-season meeting. You might have known that Newark won the series, 4-3, but did you know it was one of the DMBL's all-time greatest upsets?

The Vancouver Iron Fist dominated the regular season in 1997, setting league records for wins (118), winning percentage (.728), save percentage (.807), home wins (58) and road wins (60). The team was led by many of its same stars today: Jeff Bagwell (.301-30-117), Ken Griffey Jr. (.330-54-169), Edgar Martinez (.313-18-122) and Sammy Sosa (.275-23-64), plus speedsters Kenny Lofton (.288, 143 R, 78 SB) and Craig Biggio (.292, 89 R, 16 SB). Greg Maddux (22-4, 3.30), winning the second of three straight McDonald Awards that year, anchored a rotation that also featured Curt Schilling (20-7, 4.41), Jeff Fassero (19-6, 3.45) and a rookie named Brad Radke (18-7, 4.99).

The upstart Newark Sugar Bears, on the other hand, had been founded the year before. In their inaugural season, the Sugar Bears tied for the best record in baseball but were knocked out in the first round by the soon-to-be world champion Arkansas Golden Falcons. In 1997, the Sugar Bears won 97 games -- good enough only for second place in the Hanover Division behind the Louisiana Lightning's incredible 109-win season. Newark's offense was led by Mark McGwire (.322-57-139) and a bunch of kids -- Chipper Jones (.287-22-112), Manny Ramirez (.265-30-94) and Jim Thome (.330-38-116), all playing in their first or second year in the league. With Randy Johnson out for the year due to a fishing injury, the Newark rotation was comprised of Kevin Appier (13-10, 4.78) and three unknowns: Mike Grace (15-10, 3.91), Scott Sanders (10-9, 4.27) and Shawn Estes (16-6, 4.53).

The Vancouver Iron Fist had a bye in round one, then blew out the Austin Outlaws in four straight to advance to their fourth World Series appearance in franchise history. Newark, on the other hand, battled a scrappy Sacramento Seahawks team in round one, winning the best-of-5 series in four games, then shocked the powerful Lightning team in a five-game series that included two extra-inning affairs.

The Sugar Bears posted an impressive 54-27 (.667) mark at home, but were a mediocre road team at 43-38. The 1997 Iron Fist, of course, still hold the record for the best home mark at .716, and they had Maddux taking the mound in Game 1. So it was a shocker when the Sugar Bears took the first game in the Iron Dome, 3-1, behind a masterful performance from Grace (8 IP, 6 H, 1 BB, 1 ER).

Game 2 appeared to be more of the same as the Sugar Bears drew first blood, staking Sanders to a 1-0 lead. But Vancouver quickly rallied for two runs in the bottom of the second, then tacked on two more in the fifth to give Schilling for a 4-1 lead. Newark came back for three runs in the top of the 6th to tie it up, but Terry Steinbach ended it with a lead-off, walk-off homerun to win it 5-4.

But the road team can only hope for a split in the first two games, and Newark returned to the friendly confines of the Cereal Bowl for the next three games. Fassero befuddled the Newark's bats, blanking them for 7 innings, while the offense battered Appier for 4 runs. Comfortably ahead at 4-0 in the top of the ninth, the Iron Fist added some insurance, bombing T.J. Mathews for seven runs on eight hits. The anemic Sugar Bears' offense scratched across two meaningless runs in the bottom of the frame for an 11-2 final.

Now guaranteed a return trip to Vancouver, the Iron Fist smelled blood in the water and immediately went to work on Estes, with Jay Buhner singling home Biggio before most Sugar Bear fans could get settled into their seats. Radke got another run to work with in the top of the 5th, but McGwire cracked a solo shot in the bottom of the inning to make it 2-1. Vancouver added two more runs in the 7th, then hung on for a 4-3 win as Newark's ninth-inning rally against closer Roberto Hernandez came up short.

The greatest team in league history now had a 3 games to 1 lead with two games yet to play in their own building, and Maddux taking the hill against Grace in Game 5. It would take not one, but three miracles for the Sugar Bears to win it all.

The clock seemed very close to midnight for the Cinderella team when Vancouver took a 3-1 lead into the 8th in Game 5 on homeruns by Bagwell and Buhner. But a tiring Maddux gave up a two-run shot to Jones to tie it, then Ramirez singled to put the go-ahead run on first base. Larry Casian came in and promptly gave up a walk to Bill Haselman.

Mel Rojas came on to pitch for Vancouver and McGwire stepped up to the plate for Newark. McGwire was hitting just .196 in the post-season, but he launched Rojas's first pitch 508 feet into the Newark night to give the Sugar Bears an incredible 6-3 win and the chance to play another day.

Back in Vancouver for Game 6, the Iron Fist weren't in a playful mood. After giving up a run in the top of the 1st, the offense pounded Sanders for six runs, then added another in the bottom of the second. Newark kept threatening, and managed to score once in the second and again in the third, but Schilling skirted out of jam after jam. Sanders was yanked in the 6th after giving up 7 runs on 11 hits and 6 walks, but the Newark bullpen came in and finally slammed the door on Vancouver's offense, The damage had already been done, however, and with a five-run lead and two outs in the 7th inning, the champagne was again wheeled into the Vancouver clubhouse and NBC announcer Bob Costas quipped, "The fat lady isn't singing yet, but someone is knocking on her dressing room door."

But once again, former Vancouver pitching coach Gene Nelson -- fired after the series -- stuck with his starter too long and the Newark batters began catching up to Schilling's fastball, scoring twice on singles by Reggie Jefferson and Jim Eisenreich to bring the game within "a bloop and a blast" at 7-5. But Billy Wagner got the final out of the 7th and Vancouver survived a nailbiter 8th inning that saw three pitching changes. The game went to the 9th with Hernandez on to close it out.

Marty Cordova walked. John Jaha singled. That brought up the go-ahead run in the form of Chipper Jones -- and he cracked a long drive down the right-field line. Fifty thousand Vancouver fans held their breath and watched... as the ball clanged resoundingly off the fair-pole for a three-run homerun to give the Sugar Bears an 8-7 lead. The demoralized Iron Fist got the tying run to first with one out on a ninth-inning single off Ron Villone, but John Wetteland came in to close it out for Newark and send the series to Game 7.

Fassero, well rested after dominating the Sugar Bears in Game 3, would get the call for the decisive game. Newark, on the other hand, turned to an exhausted Grace, who had tired in the 5th inning only three days before.
The gamble appeared to pay off when Newark came up with two runs in the 1st inning and three more in the 5th off Fassero, knocking him out of the game. Grace yielded just one run in the first four frames, but a costly error by Newark shortstop Walt Weiss in the bottom of the 5th opened the flood gates and Vancouver pushed across six runs. Grace, grimacing in pain even during his warm-up pitches, was finally pulled in the 6th inning and Vancouver promptly added another run off Paul Assenmacher to take a 8-5 lead. Vancouver fans, wary after back-to-back come-from-behind losses, began warming to the idea of a championship as Radke, who had completely shut down the Sugar Bears' bats in Game 4, took to the mound in relief. He closed out the 5th, cruised through the 6th and got the first two outs in the 7th before giving up a two-out single to Jones.

Now batting... Number 25, Mark McGwire.

Could it happen again? Radke, after the game, said he had no rookie jitters facing the man who, in 1996, had set the all-time major league record with 84 bombs. "I was a Columbia Crusaders fan growing up, so I was very familiar with Big Mac and I thought I had an idea of what to do with him," Radke said. "As a matter of fact, I was probably thinking too much about the next guy. I wasn't really worried about Mark at all."

McGwire crushed Radke's 1-1 pitch into the cheapseats to make it 8-7, and then the next guy -- Manny Ramirez -- drilled a solo shot off Barry Manuel to tie it up at 8-8.

The Newark bullpen again swung into action, with Mathews silencing Vancouver's bats in the bottom of the 7th. In the top of the 8th, the Iron Fist replied with Rojas, who was spectacular during the regular season (7-0, 16 SV, 1.75 ERA) but had already given up 3 homeruns in the series. Rojas blew away John Jaha and pinch-hitter Ray Durham, then faced the Sugar Bears' third-string catcher: Charles Johnson, hitting .095 (2-for-21) on the season and 0-for-1 in the series.

"Marty (Cordova) was on deck and he was seeing the ball pretty well that night, so I was just trying to find a way to get on base and keep the inning going," Johnson said. "I fell behind right away and I thought, 'This game is going to extra innings.' "

Rojas got Johnson to chase two forkballs in the dirt to get ahead, 0-2, but Johnson laid off the next two to square the count. Rojas then came back with a blistering fastball that looked good to everybody but home plate umpire Richie Phillips, who called it ball 3.

"I knew he wasn't going to walk me and he was bouncing the forkball up there, so I just sat dead-red and said OK, here we go," Johnson said.

The call, by Vancouver play-by-play man Andy Van Slyke:

"Rojas is still fuming about that last call and I don't blame him. In the bottom of the 8th, it will be Johnny Damon, Willie Greene and Kenny Lofton coming up for the Fist, which means we will see the 'Killer Bs' in the bottom of the 9th. OK, Steinbach is flashing the sign. Rojas kicks and deals the 3-2. Johnson swings and drives one out to left field! Does it have enough? Griffey is racing back, he's at the wall, he leaps... did he get it? No! IT'S GONE! Charlie Johnstone hits a solo homerun to put the Sugar Bears up 9 to 8! I do not believe it! Griffey is staring into his empty glove, he cannot believe it! Johnstone gets his first World Series hit and it's a homerun to give the Sugar Bears the lead in Game 7!"

Rojas would get Cordova after all, but the demoralized Iron Fist were shut down 1-2-3 in the 8th by Villone, and Wetteland came in to throw a perfect 9th for his third save of the series and give the 12:1 underdogs the World Championship. It was the first time in league history a team other than Vancouver or Arkansas could claim the title.

"I still don't know how we did it," said Grace, the World Series MVP, who effectively ended his career pitching three times in the series despite a torn rotator cuff. "I look at our players and I look at their players, I look at our stats and I look at their stats, and I say, 'How the hell did we do it?' "

It may seem like there are a lot of trades this season, but did you know which season featured the most trades?

The 2001 season is tied for fifth when it comes to trades! Two years ago, 33 trades involving 83 players and 38 picks were made. In fact, this year's total is the lowest since 1997, when only 8 trades involving 23 players and 7 picks were made.

Trade Did You Know?

Just two teams, Phoenix and Vatican City, didn't make any trades this year.

You probably knew that the Newark Sugar Bears' 33-11 pasting of the Philadelphia Endzone Animals is not just the highest-scoring game of the year, but also the highest scoring game in DMBL history. But did you know how many games this season have featured a combined score of 20 or more runs?

Despite all the hoopla surrounding relievers this season, last year was truly the year of the reliever. Nearly every single-season fireman mark was set in 2000, and only a handful of marks are likely to be challenged this season.

There have been 51 games this season where the two teams combined for 20+ runs. Three of those games came on Sunday, and two came in the same doubleheader: The Honolulu Sharks out-slugged the Vancouver Iron Fist, 16-15 and 14-11, with Jason Giambi smacking 3 HR and 9 RBI in the twinbill. Later that afternoon, the Phoenix Dragons survived a slugfest with the Brooklyn Bean Counters, winning 12-10.

There have been 13 games with 25+ runs, and five games that saw 30 or more baserunners cross home plate.

Highest Scoring Games This Year

Slugfest Did You Know:

Vatican City has played in the most slugfests (15), followed by Honolulu (12) and Phoenix (12).