!,Los Angeles Times, May 12, 1963, p. I-1. Although Mantle was about to turn 32, his tortured body was ancient, and he had played just 65 games that season. How many strikeouts did Sandy Koufax have in the World Series? I was at Koufax's perfect game in '65, and Cubs pitcher Because Koufax's signing bonus was greater than $4,000 ($40,000 today), he was known as a bonus baby. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. "We both gave up two runs, we both allowed five hits. Hendley beat him three times and lost but once. Johnson, Washington Senators, won 3 Triple Crowns: 1913, 1918 & 1924. [1][2] Seven more such meetings have followed with three more times each in the World Series and the NBA Finals, and the 2014 Stanley Cup Finals.[2]. Harvey Haddix and Lew Burdette pitched dual shutouts into the 13th inning. Born: Trouble occurred before the game started. And Koufax did, initiating a 30-inning run during which he walked one batter. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Catcher Elston Howard (.287 BA, 28 HRs, 85 RBI) won the MVP Award, while Joe Pepitone, Roger Maris, and Tom Tresh also topped the 20 home run mark. Koufax also set a new standard with 382 strikeouts in 1965. Not only did Koufax, 28, toss his third no-hitter in three years Heres a little bit of his story and his contributions to the baseball record books. I would think the last two or three innings -- that's as well as I've pitched.". WebSandy Koufax Edition - Baseball Roundtable Braves right-handed pitcher (and 1957 World Series hero, Lew Burdette hit as many home runs and drove in as many runs off Sandy Gregg Doyel, one of the scholastic pitchers Hendley coached, became a sportswriter and eventually learned, via the board game Trivial Pursuit, of his coach's accomplishments. Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn became Hall of Famers, and they already had developed uncommon prestige within the game by July 2, 1963, when their Giants and Braves opposed each other in San Francisco. The Yankees' four runs in the series was, at the time, the second-lowest total in a World Series, as the Philadelphia Athletics had scored only three runs in 1905. Explore Which team has won the most World Series since 2000? A single by first baseman Bill Skowron plated Howard to give the Dodgers a 10 lead. Change). Koufax played his entire career with the Dodgers organization, from Brooklyn, New York through Los Angeles, California,1955 to1966. Sandy Koufax after pitching his 4th career no-hitter, also a perfect game, Sept 9th, 1965. Over the years, Hendley's appreciation of Koufax has grown. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. He was the first three-time Cy Young winner in baseball. As well as he was throwing and setting people down, there was very little chance of overcoming him. Up 4-0, Koufax picked up where he left off, striking out Mantle and Maris, then getting Elston Howard on a foul pop up. Sandy Koufax on Friday avenged the previous Sundays loss in Houston by striking out 14 Colt .45s in a shutout win at Dodger Stadium. Greenwald doesn't do TV because he feels, correctly, that radio is the purest broadcaster's medium. It may have been a surprise to many fans when Koufax retired, but in 1965-1966, he was having regular and severe arm pain and had adopted various remedies to keep pitching. On September 29, 1966, near the end of the regular season, Koufax threw a four-hitter to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1, achieving a third 300-strikeout season, the first major league pitcher to do so since Amos Rusie did it in 1890-92. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. ". Koufax also struck out three pinch-hitters, including Harry Bright to end the game. Do you have a sports website? Sandy was family in L.A. Though a perfect game is a rarity, that Koufax pitched one in 1965 hardly was startling. Sandy Koufax in what appears to be an impromptu locker room press conference following his no-hitter against the New York Mets of June 30, 1962. He won 25 games three times and captured five straight ERA titles from 1962 through 1966. And what a great lesson that is. The Drysdale-Jim Bouton duel in Game 3 (a 1-0 final) was the greatest single day of pitching I've ever seen. "I was just getting people out. To make room for him, the Dodgers optioned their future Hall of Fame manager, Tommy Lasorda, to the Montreal Royals of the International League. Particularly in the last few innings, you knew that he knew he had the perfect game. 3. BY PETER MOORE 2023-05-01T07:00:00.0000000Z . (LogOut/ He ended up pitching 323 innings that year, finishing with a 27-9 record. . Merely Koufax vs. Whitey Ford. But baseball -- more than the other sports -- often is unfair. After that, who knows? Who has the most NL Gold Glove awards? That's how close they came to a double no-hitter evening. Sandy Koufax was born Sanford Braun in December 1935 in Brooklyn, New York, the child of Evelyn and Jack Braun, who divorced when Sandy was three. 54-56. If you see a misplaced button on this guy's shirt, don't mention it. 32 -- like Joe D. in New York and Johnny U. in Baltimore. "He actually sent me a card," Hendley said. "To be beaten by class, beaten by the guy who is one of the best, if not the best ever. PopHistoryDig.com, July 10, 2010. amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; And Drysdale, so mean, so precise, pitched a three- hit shutout. Even today, baseball has but one Sandy, as it has one Babe. James swung and launched a shot onto the pavilion roof in right for a grand slam. ", Hendley has regained a small measure of celebrity. "And I came out a loser. He did have two home runs. That brought to the plate James, a right-handed batter with a .277 average. "This game is the most recognizable thing I've ever done in baseball," Hendley said after the game. More remarkable was that Koufax was the losing pitcher in each of the other instances. Sandy Koufax, delivering his magic from the pitching mound during the mid-1960s. Particularly in the last few innings, you knew that he knew he had the perfect game. The results clearly suggested that. He still held his fork in his left hand, but sometimes he had to bend closer to the plate to get the food into his mouth. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. As of mid-year 2010, Sandy Koufax was still active, appearing for example, at the May 27, 2010 White House reception in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month where he greeted President Obama who later joked with the audience that he and Sandy had something in common: We are both lefties, said the President. What would come the next day? The storyline isn't only that he pitched a perfect game 50 years ago tonight, but rather that the opposing pitcher, one Bob Hendley, pitched a one-hitter while Koufax was perfecting his resum. For there was a time in his career, at one seasons end in 1960, when he threw his glove and spikes into the trash can, believing he was through with baseball. Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax (cover story). University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH). amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "thpohidill-20"; The hard-throwing left-hander Dusty Baker on the unsettling rash of baseball injuries: "First Ken Griffey, then Matt Williams, the two guys who were going after Roger Maris last year. My friends and I were drenched in the glory of Mays, Aaron, Clemente and Robinson; we'd watched them consistently for years. 1956 Topps baseball trading card for Sandy Koufax, pitcher, Brooklyn Dodgers. At the time Koufax was only the sixth pitcher of the modern era to throw a perfect game. Jack Doyle, Date Posted: 10 July 2010 Sabermetricians put little stock in pitchers' victories these days. Ford set the Dodgers down in order in the first inning, but got into trouble in the second inning. Seldom has a person & pitcher pairing produced such excellence on both sides of the ampersand. Also, of the seven championships from the Dodgers franchise, it remains the only one won at home. Koufax's ERA in those games was 3.65. Jane Leavy, Sandy Koufax: A Leftys Legacy, New York: Harper-Collins, 2002. Koufax left baseball with the highest regard of his fellow players, as he had been a model professional, not one to seek the spotlight or boast of his abilities, and often thinking and acting on behalf of the team rather than himself. Comments to: jdoyle@pophistorydig.com. Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos.net. The unlikelystandout that night: Cardinals right fielder Charlie James. Haddix carried a perfect game into the 13th against a most formidable Braves lineup. In fact, things are going so right for Koufax that last Saturday in Milwaukee, one of the rare occasions when he did not pitch well, he hit a three-run homer to prevent defeat. Web> Sandy Koufax. Robert Creamer, An Urgent Matter Of One Index Finger, Sports Illustrated, March 4, 1963. 1 hero and its most attractive bachelor.In one photo he was shown in a swimming pool with a girlfriend; in another, signing autographs at a department store. When the award was given to Koufax at a luncheon in New York City, he was presented with a new carwhile the luncheon was taking place, a New York City police officer put a parking violation ticket on the car's windshield. "What a nice man! It was the first game of a doubleheader in Pittsburgh. Cy Young Award winner. A baseball day doesn't get a whole lot better than this one: a Hall of Famer who is included on any serious list of the top 10 pitchers of all time; an iconic announcer who tops almost every list of illustrious play-by-play men and, arguably, the best-pitched game -- both sides considered -- in the long history of the big leagues. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. No speeches, no press conferences, no tears, no tributes. Koufax was obviously one of the greatest pitchers in MLB history, but his breaking balls were what was so devastating. Article Citation: Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Even for a pitcher, Koufax was a weak hitter, batting just . Their only six confrontations occurred in the first four seasons of a five-season sequence, 1962-66, when Koufax was at the peak of his career. The end can come any day or 10 years from now. 2) Roberto Clemente - went 33 for 111 against Koufax for a .297 batting average with 6 HRs and 16 RBIs. Frank Finch, Sandy Koufax Hurls No-Hit, 5-0 Win, Los Angeles Times, July 1, 1962, p E-1. We were like Cubs fans who wouldn't go see the White Sox if you paid us. 4 Who was Sandy Koufax for the Brooklyn Dodgers? amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; Tom Verducci,The Left Arm Of God, Sports Illustrated, July 12, 1999. Koufax and Drysdale Sign Pactsas Movie Actors, Los Angeles Times, March 18, 1966, p. B-1. By the way, Hendley allowed just one walk. His column ended thusly: "Today he turns 75. . The other memory has been with me since 1982, Billy Martin's downfall season as the A's manager. He had allowed eight walks combined in his three, earlier no-hitters. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. In any case, he was put under the spotlight for refusing to pitch in such a high profile game, but was regarded proudly by Jews around the world for his decision. Video: 2015 ASG: MLB's 'Greatest Living Players' announced. The hard-throwing left-hander was the most dominant pitcher in baseball until elbow arthritis forced an early retirement at age 30. Who has the highest batting average against Bob Gibson? Ever so slightly flawed by Johnson' flare, the Hendley-Koufax game need not be bronzed. In a 12-year big-league career, Koufax yielded 204 home runs, including six grand slams. October 2, 1966 Edward Gruvers April 2000 book, Koufax, 288pp. Roscoe McGowen, Brooklyn-Bred Bonus Baby Is Coming of Age; Koufax 2-Hitter in 2d Start Is Sign of Maturity; Dodgers Are Getting Return on Money Paid to Hurler, New York Times, August 29, 1955.