June 13, 1962: Sandy Koufax hits first home run to beat Warren Spahn and Braves

After a breakout 1961 season during which he won 18 games and struck out a National League modern-day record 269 batters,1 Sandy Koufax was even better during the first months of the 1962 campaign. Prior to a Dodgers’ mid-June three-game series in Milwaukee, the 26-year-old had compiled an 8-2 record (3.02 ERA), with 131 strikeouts in 107⅓ innings, including an 18-strikeout effort against the Chicago Cubs on April 24.

In a pitching matchup of the NL’s premier southpaws, Koufax faced Warren Spahn on June 13 in the second game of the series against the Braves.2 In 1961, at the age of 40, Spahn recorded his sixth straight 20-win season (the 12th of his career), and his 3.02 ERA was the NL’s best. A 3-2 loss at Houston in his last start dropped Spahn’s 1962 record to 6-6 (3.22 ERA) and was his fourth one-run loss of the season.

Despite the cold evening temperatures that saw fans at Milwaukee’s County Stadium huddling under blankets,3 the Wednesday night crowd of 14,913 was Milwaukee’s largest since 30,001 turned out on Opening Day. After losing to the Braves 15-2 the night before, Los Angeles (43-20) held a one-game lead over the second-place San Francisco Giants. The sixth-place Braves (28-31) trailed the Dodgers by 13 games.

Each pitcher retired the side in order in the first inning. Leading off the top of the second, Tommy Davis singled on a grounder just out of Eddie Mathews’ reach at third. One out later, he advanced to third base on Ron Fairly’s line-drive single to right field. Daryl Spencer’s groundball single through the hole between short and third gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead.4

Del Crandall’s two-out single, followed by a passed ball and a walk, put runners at first and second for the Braves in the bottom of the second inning. Shortstop Maury Wills’ leaping catch of Frank Bolling’s line drive ended the scoring threat.5

Koufax appeared to slip on the mound while delivering one of his pitches to Bolling. “The pain was fairly sharp and I thought I might have pulled a muscle in the upper chest,” Koufax said after the game. “However, I got Bolling out and then I seemed to loosen up starting the third. I didn’t feel any pain again.”6

Hank Aaron lined a single to right leading off the bottom of the fourth inning. One out later, he stole second base. On the play, catcher John Roseboro’s high throw to second sailed into center field. Willie Davis retrieved the ball as Aaron headed for third, but his throw was over third baseman Spencer’s head. Aaron turned toward home, but could not advance because Koufax backed up the throw from Davis.7 A popup to the shortstop and a line drive caught by second baseman Jim Gilliam left Aaron stranded at third.

Koufax, on deck for the start of the fifth inning, had begun the season with a career .089 batting average. Normally a right-handed batter, on April 28 he tried hitting from the left side of the plate against Pittsburgh in order to protect his throwing arm from potentially getting hit. He was jammed with a pitch that struck both the bat and his pitching hand. After that, Koufax switched back to batting right-handed.8 Before his start against the Braves, he had only four singles in 42 at-bats during the season, and had struck out 28 times.

With one out and the bases empty, Koufax lined the first pitch from Spahn into the left-field bleachers at the 360-foot mark.9 “I don’t ever remember hitting a home run, although maybe I did in sandlot ball,” he said after the game. “I know I hit one in high school. I played a little first base at Lafayette High in Brooklyn, but I never was a good hitter. That’s the reason I wound up pitching.”10

Spahn didn’t hide his frustration at giving up a home run to the weak-hitting Koufax. As described by baseball author Jane Leavy, “Spahn slammed his glove to the ground, yelling at Koufax as he giddy-yapped around second base.”11

“The pitch to Koufax was a screwball that didn’t do a thing and came inside,” said Spahn of the unlikely homer that increased the Dodgers’ lead to 2-0.12

Koufax set the Braves down in order in the bottom of the fifth inning. Willie Davis and Tommy Davis started the sixth for the Dodgers with bunt singles. Willie moved to third base on Frank Howard’s lineout to center. Spahn retired the next two batters on a strikeout and a groundout, keeping Milwaukee’s deficit at two runs.

Leading off the bottom of the sixth, Roy McMillan hit a 0-and-1 pitch on a line into the left-field bleachers for his sixth homer, cutting the Dodgers’ lead in half. With a one-run lead, Koufax retired the final 12 Milwaukee batters in order. Tommie Aaron’s eighth-inning line drive, caught by a retreating Willie Davis in deep center field, was the closest any Braves batter came to getting a hit after McMillan’s home run.13 The Dodgers’ 2-1 victory increased their lead over the Giants to two games.

Koufax’s eighth complete-game win of the season improved his record to 9-2 and lowered his ERA to 2.86. He walked two Braves and scattered three hits: singles in the second and fourth innings and McMillan’s solo homer in the sixth. Koufax struck out six, fewer than his usual number for a complete game, but those strikeouts brought his league-leading total to 137.14

Koufax took a fair amount of ribbing from his teammates about his newfound hitting prowess.15 Eight bats were stacked in his locker after the game. “Only 60 behind Maris,” quipped one player, referring to the home run record set by Roger Maris in 1961.16

Spahn’s fifth one-run loss of the year dropped his record to 6-7. Of the seven hits he allowed over his eight innings of work, three were bunt singles.17 He struck out seven and walked only one batter. “I’ve been getting progressively better this season. Tonight, I was sharp, making good pitches–except the one to Koufax,” said Spahn of his performance. “I’ll win my share of the close ones before the year is out if I keep throwing the way I have been.”18

Koufax continued to pitch well during June, capping the month off with a no-hitter against the New York Mets on June 30. During the month, he posted a 4-2 record, with a 1.24 ERA and 74 strikeouts in 58⅓ innings. He was named National League Player of the Month for June.19

The Dodgers placed Koufax on the disabled list two days after he exited his July 17 start against Cincinnati in the first inning.20 Suffering from what was described in some press reports as Reynaud’s phenomenon, an arterial blockage causing numbness in the fingers, he was treated with drugs to expand the restricted artery causing the loss of feeling in his left index finger.21

Koufax returned to start a game in St. Louis on September 21 but was relieved in the first inning after giving up four runs. Ineffective in three other appearances, including a start in the first playoff game against the Giants,22 he finished the season with a 14-7 record and a league-best 2.54 ERA.

Fully recovered by the following spring, Koufax attributed the injury, which cost him half of the 1962 season and likely cost the Dodgers the pennant, to his left-handed-batting experiment against the Pirates. “Early last season I decided to bat lefty because that way my right arm would be nearer to the pitcher than my left, and if I was going to get hit by a pitch, I’d rather have it hit my right arm than my left,” he explained. “So, I batted lefty and I got jammed by a pitch right on my hands, and I think that’s when the trouble started.”23

When asked if batting righty was his natural way to hit, Koufax replied, “I have no ‘natural’ way to hit. Nothing about my batting can be described as natural!”24 Batting solely from the right side until his retirement after the 1966 season, he remained a weak hitter. He did hit one other career home run, also in Milwaukee against the Braves. It was hit 13 months after this one, on July 20, 1963, a three-run homer off Denny Lemaster in a 5-4 win. Koufax finished his career with a .097 batting average and 28 RBIs.25

“About my hitting, the less said the better,” Koufax joked in a Sports Illustrated interview after being named’s SI’s Sportsman of the Year for 1965.26 He did manage to get a hit in the fifth game of the 1965 World Series. With two outs and a runner at second in the seventh inning, Minnesota’s Jim Perry intentionally walked Roseboro to pitch to Koufax. As described by the Los Angeles Times, “Sandy slugged a solid single” to left-center, driving in a run in the Dodgers’ 7-0 victory over the Twins.27 It was his only hit in 19 career at-bats in the fall classic.

SOURCES

The author accessed Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org. for box scores/play-by-play information, player, team, and season pages, pitching and batting game logs, and other data:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MLN/MLN196206130.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1962/B06130MLN1962.htm

Thanks to Bill Pruden for providing additional information.

Photo credit: Sandy Koufax, SABR-Rucker Archive.

NOTES

1 Christy Mathewson struck out 267 batters in 1903 to set the post-1900 NL record. From 1883 through 1899, eleven NL pitchers recorded 270 or more strikeouts in 21 seasons. Old Hoss Radbourn’s 441 strikeouts in 1884 were the most of any pitcher during this period. Radbourn, playing for Providence, worked 678 2/3 innings while completing 73 of his 75 starts.

2 The future Hall of Famers had faced each other as starting pitchers four times before 1962. Spahn won their first encounter on July 30, 1958, with a complete game, 4-3 win. Koufax evened things up on June 17, 1959, going the distance in the Dodgers’ 10-2 win. They next met twice in September of 1961. Spahn tossed a shutout in the Braves’ 4-0 win on September 2. Koufax beat the Braves, 11-2, with a complete-game effort on September 15. Their final pairing occurred in June of 1965 when Spahn was with the New York Mets and in his final season. Spahn allowed two runs in seven innings, but lost to the Dodgers, 2-1, as Koufax improved his record to 4-2 against Spahn.

3 Jane Leavy, Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy (New York: Harper Collins, 2002): 117.

4 Dave O’Hara, “Braves’ Bats Fail; Spahn Beaten, 2 to 1,” Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin), June 14, 1962: 36.

5 Frank Finch, “Koufax Homer Gives Dodgers 2-1 Triumph,” Los Angeles Times, June 14, 1962: 48.

6 “Strikeout King Turns ‘Slugger’,” Kenosha (Wisconsin) News, June 14, 1962: 35.

7 AP Photo caption, Capital Times, June 14, 1962: 36.

8 Jack Olsen, “Koufax on Koufax,” Sports Illustrated, December 20, 1965: 41. Koufax remained in the contest and recorded a complete-game, 2-1 win. He continued to take his regular turn in the pitching rotation after the April 28 victory against Pittsburgh. He pitched four straight complete-game wins with 10 or more strikeouts from May 21 through June 4, including a 16-strikeout effort against the Phillies.

9 “Braves’ Bats Fail; Spahn Beaten, 2 to 1.”

10 “Strikeout King Turns ‘Slugger.’”

11 Leavy, 117.

12 “Strikeout King Turns ‘Slugger.’”

13 “Koufax Homer Gives Dodgers 2-1 Triumph.”

14 “Koufax Halts Braves, 2 to 1,” Chicago Tribune, June 14, 1962: 89.

15 Frank Finch, “Drysdale Opens 20-Game Home Stand Against Colts Tonight,” Los Angeles Times, June 15, 1962: 44.

16 “Strikeout King Turns ‘Slugger.’” Koufax was kidded about his hitting throughout his career. After his no-hitter against the Mets at the end of June, a photo in The Sporting News (July 14, 1962: 5) shows Koufax, Walter Alston, and Maury Wills all smiling while looking at the clubhouse blackboard. On it is the score, date, and the words “No-Hitter.” Alston is pointing below that, where “Koufax (0 for 4)” is written.

17 Joe Torre pinch-hit for Spahn in the bottom of the eighth inning, and Hank Fischer relieved to pitch the ninth for the Braves.

18 “Strikeout King Turns ‘Slugger.’” Spahn finished 1962 with an 18-14 record and a 3.04 ERA. In 1963, at the age of 42, he was 23-7 with a 2.60 ERA. It was his 13th and last 20-game-win season.

19 “Sandy Outpolls Hank Aaron as N.L. ‘Player of Month,’” The Sporting News, July 21, 1962: 19.

20 Bob Hunter, “Dodger High-Balling Flag Express Slowed by Walking Wounded,” The Sporting News, July 28, 1962: 16.

21 Melvin Durslag, “Ailing Hill Ace Koufax Victim of 1,000-1 Shot, The Sporting News, August 11, 1962: 12. In his book Koufax, co-authored with Ed Linn, Koufax states that he had symptoms that were the same as Reynaud’s phenomenon, but did not actually have the condition, as had been reported by some members of the press.

22 Los Angeles had been in first place since Koufax’s win against San Francisco on July 8. However, the Giants caught the Dodgers on the last day of the season to force a best-of-three-game tiebreaker. San Francisco won the first game, 8-0, as Koufax gave up two homers and three runs in one-plus innings. The Dodgers rallied from a five-run deficit to win the second game, 8-7. The Giants won the pennant with a 6-4 win in the deciding game, scoring four runs in the top of the ninth inning for the comeback victory.

23 Robert Creamer, “An Urgent Matter of One Index Finger,” Sports Illustrated, March 4, 1963: 22.

24 Olsen, 41.

25 Although Koufax hit his only two home runs at Milwaukee’s County Stadium, his .111 batting average (4 hits in 36 at-bats) at that location wasn’t much better than his career average.

26 Olsen, 36.

27 Frank Finch, “Dodgers Take Lead in Series, Move In for the Kill,” Los Angeles Times, October 12, 1965: 32.