August 31, 1959: Sandy Koufax strikes out 18 Giants to tie major-league record

Sandy Koufax’s devastating mix of fastballs and curveballs fooled San Francisco Giants batters at a furious pace on August 31, 1959. Koufax, a talented but erratic left-hander for the Los Angeles Dodgers, broke the National League single-game strikeout record by one and tied the major-league mark. Wally Moon hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Dodgers a 5-2 victory.

“That was the biggest game I’ve ever won,” Koufax told reporters. “My top thrill. We’ve got a chance to go all the way, and I’m glad to do my share.”1

Koufax struck out 18 batters, one more than St. Louis Cardinals great Dizzy Dean fanned on July 30, 1933, and the same number that Cleveland Indians fireballer Bob Feller rang up on October 2, 1938.2

Every Giants starting player struck out at least once. Koufax struck out the side three times. “I didn’t count the strikeouts,” he said, “but I sensed in the seventh inning that I was close to a record. I knew I had a few. The crowd was terrific. They were with me on every pitch.”3

“A whooping, whooping”4 gathering of 82,794 (60,194 paid) watched the action. Maxwell Stiles of the Los Angeles Mirror noted that in the bottom of the ninth inning, fans stood “screaming … in noisy tribute to Sandy Koufax when he came to bat with one out.”5

Koufax, who struck out 13 batters in his previous start, on August 24 against the Philadelphia Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium, also broke Feller’s record from 1938 of 28 combined punchouts in consecutive games.

Stiles wrote that the game would rank “among the great athletic contests that have been held (at the Coliseum)–for thrills, drama, record-setting performance, and the happy ending.”6

The Dodgers began the day 71-59 and in second place, two games behind the Giants. Two years removed from Brooklyn, they had rebounded from a difficult first year in Southern California, when they finished in seventh place–next to last.

Koufax got off to a wobbly start in 1959. Through his first eight games, he had an ERA of 8.06 with 22 walks in 22⅓ innings. Finally, on May 31, he earned his first win, striking out nine St. Louis Cardinals and walking five over six innings. He gave up three runs. “I thought I’d never win a game,” Koufax said. “I was losing my appetite, and I wasn’t able to sleep well from worrying.”7 He entered this game vs. the Giants with a 7-4 record and a 3.89 ERA.

Willie Mays led a powerful San Francisco offense that also featured the hard-hitting Orlando Cepeda, in his second season, and talented rookie Willie McCovey. Manager Bill Rigney had led the Giants to an 80-74 record and a third-place finish in 1958.

This was the finale of a three-game series. The Giants won the opener, 5-0, behind Sam Jones. After an offday, the Dodgers won the second game, 7-6, scoring two runs in the bottom of the ninth. Rigney sent right-hander Jack Sanford (12-10, 3.24) out to win the rubber game. San Francisco had traded for Sanford over the offseason.

The Giants took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Koufax struck out Jackie Brandt and McCovey swinging before giving up a double to Mays. Cepeda followed by lining another double, driving in the run. Felipe Alou grounded out to end the frame.

LA got even in the bottom half of the first. Jim Gilliam drew a leadoff walk and stole second base with Moon at bat. After Moon struck out, Sanford threw a pitch to Norm Larker that eluded catcher Bob Schmidt. Gilliam scooted to third base on the passed ball. Larker walked and was forced out when Duke Snider hit a groundball that scored Gilliam. Gil Hodges got the Dodgers’ first hit, a single that loaded the bases. Charlie Neal, though, grounded out to end the inning.

Sanford gave up just one hit, a single to Snider, over the next three frames. Koufax, meanwhile, allowed two walks and two hits in innings two through four. He also added three more strikeouts. He now had five.

Brandt struck out to begin the San Francisco fifth. McCovey stepped to the plate. From Mobile, Alabama, McCovey made his big-league debut just a month earlier, on July 30, and went 4-for-4 against Philadelphia Phillies ace Robin Roberts. McCovey came into this game against the Dodgers with a robust .396 batting average and a .698 slugging percentage. He drove a curveball deep into the right-field seats, giving the Giants a 2-1 lead.

“I was scared that one bad pitch was going to beat us,” Koufax said afterward. “I guess I aimed it. I wanted it low and outside. He hit it good.”8 Mays and Cepeda struck out to end the inning.

Maury Wills singled to begin the Dodgers’ half of the fifth. Koufax, a notoriously bad hitter, whiffed, bringing up Gilliam. Wills, a 26-year-old rookie known for his speed, strayed a bit too far off first base, and Sanford picked him off for the second out. Gilliam reached base on an error and stole second, but Moon went down swinging.

Koufax struck out the side in the sixth inning and fanned two more Giants in the seventh, including McCovey to end the frame. Koufax said, “It was a curve, high and inside, and I debated a long time before I threw the pitch.”9 He was up to a dozen strikeouts.

Dodgers manager Walter Alston nearly pulled Koufax for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the seventh. John Roseboro led off by driving a base hit into right field. Wills came to bat with instructions to sacrifice, but the attempt failed, and Roseboro was forced at second. Alston let Koufax hit. “Since the bunt failed, I had to go with my pitcher,” Alston said.10 Koufax laid down the bunt, advancing Wills to second. Roseboro, though, grounded out to end the threat.

Mays took a called third strike to start the Giants’ eighth; Cepeda also fell victim to Koufax’s excellence. Alou singled, but Schmidt lifted a fly ball to left field that settled into Larker’s glove.

Moon drew a walk to begin the Dodgers’ half of the eighth, and Larker sacrificed him to second base. Sanford unfurled a wild pitch with Snider at bat, and Moon took off for third. Sanford threw another wild pitch on ball four to Snider, and Moon rushed home, tying the score, 2-2. Hodges reached base on an error, but Neal and Roseboro made outs.

Koufax entered the ninth inning with 15 strikeouts. Leadoff batter Eddie Bressoud went down swinging. Danny O’Connell followed and took a called third strike. Next, Sanford came to bat. No match for Koufax, he swung and missed on strike three.

Wills grounded out to start the bottom of the ninth. Koufax sent a groundball to left field for a single, and Gilliam followed by lining a hit to left field, putting runners on first and second. That ended Sanford’s evening. Rigney brought in right-hander Al Worthington.

Moon and Larker, the next two batters, watched as Worthington stepped toward the mound. Moon turned to his teammate and said, “Here comes Worthington. Let’s get him.” Larker said, “If you don’t, I will.” Moon, traded from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Dodgers after the 1958 season, said, “You can take a seat, Larker.”11

On a 1-and-1 pitch, Moon smashed a Sanford slider the opposite way over the left-field screen and “pandemonium broke loose.”12 Fans cheered and “mobbed”13 Moon as he touched home plate. “One of the first to greet him, of course, was the equally heroic Koufax,” Mal Florence wrote.14

According to a pitching chart, Koufax delivered 92 fastballs, 45 curveballs, and four changeups. Roseboro, the Dodgers’ catcher, said, “He had great stuff. He kept them looking for that high, hard hummer and then he slipped his curve over. This was something I’ll remember all my life.”15

Koufax finished the season with an 8-6 record and a 4.05 ERA. He struck out 173 batters, third most in the National League. He walked 92, fourth most. The Dodgers won the NL pennant with a mark of 88-68. (The Giants finished 83-71, in third place.) LA beat the Chicago White Sox in the World Series. Koufax pitched in two games and lost one. Over nine innings, he gave up just one run, while striking out seven and walking only one.

He was still a few years away from his epic run of greatness, when he won three Cy Young Awards and five ERA titles en route to a spot in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. On a late summer night in 1959, while pitching at the vast LA Coliseum, he gave fans a glimpse of the glorious future. Moon, who watched it all, said, “That was the most beautiful game I ever saw anyone pitch.”16

SOURCES

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

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN195908310.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1959/B08310LAN1959.htm

Photo credit: Sandy Koufax, Trading Card Database.

NOTES

1 Charlie Park, “Bad Bunt Leaves Sandy in Classic,” Los Angeles Mirror, September 1, 1959: 23.

2 Dean and the Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-2, at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis. Feller and the Indians lost to the Detroit Tigers, 4-1, at Cleveland Stadium.

3 George Lederer, “Bungled Bunt Saved Koufax,” Long Beach (California) Press-Telegram, September 1, 1959: 21.

4 Lederer.

5 Maxwell Stiles, “Koufax Classic Rates with Best in History,” Los Angeles Mirror, September 1, 1959: 24.

6 Stiles.

7 United Press International, “Strikeout Champion Sandy Koufax Started 1959 in Slow Style,” Pomona (California) Progress-Bulletin, September 15, 1959: 35.

8 Park, “Bad Bunt Leaves Sandy in Classic.”

9 Mal Florence, “‘Best Game and Luckiest I Ever Pitched,’ Says Koufax,” Los Angeles Times, September 1, 1959: 65.

10 Lederer, “Bungled Bunt Saved Koufax.”

11 Sid Ziff, “A Baseball Classic,” Los Angeles Mirror, September 1, 1959: 23.

12 Park, “Bad Bunt Leaves Sandy in Classic.”

13 Park, “Bad Bunt Leaves Sandy in Classic.”

14 Florence.

15 Park, “Bad Bunt Leaves Sandy in Classic.”

16 Park, “L.A. Begins September Push Against Cards,” Los Angeles Mirror, September 1, 1959: 24.