August 29, 1963: Sandy Koufax meets a milestone, wins 20th game of season

A 20-win season is the goal of any major-league pitcher. On a hot August night in Houston, Texas, Sandy Koufax improved his season record to 18-4 when the Dodgers beat the fledgling Colt .45s 2-0 on Saturday, August 3, 1963, at Colt Stadium before the largest local crowd of the season.1 It was the first stop of a 16-game, five-city road trip for the Dodgers. Meeting the magical milestone for the first time seemed imminent.

However, it took two more weeks and four starts for Koufax to get his 19th win, at the Polo Grounds in New York on August 17 against the Mets (the other expansion team in the league). It was the last stop of the road trip.

Hovering on the brink of 20, Koufax returned home but failed to reach the mark while doing yeoman’s work four days later against the St. Louis Cardinals on August 21. It was a no-decision for Koufax, who threw 164 pitches in 12 innings and left the game with the score tied 1-1. The Dodgers ultimately won, 2-1 in 16 innings.2

Koufax’s next start was in LA again on August 25 against the Milwaukee Braves. He carried a 1-0 shutout into the ninth inning, and a win looked promising, but the Braves began hitting deep fly balls. Two of them were caught, two landed for doubles. When the second double tied the game, Koufax was lifted by manager Walt Alston after 8 2/3 innings. Bob Miller came on in relief, walked a batter, induced a groundout, and was credited with the victory when the Dodgers won 2-1 in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the ninth.3

Koufax still remained one win shy of the coveted mark on August 29 when the left-hander took the mound against the Dodgers’ former crosstown, now interstate rival San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium. A record crowd of 54,978 showed up for the Thursday evening game at the two-year-old venue, hoping to witness history with Koufax seeking win number 20 during a hotly contested pennant race.4 It was his eighth start in August, a month that saw him throw 6 1/3 innings.5

Koufax got through the first inning unscathed, striking out Willie McCovey and Willie Mays in the process.

Bob Bolin, a right-hander in his third season with the Giants, started for the Giants and had a rocky first inning, allowing a leadoff walk to Maury Wills, who moved to second base on a wild pitch. Bolin walked Jim Gilliam and both runners advanced on Wally Moon’s groundout to first base. A single to center field scored Wills, but Gilliam was thrown out at the plate in an attempt to add another run by challenging the arm of Willie Mays. Bolin survived giving up just a run.

In the second inning, the Giants responded with a leadoff home run to left field off the bat of Orlando Cepeda to tie the score, 1-1. It would be the only tally of the night for the Giants.

After a leadoff walk to Frank Howard in the Dodgers’ half of the second inning, Giants manager Alvin Dark went to the bullpen early, bringing in Billy Pierce and hoping for long-relief help from the 17-year-veteran. Pierce gave up a single to John Roseboro and escaped the inning without further damage. Such would not be the case the next inning.

In the bottom of the third inning, the Dodgers sent 11 batters to the plate. Six hit safely (all of them off Pierce) and five scored. The big blows were a two-run single to center by Ron Fairly and a 400-foot home run to left-center by Howard that drove in Fairly. It did not stop there. Roseboro popped up to left field but Willie Davis followed with a double to left. Then Pierce walked Koufax. Wills followed with a run-scoring groundball single to right field. Pierce was lifted for Jack Fisher, who got the third out. But the Dodgers would get to him later.

In their next turn at bat, the Dodgers scored again to extend the margin to 7-1. They did it the old-fashioned way. Tommy Davis walked. Fairly moved Davis ahead, hitting behind the runner on a groundout to second base. Howard lined a single to center field to score Davis.

The Dodgers teed off on Fisher in the bottom of the fifth and batted around again. It started harmlessly enough as Fisher retired the first two batters of the inning. The damage began after that. Wills singed and Gilliam walked. Consecutive base hits by Moon, Willie Davis, and Fairly followed. Wills, Gilliam, and Moon scored. When the dust settled, the Dodgers had pushed home three more runs and led 10-1.

With the game just half over, Koufax needed no more support, but the Dodgers gave him another old-school run in the sixth inning on Willie Davis’s double, a sacrifice by Koufax, and a sacrifice fly by Maury Wills.

Meanwhile, Koufax masterfully moved through the powerful Giants lineup after that Cepeda homer. Thereafter, he faced just 26 batters and retired 24 of them en route to a three-hit complete-game gem. Assisted by “the most lavish (run) support any Dodger pitcher has had in 45 days … Los Angeles flattened second-place San Francisco.”6 Koufax became the first in the majors to reach the coveted 20-win plateau in 1963.

About finally reaching the milestone, Koufax said, “Winning 20 games is not only a statistic to me, but a symbol.” He added, “I’ve been working on it since spring training.”7

The Dodgers ace told reporters, “It was a bigger thrill than a no-hitter because it was so long in coming. On a no-hitter, you just go out and work a game and you have done it. But it took me nine years to win 20. When it finally arrives, it has to be a top thrill.”8

The win helped to catapult the Dodgers to the National League pennant and ultimately a sweep of the New York Yankees in the 1963 World Series.

It was a banner year for Koufax. He won five of his next seven starts to finish the season with a 25-5 record, logging the pitcher’s triple crown in the process, leading the league in wins (25) tied with Juan Marichal for the lowest ERA (1.88), and leading in strikeouts (306). Koufax also topped the league in shutouts (11). Oh yeah, Koufax threw a no-hitter on May 11 against the Giants.

Koufax won the MVP for the World Series. When the National League MVP votes were tallied, he also won that award. Adding to the trophy case, Koufax won the first of his three Cy Young Awards.

Koufax won 20 games twice more, going 26-8 in 1965 and 27-9 in 1966, his final season before retiring.

SOURCES

The author referred to Baseball Reference and Retrosheet.org for box scores, play-by-play information, and other pertinent data.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN196308290.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1963/B08290LAN1963.htm

NOTES

1 “Koufax Shuts Out Colts with 3 Hits,” New York Times, August 4, 1963: 139. Koufax drew a crowd whenever he pitched in 1963.

2 Frank Finch, “Koufax Misses 20th Victory: Dodgers Win in 16th, 2-1,” Los Angeles Times, August 22, 1963: B1.

3 Frank Finch, “Braves Nip Punchless Dodgers, 2-1,” Los Angeles Times, August 25, 1963: K1.

4 Frank Finch, “Record 54,978 See Dodgers Romp, 11-1: Koufax Posts 20th Mound Victory,” Los Angeles Times, August 30, 1963: B1.

5 Baseball Almanac. “Sandy Koufax 1963 Game By Game Pitching Logs.” https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/pitchinglogs.php?p=koufasa01&y=1963.

6 “Dodgers Rip Giants, 11-1; Lead by 6½; Koufax Wins 20th on a Three-Hit Gem,” Chicago Tribune, August 30, 1963: C6.

7 Finch, “Record 54,978 See Dodgers Romp, 11-1: Koufax Posts 20th Mound Victory.”

8 Al Wolf, “20th Victory Bigger Thrill Than No-Hitter–Koufax,” Los Angeles Times, August 30, 1963: B1.