[FuzzyRussianHat]

The 1965 World Baseball Championship was the 19^th edition of the tournament and was hosted in Honolulu, Hawaii. The defending champion United States narrowly won Division 1 at 5-2, continuing their streak of advancing to the elite eight each tournament. Denmark, Haiti, Peru, Spain, and Venezuela were all only one game behind. South Korea advanced for the sixth time as they won Division 2 at 7-0, holding off a fierce Indonesia at 6-1. In Division 3, last year’s runner-up Poland prevailed at 6-1, two ahead of four other squads including Canada, who missed the elite eight in back-to-back years for the first time. In Division 4, Ecuador and Argentina tied for first at 6-1 with Japan at 5-2. The tiebreaker went to the Ecuadorans, giving them their second-ever division title (1952).

Panama advanced for the first time by winning Division 5 at 6-1, edging perennial contender Mexico by a game. Division 6 went to North Korea at 6-1, who were one better than Puerto Rico. NK now has four elite eight appearances. In Division 7, Russia was undefeated at 7-0 for its fourth division title. And in Division 8, Colombia at 6-1 edged out both France and Serbia by a game. The Colombians move forward for the sixth time in tournament history.

The United States cruised in Round Robin Group A at 6-0, advancing along with South Korea at 4-2, while Ecuador was 2-4 and Panama 0-6. Group B had Russian on top at 5-1, moving along with Poland at 3-3. Colombia and North Korea each finished 2-4.



In a rematch of the prior season’s championship, the Americans topped the Poles in six games, sending the US to the finale for the 15^th time. The other semi was a seven game thriller with South Korea edging Russia, sending the Koreans to their third championship. SK would be 0-3 in the championship round as the United States rolled again, taking the series 4-1. That marks 12 titles for the Americans, including five of the last six.



R.J. Clinton became the second player in tournament history to earn MVP honors twice, joining Adam Lewis. The three time National Association MVP with Indianapolis led the American team in 24 starts with 15 home runs, 30 RBI, 24 runs, 26 hits, and 6 doubles for 2.4 WAR. The 15 homers was one short of Ron Koehler’s 1962 mark for the tourney record. Best Pitcher was given to Chile’s Victoro Ortega. A 27-year old reliever for Montevideo, Ortega had eight scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts. Below are the updated all-time results for the tournament.



Other notes: France’s Davey Miquel in seven games had 11 hits, eight of which were home runs. His .700 OBP, 1.800 slugging, and 2.500 OBP remain as tournament records as of 2037, albeit coming with a small sample size.