September 3, 1955: Bonus baby Sandy Koufax pitches 5-hit shutout against Pirates for second win

“Only twice in my life has my spine actually tingled. Once was when I saw the Sistine Chapel. The other was when I saw Sandy Koufax throw a fastball.” — Al Campanis scouting Koufax1

You’re a 19-year-old pitcher, injured and sitting on the bench for more than two months before your major-league debut, a two-inning relief appearance, your team trailing by six runs. Your rookie season promises to be like a roller coaster. Shouldn’t you be honing your pitching skills in the minors? Not Sandy Koufax. He was a bonus baby, a free agent signed for an estimated $20,000 under the bonus rules of 1953-1957.2 Author Paul Dickson aptly characterized the fate of many bonus babies, noting that “their talent rusted in idleness on the bench.”3

Koufax’s performance in his first year at the University of Cincinnati unsurprisingly garnered considerable attention–34 strikeouts in two consecutive games,4 51 strikeouts and 30 walks in 30 innings, and a 3-1 record.5 The Dodgers, always reluctant to sign bonus players, knew very well that the Giants, Yankees, Pirates, Cubs, Indians, and Braves were all interested in signing Koufax.6

When Koufax became a Brooklyn Dodger in December 1954, he became their first and only signing under the various iterations of the bonus rules in effect from 1947 to 1965. In 1953 one bonus rule stated that “any player signed for more than a $4,000 bonus must stay two full seasons on the roster of the signing club.”7

Opportunity knocked infrequently in this bonus baby’s 1955 season–that first appearance in relief in June against the Braves, his first start in July against the Pirates, and an occasional relief inning here and there.8 His first win came on the last Saturday in August giving us just a hint of what the future might hold. Koufax shut out the Redlegs 7-0 at Ebbets Field for his first win, pitching a two-hitter and striking out 14.9

The roller coaster? Four days later, Koufax’s relief appearance against the Braves was a flop, four earned runs on four hits in one inning of work. As the baseball calendar turned to September, Koufax’s pitching stats told various stories–two starts in eight appearances, 22 strikeouts and 17 walks in 21â…” innings, a 2.91 ERA. But Koufax was getting another chance as the starting pitcher facing the Pirates and Bob Friend (9-8, 3.26 ERA) three days after the disastrous relief appearance.

A groundout and two strikeouts in the top of the first were a sign of good things to come for Koufax. Friend, who already owned two wins over the Dodgers in 1955, was not so fortunate in the bottom of the first. Jim Gilliam opened with a drag-bunt single and stole second before Pee Wee Reese struck out. The Dodgers led the majors in stolen bases, and their thievery paid off once again in this rally. Duke Snider lined a single to right-center scoring Gilliam for a 1-0 Dodgers lead.10

The best opportunity all afternoon for the Pirates came in the third inning, the only time they ever had two runners on base. With one out, Friend lined a single to left and advanced to second when Eddie O’Brien was hit by a pitch. However, Gene Freese struck out swinging and Román Mejías fouled out to Gil Hodges at first. It was the only time all afternoon that a Pirates baserunner who had gotten a hit advanced as far as second base and the opportunity went for naught.

The groundouts kept coming for Koufax, six of them for all the outs in the fourth and fifth innings. In fact, other than yielding those five harmless singles, Koufax allowed only one ball to be hit to the outfield, a short fly to Gilliam in left to end the sixth inning.11

But the pressure was still on Koufax because the Dodgers couldn’t add to the lead against Friend until the seventh. Their best opportunity was in the fourth inning. Reese opened with a single to right and advanced to second on a passed ball, but Friend retired Snider, Roy Campanella, and Carl Furillo in order.

Friend finally yielded a second run in the seventh inning. Snider opened with a single to left, advanced to second on Campanella’s sacrifice, and scored on Furillo’s line single to right. The Dodgers led 2-0.

Roberto Clemente fouled out as a pinch-hitter for Friend in the eighth; it was Roy Face on the mound in relief against the Dodgers in their next turn. Singles by Gil Hodges and Don Zimmer to open the inning put runners on first and third. Hodges scored on a passed ball with Zimmer reaching third. Another bunt by Gilliam scored Zimmer for the final Dodgers run.

Koufax yielded a harmless second walk in the ninth, but retired the side without further consequence for his second victory. As noted, Hodges was kept busy fielding throws on groundouts, totaling 13 putouts for the game. Snider in center and Furillo in right never had to field a fly ball. Koufax’s control was as important to his success in this game as any other factor.

Less than one month remained in the 1955 regular season and it wasn’t much of a pennant race in the National League after the Dodgers won their first 10 games. Now they led the second-place Milwaukee Braves by 14 games and eventually clinched the pennant on September 8, the earliest date in league history.12

After the clinching, Koufax pitched ineffectively on three occasions, losing twice including in a relief appearance against the Pirates on the next to last day of the regular season.13 Koufax’s line for the season–2-2, 3.02 ERA, 28 walks/30 strikeouts in 41â…” innings with two brilliant shutouts.

Sometimes the stat line tells only part of the story. When manager Walter Alston had given the ball to his bonus baby in late August against the Reds, the Dodgers pitching was crippled with injuries to both Billy Loes and Don Newcombe. Koufax’s brilliant shutout prompted sportswriter Roscoe McGowen to remark, “Nobody raised his hat higher to young Koufax than his manager, who certainly needed a lift.”14 Surely the shutout of the Pirates deserved an extra wave of the cap by Alston.

We can speculate that Koufax’s path to dominant pitcher would have been different had he started his career in the minor leagues to learn his craft and not been subjected to the bonus-baby rules. Baseball Almanac notes that nine pitchers made their bonus-baby debuts during the 1954 and 1955 seasons. Only Pittsburgh’s Laurin Pepper (8) made more starts than Koufax (5) in the first 50 innings of their major-league careers.15 Give credit to Alston for using Koufax as he did and reaffirming to the press after clinching the National League pennant, “It was a 25-man job.”16

With the last out of World Series Game Seven, the season became historic–the only World Series title ever celebrated by the Brooklyn Dodgers and their Flatbush faithful.17 As for Koufax, he remained on the Dodgers’ postseason roster in 1955 and 1956, but did not pitch in either World Series. Sometimes, greatness takes a while. When opportunity knocked in 1963, Koufax’s MVP performance led the Los Angeles Dodgers to a four-game sweep of the Yankees for the World Series title.18

AUTHOR’S NOTE

As former Brooklyn Dodgers fans, the author and his father finally got to see Sandy Koufax pitch in 1963, an opportunity they never enjoyed at Ebbets Field. In the midst of his record-breaking 25-5 season. Koufax merely struck out 13 at the Polo Grounds and handed the hapless New York Mets their 13th consecutive loss.19

In his book The Baseball 100, author Joe Posnanski attributes the reference to Koufax and the Sistine Chapel to Dodgers executive Buzzie Bavasi.20 Perhaps both Campanis and Bavasi uttered a similar line or maybe it makes not one bit of difference. Posnanski concludes his essay on Koufax in fitting fashion–“Baseball wouldn’t be the same without Sandy Koufax, the man, the myth, the legend, and the balderdash.”21

SOURCES

The author accessed Retrosheet.org (retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1955/B09030BRO1955.htm), Baseball Almanac (baseball-almanac.com/legendary/Bonus_Babies.shtml), and Baseball-Reference.com (baseball-reference.com/boxes/BRO/BRO195509030.shtml) for box scores/play-by-play and other data.

NOTES

1 Roger Kahn, The Era 1947-1957 When the Yankees, Giants and Dodgers Ruled the World (Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1993), 327.

2 “New Pitching Prospect for Dodgers,” New York Times, December 14, 1954: 47.

3 Paul Dickson, The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, Third Edition (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2009), 125.

4 Marc Z. Aaron, “Sandy Koufax,” SABR Baseball Biography Project. Koufax pitched a four-hitter against Wayne State, striking out 16 and in his next start against Louisville, he fanned 18, a school record.

5 The New York Times reported that Koufax recorded a 4-0 record at the University of Cincinnati (John Drebinger, “O’Malley Replies to Brooks’ Critic, New York Times, December 15, 1954: 44). Other sources (Sandy Koufax with Ed Linn, Koufax (New York: Viking Press, 1966), 43; 2022-23 Cincinnati Baseball Record Book, gobearcats.com/documents/2022/9/22/2022-23_Baseball_Record_Book.pdf, 7.) report Koufax’s one-season record, 3-1, 2.81 ERA. Koufax’s record of 18 strikeouts was broken by Bill Faul, UC’s first baseball All-American,who fanned 24 in a game against the Jacksonville Naval Station in 1961.

6 “Koufax, Boro Sandlot Star, Newest Dodger,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 15, 1954: 18.

7 Brent Kelley, Baseball’s Bonus Babies: Conversations with 24 High-Priced Ballplayers (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2006), 1.

8 Mark S. Sternman, “A wild beginning: Sandy Koufax makes his first major-league start,” SABR Baseball Games Project.

9 Gregory H. Wolf, “August 27, 1955: Teenage Sandy Koufax strikes out 14 in first big-league win,” SABR Baseball Games Project.

10 Roscoe McGowen, “Koufax Blanks Pittsburgh; Brooks Need 7 for Pennant,” New York Times, September 4, 1955: 5-2. McGowen notes that Snider was “still booed by one or two fans.” The Dodgers lost a late August doubleheader to Cincinnati. Slowly recovering from a bout with the flu, Snider was in a 10-game homerless streak and had stranded eight runners in the doubleheader. He was loudly booed. After the second game, he blurted to reporters: “Fans! What a bunch of cruddy front-runners! They’re the worst fans in the league!” He apologized the very next day. (Bill Madden, “Hall-of-Famer Duke Snider, the Last Surviving Regular of the ‘Boys of Summer’ Dodgers, Dead at 84,” New York Daily News, February 28, 2011, nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/hall-of-famer-duke-snider-surviving-regular-boys-summer-dodgers-dead-84-article-1.136741).

11 McGowen, “Koufax Blanks Pittsburgh; Brooks Need 7 for Pennant.”

12 Roscoe McGowen, “Record N.L. Starting Streak, Newk’s Surge Highlighted Dodgers’ Drive,” The Sporting News, September 14, 1955: 5.

13 Gordon J. Gattie, “September 24, 1955: Bob Friend clinches NL ERA title for last-place Pirates,” SABR Baseball Games Project. Friend won five games in September, including a shutout and three complete games, to finish the season with a 14-9 record. For the next three seasons, no one in the major leagues started more games than Bob Friend (118).

14 Roscoe McGowen, “Hats Off … Sandy Koufax,” The Sporting News, September 7, 1955: 19.

15 Pepper won two games during his short major-league career (1954-1957). Pittsburgh’s Red Swanson also made five starts during the first 50 innings of his major-league career (1955-1957).

16 Roscoe McGowen, “‘It Was 25-Man Job,’ Says Smokey, Dodging Orchids,” The Sporting News, September 14, 1955: 5.

17 Steven C. Weiner, “October 4, 1955: Brooklyn Dodgers win first World Series as ‘Next Year’ finally arrives,” SABR Baseball Games Project.

18 The reader is directed to SABR author Andy McCue’s 1963 World Series essays available on the SABR Games Project website.

19 Steven C. Weiner, “July 12, 1963: Koufax fans 13, hands Mets 13th loss in a row,” SABR Baseball Games Project.

20 Joe Posnanski, The Baseball 100 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2021), 189. “‘As soon as I saw that fastball,’” Bavasi said, “‘the hair raised up on my arms. The only other time the hair on my arms raised up was when I saw the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.’”

21 Posnanski, 196.