June 18, 1962: Sandy Koufax beats Bob Gibson, 1-0; Tommy Davis hits walk-off home run in 9th

Right-hander Bob Gibson and left-hander Sandy Koufax, both 26 years old, faced each other for the first time on May 25, 1961, at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Tommy Davis’s leadoff home run in the seventh inning was the difference in the Dodgers’ 1-0 win that day. Both men struck out eight batters with Koufax going the distance to earn his fifth win of the season. Gibson took the loss, his first in five starts.

Now both pitchers were scheduled to face each other again on June 18, 1962, when the Cardinals arrived in Los Angeles for a three-game series.

The Dodgers held a one-game lead over the San Francisco Giants in the National League. St. Louis was in fourth place, 7½ games out of the lead, after losing two games to the Giants. Los Angeles saw its lead drop to one game after losing two of three to the Houston Astros. The Dodgers won the finale, 6-2, sparked by Davis’s three-run homer.

A crowd of 33,477 showed up at Dodger Stadium to see Koufax take the mound. The 26-year-old entered the game with a 9-2 record, having won five of his previous eight starts. He even earned a rare save when he finished a suspended game on June 6 to give the Dodgers an 8-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.1

Koufax retired the Cardinals on three groundouts in the first. After Koufax struck out leadoff batter Ken Boyer in the second, Stan Musial singled to center field. “I was pitching Musial low and outside all night. I was willing to concede him a base hit with nobody on base. It’s not easy to hit one out of this park,” said Koufax after the game.2 Musial did not advance as Koufax got the next two batters out on a foul pop and a groundout.

Koufax struck out the first two batters in the third before Julián Javier singled to left. Javier stole second but Koufax struck out Charlie James to end the frame. “I made just one pitch that I wished later I could have taken back,” said Koufax after the game. “That was in the third inning when Julián Javier singled to left. I had planned to use a curve, and at the last minute I changed it to a fast ball.”3

Koufax faced the Cardinals second baseman for the third time in the sixth. Javier singled again, this time to center field, but was forced at second on Charlie James’s groundball. Curt Flood grounded out for the third out. Musial singled again in the seventh but was forced out on Gene Oliver’s grounder. Bill White’s groundout ended the frame.

Dodgers manager Walter Alston said after the game that Koufax was not trying to strike out every batter as in the past’ “He’s a better pitcher this way,” the skipper said. “He has better control. He doesn’t make many pitches that he doesn’t want to make.”4

Koufax breezed through the eighth, striking out the side for the first time. With two outs in the St. Louis ninth, Boyer hit his second single, the Cardinals’ fifth hit. Musial came up to bat “but he never got a chance to be a hero because catcher Doug Camilli threw out Boyer on an attempted steal, with Maury Wills making a nifty tag.”5

Koufax said, “In a way I hated to see Boyer trying to steal because if he was safe, it would have been really tough to pitch to Musial. I might not have walked Musial intentionally, but I wouldn’t have given him anything good to hit. Frankly, I didn’t want to go out there for a tenth inning.”6

As Koufax kept the Cardinals in check, Gibson was doing the same to the Dodgers. He entered the game with an 8-4 record after winning his previous two starts. In his last start, on June 13, he had struck out 12 batters in the Cardinals’ 6-1win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

In the first inning Gibson walked leadoff batter Wills, who stole second base as Jim Gilliam struck out. It was Wills’s 36 steals on the way to a season total of 104. He moved to third on Willie Davis’s groundout but failed to score when Ron Fairly flied out to center.

Gibson gave up two more two-out walks over the next two innings but retired the next Dodgers batter to end each frame. Wally Moon got the first hit off Gibson in the fourth, a two-out single. Gibson, though, struck out Camilli for the third out and his fourth strikeout of the game.

Gibson retired the next seven Dodgers batters before Moon singled again in the seventh. Moon, a former Cardinal, stole second as Gibson struck out Camilli. Instead of facing another former Cardinal, Daryl Spencer, Gibson gave him an intentional pass so he could face the weak-hitting Koufax.7 Gibson ended the frame when Koufax swung and missed, giving Gibson his seventh strikeout.

Gibson pitched a one-two-three eighth inning. He got Fairly to fly out to center field to start the ninth. That brought Tommy Davis to the plate.

Davis had grounded out and struck out twice. “He’d been particularly deadly to Tommy Davis, striking him out twice and making him look bad each time,” a sportswriter noted. “So once more Gibson called on his fastball, and Davis met it squarely. When last seen it was bouncing out of sight far into the Dodger bullpen beyond left field.”8 The home run gave the Dodgers a 1-0 win and “a heart-breaker for Gibson to lose–undoubtedly the finest three-hitter loss by any pitcher this season.”9

“I was looking for a fast ball because he was behind on me (one ball and no strikes),” Davis said. “Gibson had been getting me out on breaking stuff. He was throwing the fast ball when he got behind.”10 It was Davis’s 13th home run of the season and raised his RBI total to 69, the most by far for any slugger in either league.

Gibson was less than pleased with himself. “I don’t know why I threw Davis that high fast ball,” he mourned. “I had been keeping the ball down and away from him, and then I got a wild idea and came in with a high inside fast ball, and that was it.”11

A happy Koufax said, “I’d have to say that was the most satisfying game I’ve ever pitched. My best pitch was my curve ball, not my fast ball. And all the grounders they hit were on curve balls.” Alston echoed his pitcher’s thoughts, saying, “It was one of his best pitching performances.”12 This was the first shutout Koufax threw without giving up a walk. (Koufax threw to two different catchers this day. The starting backstop, John Roseboro left the game in the fourth when Boyer’s foul tip “caught him just above the right knee and he went down like a shot.”13 Doug Camilli replaced him behind the plate.)

Asked if he thought the win was even better than his 18-strikeout performance on April 24, Koufax said, “Yeah, that night I had plenty of runs and could coast. But in this game I had to bear down on every pitch. And I had better stuff tonight than I’ve had all season. My curve ball was working real good. It was my best pitch. And I could put the ball right where I wanted.”14

Koufax complimented Gibson’s effort, saying, “I could easily have lost the same way Gibson did. I feel sorry for the guy. He sure pitched a game.”15 Neal Russo of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote, “Both Koufax and Gibson once accepted college basketball scholarships. The way they have been pitching, the batters wish they had stuck to jump shots and free throws.”16

The win was the Dodgers’ first shutout of the season. It was also the third time Tommy Davis had homered to give Koufax a win. The first time was in 1960 when the Dodgers beat Benny Daniels and the Pirates 1-0. The second came in the May 25, 1961, game.

Koufax raised his record to 10-2, while Gibson fell to 8-5. Koufax ran his major-league strikeout total to 146 in 125⅓ innings. He would finish the season with 216 strikeouts, second only to his teammate Don Drysdale.17

Koufax and Gibson faced each other twice more. Koufax won both games, a 5-0 shutout on July 3, 1963, and a 4-2 victory on April 26, 1966, with both pitchers going the distance.

SOURCES

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author used the Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org websites for box-score, player, team, and season pages, pitching and batting logs, and other material.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN196206180.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1962/B06180LAN1962.htm

NOTES

1 The game was suspended in the top of the ninth on June 5 with the score 7-3 and finished on June 6 with Koufax pitching in the ninth for Don Drysdale. Koufax struck out two of the three Pirates he faced.

2 Neal Russo, “Dodgers Mr. Lightning, T. Davis, Strikes Bob Gibson Again,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 19, 1962: 26.

3 Coy Williams, “Davis-Koufax Act Proves Dazzling,” Hollywood Citizen-News, June 19, 1962: 16.

4 Williams.

5 Frank Finch, “Sandy, Tommy Double Deal Cards 1-0,” Los Angeles Times, June 19, 1962: 36.

6 Russo.

7 Koufax was hitting .111 on June 13 while Spencer was hitting .268.

8 Williams.

9 Williams.

10 Russo.

11 United Press International, “Tommy D’s Lightning Wins for Koufax, 1-0,” San Pedro (California) News-Pilot, June 19, 1962: 10.

12 “Tommy D’s Lightning.”

13 Williams.

14 Williams.

15 Williams.

16 Russo.

17 Gibson finished third in the National League with 208 strikeouts.