August 13, 1965: Dodgers’ Osteen tosses complete game as National Guard is deployed to burning Los Angeles

The contrast could not have been starker on a Friday night in August 1965. While Claude Osteen of the Los Angeles Dodgers picked the Pittsburgh Pirates apart in a six-hitter at pristine Dodger Stadium, California National Guardsmen were occupying large swaths of South Central Los Angeles, engulfed in flames and violence less than nine miles from the ballpark.

Two days after police stopped a 21-year-old Black motorist on the night of August 11, an almost 50-square-mile section of Los Angeles looked more like a war zone than a bustling American city. Centering on the historically Black and impoverished neighborhood of Watts and gradually expanding, a series of violent confrontations erupted between Black Angelinos and police.1 “Los Angeles was virtually a city on fire as flames from stores, industrial complexes and homes lit the sky,” reported Art Berman in the Los Angeles Times.2

Often described as a rebellion, or uprising, the riot was hitherto the worst in the history of the city. The explosive clashes between Black residents, who had long protested police brutality in the city, and law enforcement had “brought anarchy to a crowded area of Los Angeles,” wrote the Times.3 “Terrorism is spreading,” continued the Times, as the situation worsened through Friday, overwhelming the approximately 600 police, deputy sheriffs, and highway patrolmen.4

By 9:45 that evening, 2,000 National Guardsmen had established headquarters in the riot area, while 3,000 more were on standby.5 In a striking image of unimaginable contradictions, “[H]elmeted guardsmen in jeeps with mounted machine guns” roamed South Central Los Angeles, wrote the Times, while the Dodgers and Pirates played less than a 15-minute car ride to the northeast.6

The National League-leading Dodgers (68-48) had a day off following Don Drysdale’s nifty five-hit shutout of the New York Mets before commencing a much anticipated three-game set with the sixth-place Pirates (60-57), eight games off the lead. “The musclebound Buccos all but blew the Stadium off the map with the heaviest bombardment in the park’s four-year history,” quipped sportswriter Frank Finch about the last time the clubs met at Dodger Stadium (June 24-27).7 Skipper Harry Walker’s squad pounded the Dodgers for 30 runs and took three of four, while slugger Willie Stargell spanked three round-trippers and missed a fourth by a couple of feet in the first game.

The pitching matchup for August 13 featured disparate southpaws. The Pirates’ Bob Veale was 29 years old, a hulking 6-foot-6, 225-pounder, who struck fear in opponents as much with his blazing heater as he did with his occasional wildness, amplified by his bespectacled appearance. A converted reliever, Veale went 18-12 in his first year as a starter, 1964, and led the NL with 250 strikeouts and 124 walks. Thus far in ’65, he was 12-8 (2.87 ERA) and third in the NL in strikeouts (185) behind Sandy Koufax and Bob Gibson. He had a string of four straight complete-game victories with only three earned runs over the Dodgers dating to his last start against them in ’64.

In a blockbuster offseason trade, the Dodgers had acquired 25-year-old Osteen, along with John Kennedy and $100,000 while sending fan favorite Frank Howard and three others to the Washington Senators. Osteen, who had made his major-league debut as a 17-year-old with his hometown’s Cincinnati Reds in 1957, was coming off a strong campaign, winning 15 for the lowly 100-loss Senators.

Possessing “a mean sinker, curve ball, and slider,” the cerebral Osteen pitched to contact.8 He entered the game with a stellar 2.62 ERA but a misleading 9-11 record, the product of the Dodgers’ weak offense as the league’s third-lowest scoring team in ’65. In his debut with the Dodgers, Osteen tossed a two-hitter against the Pirates, but had been shelled for seven runs and 12 hits in just 9⅔ innings in his subsequent two starts against the Bucs.

With temperatures reaching 90 degrees for the sixth straight day, 32,551 fans filed into Dodger Stadium for the 8 P.M. start time.9 It must have been a surreal experience given the upheaval on one of the most tumultuous days in the city’s history. The crowd “seemed a bit subdued,” opined Finch, “perhaps because smoke that apparently drifted in from the riot area hung like a pall over the stadium.”10

Due to a scheduling quirk, Osteen took the mound on eight days’ rest. He breezed through the first five innings, yielding just one hit, and benefited from two excellent plays by first baseman Wes Parker in a game featuring “some of the fanciest fielding” by the Dodgers all season, gushed Finch.11 Leading off the second inning, Parker made an acrobatic “one-hand, back-to-the-infield stab” of Donn Clendenon’s foul pop, reported sportswriter George Lederer.12

After completing a 6-4-3 twin killing to erase a leadoff walk to Jim Pagliaroni in the third, Parker’s glove work might have saved a run in the fifth. Clendenon led off with a walk and moved to second on the Pirates’ first hit of the game, Bill Mazeroski’s single to center. According to Lederer, Stargell hit a tricky bounder that Parker “fielded on the short hop” and threw to Maury Wills to initiate a 3-6-1 double play.

While Osteen kept the heavy-hitting Bucs off balance, Veale labored early. Sweet Lou Johnson led off the second with a single “through the box” and moved to third on Parker’s double.13 With the infield drawn in, Jeff Torborg’s single drove in Johnson. Willie Davis, mired in a season-long slump and with just five hits in his last 40 at-bats, fanned, eliciting the “first concerted chorus of boos and catcalls Davis has ever heard from Dodgers fans.”14 Providing some levity after the game, skipper Walter Alston declared that “all [Davis] needs is a hit or two to restore his confidence.”15 A few innings later, Davis’s glove turned those jeers to cheers.

After Osteen struck out in the second, Wills walked to load the bases. Jim Gilliam coaxed another walk to push Parker home before Jim Lefebvre’s grounder ending the inning.

With the loss of slugging Hondo Howard, who had led the team in home runs in each of his four full seasons, the Dodgers relied on small ball and hit a league-low 78 round-trippers in ’65.16 Lefebvre led off the fifth with a walk and moved up a station on Ron Fairly’s sacrifice. Johnson singled and Parker’s squeeze bunt drove in Lefebvre to give the Dodgers a commanding three-run lead.

The Dodgers nicked Veale for a hit in each of the sixth and seventh innings and threatened in the eighth. Facing relievers Frank Carpin and then Don Schwall, the Dodgers loaded the bases on two singles and a walk, but Fairly’s grounder ended the rally. The Dodgers finished the game with 16 baserunners, at least one in every inning, but went just 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position and left 13 men on base.

While the Dodgers provided Osteen with a three-run lead, center fielder Willie Davis redeemed himself with several fielding gems which, according to Alston, “may have saved the game.”17 After Osteen set down the Bucs in order in the sixth, Roberto Clemente, leading the majors with a .348 batting average entering the game, hit one to deep center.

In what was described by his manager as “one of the finest catches in the National League this year,” Davis caught the ball over his head on a full sprint.18 Davis, a former sprinting and long jump star in high school in Los Angeles,19 finally corralled the ball on the warning track and warning track and was “unable to apply the brakes until he was half way up the wall,” reported Lederer.20

Wills teamed up with Parker on a double play to erase Alley’s leadoff single in the eighth before giving way to the Davis show in the ninth. Manny Mota led off with a liner to center. According to Pirates beat reporter Lester J. Biederman, Davis made a “diving catch,” robbing Mota of extra bases.”21 Davis “reached up,” wrote Biederman, to rob Clemente of another hit for out two. Following Clendenon’s single, Osteen retired Mazeroski on a popup to third to complete the game in 2 hours and 21 minutes.

Osteen hurled an efficient six-hitter with five strikeouts and two walks. He benefited from excellent fielding, including three double plays and at least five fielding highlights. “I’d say the defense was quite good,” commented an understated Osteen after the game.22 Osteen also admitted that he felt unusually “strong” and cited his “long rest.” Veale struggled with wildness, issuing five walks in seven innings while striking out seven, and was charged with the loss.

Osteen and the Dodgers’ victory aside, Angelinos’ and the nation’s attention was on the social unrest and violence overwhelming Los Angeles. As fans left the ballpark, many might have wondered if the second game of the series on Saturday night could or would take place and when the destruction and bloodshed would stop.23

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Gary Belleville and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author accessed Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, and SABR.org.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN196508130.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1965/B08130LAN1965.htm

Photo credit: Claude Osteen, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 M. Keith Claybrook, “Remembering, Rethinking, and Renaming the Watts Rebellion,” Black Perspectives, August 13, 2021, https://www.aaihs.org/remembering-rethinking-and-renaming-the-watts-rebellion/.

2 Art Berman, “Riot Spreads, 4 Killed, Guard Called,” Los Angeles Times, August 14, 1965: I, 1.

3 “Anarchy Must End,” Los Angeles Times, August 14, 1965: I, 1.

4 “Anarchy Must End.”

5 Berman.

6 Berman.

7 Frank Finch, “Clemente and Co. Take on Dodgers,” Los Angeles Times, August 13, 1965: III, 3.

8 Neyer James/330.

9 “More Heat Due as Mercury Hits 90s for 6th Day,” Los Angeles Times, August 14, 1965: 2.

10 Frank Finch, “Osteen Throttles Buc Sluggers,” Los Angeles Times, August 14, 1965: II, 1.

11 “Osteen Throttles Buc Sluggers.”

12 George Lederer, “Circus Catches Save Osteen” Long Beach (California) Independent, August 14, 1965: B-1.

13 Lester J. Biederman, “Bad Inning, Davis’ Glove Ruin Veale,” Pittsburgh Press, August 14, 1965: 7.

14 Associated Press, “Dodgers, Osteen Beat Bucs, 3-1,” Monrovia (California) Daily News-Post, August 14, 1965: 8.

15 Bill Miller. “Osteen Turning on August Steam,” Pasadena Independent, August 14, 1965: 9.

16 Howard led the Dodgers in home runs every season from 1960 through 1964, except in 1961 when he was limited to just 92 games.

17 Miller

18 Miller.

19 Davis had world-class speed and had potential Olympic potential in both the 100-meter spring and long jump. Jerry Crowe, “Few Players Were More Exciting than Willie Davis,” Los Angeles Times, March 10, 2020, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-mar-10-la-sp-crowe-20100310-story.html.

20 Lederer.

21 Biederman.

22 Lederer.

23 On Saturday, August 14, Koufax followed Osteen with a second consecutive shutout, beating the Pirates 1-0 in 10 innings and scoring the winning run as Clemente lost Gilliam’s fly ball in the lights for an error.