Moorhead Wins the Pennant

Somewhat anticlimactically, Moorhead was awarded the 1897 RRVL pennant after the league disbanded. Final standings printed in the Forum on July 31st show how the "Barmaids" truly dominated the truncated season:

                                          W          L        PCT
Moorhead                           26       10        .722
Grand Forks                       18        21       .463
Wahpeton-Breckenridge     16        21       .433
Fargo                                 15        23        .395

These standings are somewhat questionable, however. Clearly Moorhead was the best team in the league, but Fargo played better than the published standings show. The sticking point is exhibition games. Occasionally, the papers would explicitly state which games were exhibitions, but not always. Fargo's record, including exhibition games and games played after the league officially disbanded, was 24-30. All of Fargo's exhibitions in 1897 were against other RRVL teams, except for a 8-6 win on June 22nd against Detroit Lakes, a team in the running for membership in the RRVL before the season began.