August 14, 1965: Koufax spins shutout, Clemente commits costly error as Los Angeles riots

Tossing a shutout and striking out at least 10 batters in a game was not uncommon in Sandy Koufax’s illustrious 12-year big-league career. After all, he blanked opponents 40 times and reached double figures in punchouts 97 times in just 314 career regular-season starts.

The Los Angeles Dodgers southpaw’s performance against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the heat of the 1965 pennant race, however, has a unique place among Koufax’s dominant games. It ended on an error by one of baseball’s greatest fielders, Roberto Clemente, allowing Koufax to score a walk-off winning run for the only time in his career, while just six miles southeast of Dodger Stadium, a neighborhood of the city was burning in one of the biggest and deadliest urban riots in US history.

In many respects, it is remarkable that the Dodgers and Pirates even played on that Saturday night, August 14, given the violence, death, and destruction occurring in and around Watts, a predominantly Black neighborhood, located just a 15-minute car ride from the ballpark. Residents took to the streets on August 12 to protest police brutality a day after a young Black man was stopped by police.

Two days later, the demonstration had gotten out of control. The Los Angeles Times proclaimed “Police Wage Guerilla War” and reported that 21,000 police officers and California National Guard troops attempted to calm the social unrest.1 The state declared martial law in a 50-square-mile area in Watts and adjacent communities and instituted an 8 P.M. curfew.2 “Guardsmen behind Jeep-mounted machine guns blazed away over the tops of cars and anything else that moved in the curfew area,” wrote the Times, describing the scenes in language that might have evoked the intensifying war in Vietnam.

The mayhem forced the cancellation of Saturday evening’s preseason football game between the Los Angeles Rams and Dallas Cowboys in the “interest of public safety.” It was scheduled at the LA Coliseum, the Dodgers’ home from 1958 through 1961, which was located in the epicenter of the social unrest.3

Skipper Walter Alston’s first-place Dodgers (68-48) held a 2½-game lead over both the San Francisco Giants and Milwaukee Braves and had won their last three games to kick off an eight-game homestand. On Friday night, August 13, Claude Osteen beat the sixth-place Pirates (60-58) on six hits while fans were constantly reminded of the escalating violence just minutes away. “[S]moke that apparently drifted in from the riot area,” wrote Dodgers beat reporter Frank Finch, “hung like a pall over the stadium.”4

Koufax, making his 29th start of the season, was leading the NL with 20 wins, 231 innings pitched, 267 strikeouts, and 19 complete games (tied with Juan Marichal), to go along with the league’s third best ERA (2.14). Rewind almost exactly a year earlier, however, and many wondered if Koufax would ever pitch again. After shutting out the St. Louis Cardinals and fanning 13 in the first game of a twin bill on August 16, Koufax was sidelined the rest of the 1964 season with traumatic arthritis in his left elbow. To reduce inflammation, Koufax eliminated his custom of throwing on the sidelines between starts.5 Nonetheless, the 29-year-old lefty still required regular cortisone shots to relieve the pain.6

Baseball’s best pitcher, Koufax, along with right-hander Don Drysdale and southpaw Osteen, once again made the Dodgers a contender to capture their second pennant in three years despite their mediocre offense. The Dodgers’ 78 home runs were the fewest among the 20 big-league teams in ’65, while their 3.8 runs per game ranked eighth of the 10 teams in the NL.

“They do the right things,” explained Clemente about the reason for the Dodgers’ success. “[T]hey move the runners, they have the pitching, they play as a team.”7 “They do the little things to beat you,” suggested Pirates center fielder Bill Virdon, while Bucs skipper Harry Walker summed it up cogently: “They have the pitching and the defense.”8

On a humid 90-degree evening with the acrid odor of smoke wafting in the air, a cautious crowd of 32,206 spectators (29,237 paid) ignored the “seriousness of the local situation” to attend the game in Chavez Ravine.9 According to sportswriter George Lederer, before the unrest the weekend series was expected to draw close to 50,000 per game.10 An estimated 3,000 ticket holders chose not to attend the game and were given the option to exchange tickets for games on September 9-12, during the Dodgers’ next homestand.11

Toeing the rubber for the Bucs was 29-year-old right-handed journeyman Don Cardwell, whose 10-6 slate in 1965 pushed his nine-year career record to 71-93. A feel-good story for the Pirates, Cardwell had injured his arm in 1963 and missed all but the final three weeks of the next season.

An author of a no-hitter as a member of the Cubs in 1960, Cardwell blew through nine innings in Los Angeles without a serious threat. The Dodgers were without their catalyst and leadoff hitter, Maury Wills, sidelined with a “severely bruised” right leg;12 he was replaced at shortstop by John Kennedy, while Wes Parker moved to the leadoff spot. Cardwell worked around two walks in the third by starting a nifty 1-4-3 double play.

John Roseboro’s single with two outs in the fifth was the first hit for the Dodgers, who tallied just five hits in the game, the last two coming in the eighth. After Kennedy led off with a single, Koufax failed to bunt, then looked at a called third strike.13 Parker singled, marking the first time in the game that the Dodgers had two baserunners on at once in an inning, but Jim Gilliam lined to shortstop Gene Alley, who fired to Bill Mazeroski for an inning-ending twin killing.

Koufax experienced a few early shaky moments before settling into his groove. Mazeroski collected the Pirates’ first hit, a one-out single in the second. A batter later, Jim Pagliaroni reached on Kennedy’s error, but Koufax’s fifth strikeout in two innings ended the threat.

Cardwell led off the third with a single and moved to second on future Dodger Manny Mota’s one-out single. The rally stalled when Clemente and Donn Clendenon grounded out.

Koufax went on to retire 17 straight batters, the last of which was Bob Bailey to end the top of the eighth. Bailey’s long fly “would have won the game in regulation time,” opined Finch, if Lou Johnson, playing his first season as a big-league regular at age 30, had not “hoisted himself on the box-seat railing in the left-field corner to make a leaping catch” to save a home run.14

Koufax’s biggest test came in the ninth. Mota led off with a single. Facing Clemente, who was leading the majors with a .345 batting average entering the game, Koufax uncorked a wild pitch to send Mota to second. In what might have been the play of the game, Koufax scooped up Clemente’s chopper to the mound and fired to third, where Gilliam tagged out Mota. Clendenon flied out to deep right field, which would have plated Mota had not Koufax made the heads-up play. Mazeroski grounded out to third.

Koufax began the 10th by fanning Willie Stargell. He worked around Pagliaroni’s single by retiring Alley and fanning Cardwell.

In the bottom of the frame, Cardwell recorded two quick outs. The Dodgers caught a break when Koufax, a notoriously poor hitter, drew his second walk of the game. Parker followed with a walk; both were on full counts.15 Looking for his 1,800th hit since joining the Dodgers in 1953, Gilliam lofted a routine fly to right field.

And then the unthinkable happened. According to Finch, Clemente needed only “to take only a few steps to get in front of the ball,”16 but the ball unexpectedly popped out of Clemente’s glove, permitting Koufax to easily score, ending the game in stunning fashion.

In defeating the Pirates for the sixth straight time, Koufax punched out 12 batters, extending his major-league record of at least 10 strikeouts in a game to 77.17 He didn’t issue a walk, yielded only five hits, and scored the walk-off run to secure his 21st victory with just 4 losses. Koufax “proved even martial law can’t stop him,” quipped sportswriter Chuck Thomas.18 Cardwell, a tough-luck loser, pitched almost as well, giving up five hits and walking five while also striking out five.19

Despite the pitching duel, postgame attention focused on the error by a player many considered one of the best-fielding right fielders in baseball history. “I was stunned,” exclaimed Parker. “I just couldn’t conceive Clemente dropping a ball. I doubt if I’ll ever see it again.”20

En route to his fifth of 12 consecutive Gold Gloves, a visibly upset Clemente offered additional context for the miscue, arguing that he lost the ball in the lights. “Do you think I could miss the ball any other way?” he said. “I couldn’t pick it up when it came off Gilliam’s bat and just groped for it. The ball hit me on the fingers; I never had control of it.”21

As SABR’s Vince Guerrieri wrote in his 2022 essay on Clemente and the media, the Pirates star had a “standoffish relationship” with many sportswriters and was quick to voice his frustration.22 “These are the worst lights in the league,” opined Clemente, “and it’s a shame for a new park.”23

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Kurt Blumenau and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Sandy Koufax, SABR-Rucker Archive.

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/LAN196508140.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1965/B08140LAN1965.htm

Notes

1 Art Berman, “Negro Riots Rage On; Death Toll 25,” Los Angeles Times, August 15, 1965: 1.

2 Berman.

3 Matt Florence, “Rioting Forces Change,” Los Angeles Times, August 15, 1965: D1. The game was rescheduled for August 17.

4 Frank Finch, “Osteen Throttles Buc Sluggers, 3-1,” Los Angeles Times, August 14, 1965: D3.

5 Marc Z. Aaron, “Sandy Koufax,” SABR BioProject, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/Sandy-Koufax/. Accessed December 2024.

6 Tom Verducci, “The Left Arm of God: Sandy Koufax Was More Than Just a Perfect Pitcher,” Sports Illustrated, August 29, 2014, https://www.si.com/mlb/2014/08/29/sandy-koufax-dodgers-left-arm-god-si-60.

7 Lester J. Biederman, “Pirates Amazed Dodgers Are Leading League,” Pittsburgh Press, August 16, 1965: 28.

8 Biederman, “Pirates Amazed Dodgers Are Leading League.”

9 Frank Finch, “Dodgers Win Hard Way – Error in 10th,” Los Angeles Times, August 15, 1965: D1. Attendance figures are from George Lederer, “Koufax Wins 21st in 10 Innings, 1-0,” Long Beach (California) Press-Telegram. August 15, 1965: 25. Temperature and weather conditions from “Weather Report,” Los Angeles Times, August 15, 1965: C6.

10 Lederer.

11 Finch, “Dodgers Win Hard Way – Error in 10th.”

12 Finch, “Dodgers Win Hard Way – Error in 10th.”

13 Called strike from Lederer.

14 Finch.

15 Lester J. Biederman, “‘Bad Lights’ Clemente’s Alibi for Muff,” Pittsburgh Press, August 16, 1965: 28.

16 Finch.

17 In securing the Dodgers’ second 1-0 victory in three games (Drysdale had beaten the Mets 1-0 on August 11), Koufax tossed the club’s fourth straight complete-game victory, a feat the Dodgers had not accomplished since Sal Maglie, Don Newcombe, Roger Craig, and Carl Erskine combined for six straight from July 24 to 29, 1956. See Lederer.

18 Chuck Thomas, “Show Must Go On,” Ventura County Star-Free Press (Camarillo, California), August 16, 1965: B-2.

19 According to Retrosheet.org, Cardwell had to be restrained by teammates from attacking Clemente for the error that charged Cardwell with a loss. The author was unable to find reference to this event in Pittsburgh or Los Angeles papers.

20 Biederman, “‘Bad Lights’ Clemente’s Alibi for Muff.”

21 Biederman, “‘Bad Lights’ Clemente’s Alibi for Muff.”

22 Vince Guerrieri, “‘The Writers are Bad.’ Roberto Clemente and the Press,” in Bill Nowlin and Glen Sparks, eds., !Arriba! The Heroic Life of Roberto Clemente (Phoenix: Society for American Baseball Research, 2022), https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-writers-are-bad-roberto-clemente-and-the-press/.

23 Dodger Stadium opened at the beginning of the 1962 season. Biederman, “‘Bad Lights’ Clemente’s Alibi for Muff.”