August 26, 1965: Fifteenth time is the charm as Mets top Sandy Koufax behind rookie Tug McGraw

During their first three seasons, 1962-1964, the New York Mets were thoroughly dominated by some very talented starting pitchers. Don Drysdale of the Los Angeles Dodgers racked up 13 wins against them with 1 loss, and Juan Marichal of the San Francisco Giants was 9-0 with a microscopic 1.21 ERA.

Yet arguably the hurler who most bedeviled the Metropolitans over that period was Brooklyn native Sandy Koufax.

In 10 starts against the Mets, Koufax was, like Marichal, 9-0, with four shutouts, including a three-hitter, a two-hitter, and on June 30, 1962, the first no-hitter of his career. During the first four months of the 1965 season, Koufax continued his mastery over the Amazins,1 with four complete-game victories, one of which was a one-hitter, in four starts. The last of those came on August 10 at Dodger Stadium, when Koufax secured his major-league-leading 20th win of the season.

After oh so many losses, the Mets finally defeated Koufax in their 15th career meeting, at Shea Stadium on August 26. The winning pitcher was a 20-year-old rookie making his third career start, Tug McGraw. To Mets fans, it may have been as a big a deal as the groundbreaking British band that had performed at the ballpark 11 days earlier—the Beatles.2

Sometime late at night on August 22, as the Fab Four were readying for a break in Los Angeles from their hectic US tour,3 the National League-leading Dodgers were touching down in New York after a game in San Francisco that had turned surreal. In the middle of a Marichal-Koufax pitching duel, an angry Marichal had taken his bat to the head of Los Angeles catcher John Roseboro, opening a two-inch gash.4 Losers of that battle, the Dodgers had come to New York for a four-game series with the last-place Mets.5 Buried 32½ games behind Los Angeles, New York came into the Dodgers series riding a modest three-game winning streak.

The Mets lost the Monday, August 23, series opener to Drysdale yet again, then overcame a two-run, ninth-inning deficit to win game two. They next pummeled Los Angeles starter Claude Osteen to take game three.

For Thursday’s finale, Los Angeles manager Walter Alston turned to Koufax as his starting pitcher. Tasked with protecting the Dodgers’ half-game lead over the Milwaukee Braves, Koufax was also chasing a legend; his 296 strikeouts put him on track to top Bob Feller’s single-season record of 348.6 Although he had recovered enough from Marichal’s attack to play the night before, Roseboro would not be catching any Koufax strikeouts in this game. He was nursing a split finger and so Alston paired Koufax with backup Jeff Torborg.7

With the Mets playing for nothing but pride, interim manager Wes Westrum chose McGraw, a charismatic young southpaw, to oppose Koufax.8 Shelled in his first major-league start against the Chicago Cubs in late July, McGraw had earned a complete-game victory and his first big-league win in his next, on August 22 against the St. Louis Cardinals.9 Befitting the freshly-inducted US Marine that he was,10 McGraw came out of that triumph brimming with confidence. “I’d like to face the Dodgers,” he told Newsday. “Right now I think I could beat anybody.”11 By pitting him against Koufax, Westrum was giving McGraw the chance to prove that he could.12 With 28 of  his 30 major-league appearances having come in relief, McGraw entered the game 1-2, with a tidy 3.33 ERA. Koufax, a five-time All-Star and former NL Most Valuable Player, sported a sparkling 2.18 ERA to go with a 20-6 record.

The Dodgers and Giants consistently brought out the largest crowds to Mets home games during their first few years, and this game was no exception13 With game-time temperatures in the mid-70s, a crowd of 45,950 was on hand, the fourth-largest of the season to that point.14

Dodger speedster Maury Wills led off the game with a single, reached second on a sacrifice by Wes Parker, and scored on Lou Johnson’s double off the left field fence to give Los Angeles an early 1-0 lead, but it was short-lived.15 Two batters into their first turn at bat, the Mets tied the score. Ron Hunt led off with a walk and scored on Roy McMillan’s hit-and-run double down the left-field line. Sacrificed to third by Joe Christopher, McMillan scored on Jim Hickman’s two-out infield single. Wills had backhanded Hickman’s ball in the shortstop hole but made an off-line throw that skipped past Parker at first. New York led, 2-1.

The score remained unchanged through the sixth inning, as each starter settled into a groove. McGraw allowed singles to Wills in the third, rookie Jim Lefebvre in the fourth, Willie Davis in the fifth, and Wills again in the sixth, but Wills never made it past second base, Lefebvre was doubled up, and Davis was thrown out trying to steal second after Koufax missed a bunt sign.16  Koufax surrendered a lone hit over the middle innings, McMillan’s third-inning single. In the sixth, Koufax notched his major-league-leading 300th strikeout, punching out Christopher, who along with Hickman and catcher Chris Cannizzaro was one of three original Mets in the lineup.17

The Mets added another run in the seventh thanks to some shoddy infield defense. With one out, 20-year-old Ed Kranepool, New York’s leading hitter, pulled a Koufax changeup into the right field corner for a double.18 After Alston came out for a chat, Koufax intentionally walked Cannizzaro to face left-handed-hitting Chuck Hiller, who was 0-for-7 lifetime against Koufax, with five strikeouts.19 Westrum countered with righty Bobby Klaus, who’d connected for two hits off Koufax when he last faced New York. Klaus hit into a force at second, bringing up McGraw. Allowed to bat for himself, McGraw hit a chopper to third baseman Don LeJohn. LeJohn’s hurried throw to first sailed high and wide, pulling Parker off the bag. McGraw was safe and Kranepool scored on the error.

Staked to a two-run lead, McGraw retired Torborg for the first out of the eighth, then walked Dick Tracewski, pinch-hitting for his roommate, Koufax.20 Tracewski reached third on Wills’ fourth single of the game, laced towards the right center field gap, but Wills was gunned down by center fielder Hickman trying to stretch his single into a double. The next batter, Parker, tripled to right-center field, bringing in Tracewski and pulling the Dodgers to within a run at 3-2. Westrum took out McGraw and brought in the previous day’s starter, Jack Fisher.

Pulled on Wednesday night after allowing four earned runs over 2 1/3 innings, Fisher approached Westrum before this game and told him “If you need help, I want to pitch. I’ll do better tonight.”21 Fisher pitched around veteran Jim Gilliam, then retired Johnson on an inning-ending force out.

Taking the mound for Los Angeles in the bottom of the eighth was 1955 World Series hero Johnny Podres, relegated to bullpen duty after a few rough starts. He retired McMillan on a groundout, then surrendered a home run to Christopher that barely cleared the left-field fence–the second time in two nights that the Mets right fielder had deposited a ball there. On the next pitch, rookie Ron Swoboda homered as well, clearing the bullpen beyond the left-field fence with his team-leading 19th four-bagger. Listening to the game in the clubhouse, an elated McGraw was “doing handstands and cartwheels.”22 Podres retired the next two batters, but the damage had been done. New York now led by a 5-2 score.

Back out for the ninth, Fisher enticed Lefebvre to ground to McMillan at short, then struck out pinch-hitter Ron Fairly.23 Davis’s grounder to short ended the game. McGraw had his second career win, Fisher his only (unofficial) save of the year,24 the Mets their first-ever four-game series win over the Dodgers, and Koufax his first defeat at the hands of the Mets.

“I hardly slept all night,” McGraw confessed after the game. “I kept getting up and seeing Koufax.”25 Asked the secret of his success against the Dodger ace, he replied “How the hell do I know? I’m no expert.”26 As to why he struggled, Koufax admitted that he had trouble getting loose. “I couldn’t get my fastball working well until the fourth inning.”27

“No Kiddin’! Mets Beat Koo,” screamed the next day’s New York Daily News. “Words that have never before been spoken at Shea, ‘Losing pitcher, Koufax,’ boomed over the PA system at the end of last night’s stomach bubbler, and sent 45,950 New Breeds into a fit of screaming-meemies,” wrote Dick Young.28

The Dodgers prevailed in the NL pennant chase, with Koufax breaking Feller’s strikeout record  en route to winning his second career Cy Young Award.29 Koufax’s three-hit shutout of the Minnesota Twins in Game Seven of the Fall Classic—on two days’ rest after he shut them out in Game Five—gave the Dodgers their second World Series title in three years.

On August 30, 1966, one week after the Beatles’ second and final concert at Shea Stadium, Koufax and McGraw faced off as starters for the second and final time, also at Shea. McGraw didn’t make it out of the second inning, but the Mets won, 10-4, defeating the “Left Arm of God,” in what proved to be his last appearance against them.30

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Bruce Slutsky and copy-edited by Kurt Blumenau.

Photo credit: Tug McGraw, Trading Card Database.

Sources

Unless otherwise noted, game details were taken from summaries published in August 27, 1965, editions of the Los Angeles Times and New York Daily News. In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Marc Z. Aaron’s SABR biography of Sandy Koufax, as well as the Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org and Stathead.com websites, including box scores and play-by-play at these links:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN196508260.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1965/B08260NYN1965.htm

Notes

1 Commonly used by New York sportswriters, “Amazins” was shorthand for the moniker “Amazin’ Mets,” coined by manager Casey Stengel prior to the team’s inaugural season. Joe Trimble, “Casey Hits Town, Names Raja Coach; ‘No Platoon’,” New York Daily News, January 20, 1962: 22.

2 “55,000 Scream for Beatles,” New York Daily News, August 16, 1965: 1.

3 “Beatles to Rest Week Here Before Concerts,” Los Angeles Times, August 23, 1965: II-2. The Beatles flew to Los Angeles from Portland, Oregon on the morning of August 23 after having performed two shows there the day before.

4 Alan Cohen, “August 22, 1965: Marichal-Koufax Duel Gets Ugly at Candlestick Park,” https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/august-22-1965-marichal-koufax-duel-gets-ugly-at-candlestick-park/, accessed November 5, 2025.

5 “Beatles to Rest Week Here Before Concerts,” Los Angeles Times, August 23, 1965: II-2.

6 Badly rattled by Marichal’s third-inning attack, Koufax walked two batters and surrendered a home run to Willie Mays before retiring the side and was saddled with the loss. Feller wasn’t impressed with the prospect of Koufax taking down his mark, telling reporters that Koufax had the advantage of a larger strike zone and “lower caliber of players on bottom teams” as compared with what Feller navigated to set the record. “Koufax Takeover Seen by Feller,” Baltimore Evening Sun, August 25, 1965: C10.

7 George Lederer, “Stop Mets! Koufax Will Try Tonight,” Long Beach (California) Independent, August 26, 1965: D-1. As widely reported the morning of this game, Roseboro was considering legal action against Marichal. A few days later, Roseboro’s attorney filed suit against both Marichal and the San Francisco Giants for assault and battery, seeking $110,000 in compensation for damages. The two sides settled seven years later. “Roseboro Considers Legal Suit,” Miami Herald, August 26, 1965: 2-E; Al Wolf, “Roseboro Sues Marichal for $100,000,” Los Angeles Times, September 2, 1965: III-1; Warren Corbett, “John Roseboro,” SABR Biography Project, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/john-roseboro/.

8 Westrum was filling in for Casey Stengel, who on July 24 fell and fractured his left hip. The Monday after this game, Stengel announced in a press conference that he was stepping down as Mets manager for health reasons. The Mets removed Westrum’s interim label in November when they signed him to a one-year contract. Dick Young, “Casey Limps Out as Mets Maestro,” New York Daily News, August 31, 1965: 54; Dick Young, “Westrum Mets’ Pilot For One Year at 30G,” New York Daily News, November 19, 1965: 96.

9 The losing pitcher in that game was Ray Washburn, who entered the day 6-0 lifetime against New York.

10 Red Foley, “Marines Get Mets’ M’Graw, Bethke as Reserve Hurlers,” New York Daily News, August 21, 1965: C22.  McGraw was inducted on August 20 along with fellow Mets hurler Jim Bethke. The pair reported to Parris Island for boot camp on September 23, missing the Mets’ final nine games. Barney Kremenko, “Met Memos,” The Sporting News, October 2, 1965: 18.

11 Jack Leone, “Tug is Ready; Bring on Those Dodgers,” Newsday (Melville, New York), August 23, 1965: 39C.

12 Westrum was also giving McGraw an early birthday present of sorts, as the northern California native was turning 21 in four days.

13 Each year from 1962 to 1966, no fewer than 7 of the 10 largest crowds at Mets home games involved one of the two former New York city franchises.

14 New York City, NY Weather History, Laguardia Airport Station, https://www.wunderground.com/history/daily/us/ny/new-york-city/KLGA/date/1965-8-26, Weather Underground, accessed November 3, 2025. That morning, sportswriter Dick Young told his New York Daily News readers that “Koufax and Tug McGraw figure to sell out the joint.” Dick Young, “Hit-And-Run Mets Rack LA Again, 7-5; Bring on Sandy!” New York Daily News, August 26, 1965: 76. Among that number was soon-to-be UCLA freshman Lew Alcindor, a two-time national high school basketball player of the year out of Manhattan’s Power Memorial Academy who visited the Los Angeles clubhouse before the game. Frank Finch, “Even Sandy Can’t Stop Those Mets,” Los Angeles Times, August 27, 1965: III-1.

15 Dick Young, “No Kiddin’! Mets Beat Koo for 3 in Row Over LA, 5-2,” New York Daily News, August 27, 1965: 62.

16 George Lederer, “Dodgers Looked Worser’n Mets!” Long Beach (California) Press-Telegram, August 27, 1965: C-1.

17 Formerly with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Christopher was the Mets’ fifth selection in the 1961 expansion draft. Cannizzaro and Hickman, both previously members of the St. Louis Cardinals organization, were New York’s 13th and 18th selections, respectively.

18 Kranepool entered the game hitting .268. No other Met had an average over .250.

19 Amused at getting an intentional pass while being 2-for-20 lifetime off Koufax, Cannizzaro said, “You guys are out of your mind,” drawing a chuckle from Torborg. “No Kiddin’! Mets Beat Koo for 3 in Row Over LA, 5-2.”

20 “No Kiddin’! Mets Beat Koo for 3 in Row Over LA, 5-2.”

21 “No Kiddin’! Mets Beat Koo for 3 in Row Over LA, 5-2.”

22 Jack Lang, “Met Rookie Outpitches Sandy,” Staten Island (New York) Advance, August 27, 1965: 16.

23 “Even Sandy Can’t Stop Those Mets.” The Dodgers’ regular left fielder, Fairly was held out of the starting lineup after jamming his left shoulder the night before.

24 Saves did not become an official major-league statistic until 1969.

25 “Even Sandy Can’t Stop Mean Mets,” Torrance (California) Breeze, August 27, 1965: 29.

26 “No Kiddin’! Mets Beat Koo for 3 in Row Over LA, 5-2.”

27 “Even Sandy Can’t Stop Mean Mets.”

28 “No Kiddin’! Mets Beat Koo for 3 in Row Over LA, 5-2.”

29 In 1969, Major League Baseball recognized Rube Waddell as tabulating 349 strikeouts in 1904, retroactively supplanting Feller as the major league record-holder topped by Koufax in 1965. The discrepancy in Waddell’s 1904 strikeout total was noted shortly after the 1946 game in which Feller recorded his 348th punchout and again after the 1965 regular season. Ray Shank, “Could Have Broken Record–Wills,” Cornwall (Ontario) Standard-Freeholder, October 8, 1965: 8; Dave Smith, “A Number of Changes,” Baseball Hall of Fame, https://baseballhall.org/discover-more/stories/baseball-history/changing-nature-of-statistics, accessed November 21, 2025.

30 McGraw didn’t fare much better in the two other career starts he made against the Dodgers (both were in 1966), going 0-1 with a 7.94 ERA. Converted into a full-time reliever during the Mets’ miracle season of 1969, McGraw went on to record 180 regular-season and 8 post-season saves, including, as a Philadelphia Phillie, in the deciding Game Six of the 1980 World Series.