July 27, 1966: Sandy Koufax and Jim Bunning combine for 28 strikeouts over 11 innings

The Dodgers’ Sandy Koufax bested the Phillies’ Jim Bunning in the first-ever meeting between pitchers who had thrown perfect games. (SABR-Rucker Archive)

The 2005 US House Government Reform Committee hearing that put Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, José Canseco, Rafael Palmeiro, and Curt Schilling on a witness panel to testify on steroid use is a widely remembered event in baseball history. What is often forgotten is that the sole witness on the first panel was then US Senator and Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Bunning [Republican of Kentucky], who closed his testimony by saying, “I remembered players didn’t get any better as they got older. We all got worse. When I played with Henry Aaron and Willie Mays and Ted Williams, they didn’t put on 40 pounds and bulk up in their careers and they didn’t hit more home runs in their late 30s than they did in their late 20s.”1

Bunning was not being hyperbolic. His statistics did decline in the later years of his career, but before Father Time started catching up with him, he and Sandy Koufax faced off in a barnburner with both men pitching at the top of their game. The Los Angeles Dodgers won 2-1 over the Philadelphia Phillies at Dodger Stadium on July 27, 1966, in the first-ever meeting between pitchers who had thrown perfect games.2

The two had been competing against each other since college and not always on the baseball diamond. As a member of the University of Cincinnati freshman basketball team in the 1953-54 season, Koufax averaged 9.7 points a game3 and also played crosstown rival Xavier, whose freshman team was coached by Bunning.4

“He was pretty good. But I think he made the right career choice, don’t you?” Bunning later joked.5

They both made their major-league debuts in 1955 and Bunning recorded his first and only 20-win season in 1957 with the Detroit Tigers. Koufax, of course, took a little longer to hit his stride before recording arguably the best six-season run of pitching in major-league history from 1961 to 1966.

Bunning’s perfect game was a 6-0 Phillies win over the New York Mets at Shea Stadium on Father’s Day, June 21, 1964. Koufax’s came the next season when he blanked the Chicago Cubs 1-0 at Dodger Stadium on September 9, 1965.

When they met in July of 1966, the Dodgers were 57-40 and riding a five-game winning streak. They were 1½ games out of first place behind the San Francisco Giants, while the Phillies were 7½ games back with a record of 52-37 and had lost seven of their last 10 games.6 A crowd of 44,937 was on hand that night as Koufax took the mound in the first inning.

He struck out Cookie Rojas before giving up a single to John Briggs. However, Harvey Kuenn hit into a double play and Bunning followed with a hitless bottom of the first. Phillies third baseman Dick Allen opened the second inning with a 430-foot home run deep to left field, his first since July 8, and his 22nd of the season, for a 1-0 lead.7 Koufax then took control of the inning, striking out Jackie Brandt and Bill White. The strikeout of White was the 2,267th of Koufax’s career, surpassing Lefty Grove’s total and putting him at 10th on the all-time list. Koufax finished his career with 2,396 strikeouts.

In the bottom of the inning, Bunning hit catcher John Roseboro in the shin–the first of three batters he plunked with pitches–forcing Roseboro to leave the game in the fourth inning (x-rays were negative), but a pop fly by John Kennedy got Philadelphia out of the inning with Roseboro and Jim Gilliam on base. (Bunning went on to hit a National League-high 19 batters. Don Drysdale, a pitcher more famous for plunking batters, hit 17. To add another point on Koufax’s greatness, he did not hit a single batter that season.)

Koufax struck out Bunning for the first time in the game in the third inning. Bunning would return the favor in the bottom of the inning and neither let the other on base for the entire contest.

After pitching five straight scoreless innings, Bunning started the sixth by giving up a double to left fielder Jim Barbieri and hit shortstop Maury Wills with a pitch. A fly ball by Willie Davis sent Barbieri to third and Bunning walked first baseman Dick Stuart to load the bases. A sacrifice fly by Jeff Torborg, who had replaced Roseboro at catcher, drove in Barbieri to tie the game at 1-1.

Neither pitcher allowed a hit in the seventh inning, but Bunning found himself in trouble in the eighth. First, he gave up a single to Barbieri. Wills sacrificed him to second. Bunning then hit Willie Davis, putting runners on first and second base, before recovering by retiring Stuart on a pop fly and striking out Torborg.

The next two innings saw little offensive action, with Koufax only giving up a single to Dick Allen in the ninth and walking Bob Uecker in the 10th. Bunning opened the 11th by giving up consecutive singles to Davis and Stuart before getting groundouts by Torborg and Ron Fairly. After intentionally walking Jim Gilliam, he struck out Jim Lefebvre.

By the end of 11th inning, Koufax had thrown 163 pitches and struck out a season-high 16 batters, giving him at least 200 for the sixth straight year, Bunning fanned 12 in a game that was still tied.8 Neither pitcher would get the win or loss.

“I was reluctant to pitch Koufax even as many as 11 innings. The last time he worked that long was three years ago when he pitched 12 innings against St Louis,” said Dodgers manager Walter Alston.9

Alston replaced Koufax with Phil Regan to start the 12th inning and he made quick work of the middle of the Phillies’ batting order, striking out Johnny Callison and forcing groundouts from Allen and Bob Uecker. Darold Knowles took over for Bunning and started by walking second baseman Nate Oliver on four pitches. Catcher Clay Dalrymple, whom Phillies manager Gene Mauch had tapped to replaced Uecker, let a pitch to Lou Johnson get past him, putting Oliver in scoring position on second base. Johnson fouled off two bunt attempts before lining drive down the left-field line to send Oliver home for a 2-1 win. Regan got the win for one inning’s work, putting his record at 8-1; Knowles took the loss.

Koufax had received a cortisone shot in the arthritic elbow of his left pitching arm three days before the game10 and said after the contest, “I felt better last night than at any time this year. For one of the few times, I had both a good fastball and curve.”11 Describing the latter, Bunning said, “I guarantee you his ball when he threw a curve did very unphysical things.”12

But Koufax’s left arm was at a point where he could no longer fully straighten it and he retired after the 1966 season, but not before one more showdown with Bunning. The Dodgers led the San Francisco Giants by two games going into the last day of the season and needed to win one game of a doubleheader against the Phillies at Philadelphia’s Connie Mack Stadium to clinch the pennant. Los Angeles dropped the first game, 4-3, so it was up to Koufax to seal the deal. This time he pitched a complete game and struck out 10 in a 6-3 win, giving Bunning the loss.

Koufax finished the year with career highs of 27 wins, 27 complete games, and a 1.73 ERA. The three personal bests led both leagues. He also tallied 317 strikeouts and won his third Cy Young Award in four years. Bunning finished with 19 wins, a major-league-leading 41 game starts, and 314 innings pitched. As he portended in his congressional testimony nearly 40 years later, he never reached those milestones again.

While Koufax retired after the 1966 season, Bunning continued to play until 1971, and finished his career with a 224-184 record, a 3.27 ERA, and 2,855 strikeouts.

SOURCES

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

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN196607270.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1966/B07270LAN1966.htm

NOTES

1 Bunning’s comment is included in “Restoring Faith in America’s Pastime: Evaluating Major League Baseball’s Efforts to Eradicate Steroid Use,” the record of a hearing by the US House Government Reform Committee, March 17, 2005. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-109hhrg23038/html/CHRG-109hhrg23038.htm.

2 Jane Leavy, Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy (New York: HarperCollins, 2002), 229.

3 Gregory Orfalea, “The Incomparable Career of Sandy Koufax,” The Atlantic, October 6, 2016. Retrieved on February 20, 2024. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/10/sandy-koufax/503036/.

4 Leavy, 51.

5 Steve Wulf, “Sandy Koufax’ final victory might have been his best,” ESPN.com, September 30, 2016. Retrieved on February 20, 2024. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/17671148/los-angeles-dodgers-pitcher-sandy-koufax-relives-finest-game.

6 “Baseball Standings,” Pasadena Independent, July 27, 1966: 23.

7 Bill Conlin, “Even Great Effort by Bunning Can’t Pull Phils Out of Tailspin,” Philadelphia Daily News, July 28, 1966: 60.

8 Frank Finch, “Johnson’s Hit in 12th puts L.A. Half Game Out,” Los Angeles Times, July 28, 1966: CC1, CC3.

9 Alex Kahn, “Koufax, Bunning Praised.” Hollywood Citizen-News, July 28, 1966: 14.

10 United Press International, “Shot of Cortisone Helps Koufax Keep Groove Against Phils,” Lebanon (Pennsylvania) Daily News, July 28, 1966: 36.

11 Kahn.

12 Leavy, 8.