June 4, 1972: Dodgers retire numbers of Roy Campanella, Sandy Koufax, Jackie Robinson before Old-Timers Day loss to Cardinals

On June 4, 1972, the fans streaming into Dodger Stadium knew in advance they would be witnessing some very special moments on that Sunday afternoon. It was the largest daytime crowd of the season: 43,818 fans.1 Many were there for Old-Timers Day. The scheduled events included: “A Salute to Casey Stengel”; a three-inning old-timers game; a ceremony to retire the uniform numbers of Roy Campanella, Jackie Robinson, and Sandy Koufax; and lastly, a matchup between the Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals featuring two All-Star pitchers.

Salute to Stengel and Old-Timers Game

Best known for winning seven World Series titles and 10 American League pennants as a New York Yankees manager, Stengel also had deep ties with the Dodgers organization. He broke into the majors as a Brooklyn Dodgers outfielder in 1912 and spent six of his 14 seasons there. Additionally, his first stint as a manager was with the Dodgers from 1934 to 1936.2

On a hazy but pleasant afternoon, the 81-year-old Stengel didn’t walk; he jogged to home plate to be honored. He wore a hat and pinstriped uniform, both sporting the insignias of the teams he played with or managed.3 Always the colorful showman, Stengel spoke for several minutes.4 There were representatives from all 13 World Series that Stengel participated in as a player and manager.

“Casey is the greatest ambassador baseball ever had,” said Stan Musial. “He deserved this.”5

For the three-inning old-timers exhibition, Stengel managed a team of predominantly AL players against the primarily National League team skippered by current Dodgers manager Walter Alston.6 All of the players had played for or against Stengel, including Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Early Wynn, Babe Herman, 84-year-old Harry Hooper, Jim Gilliam, Bobby Richardson, Don Newcombe,7 and others.8 Maury Wills, age 39, was on the Dodgers’ active roster in 1972; he also participated in the old-timers game.9

Koufax was the NL team starter, which provided Dodgers fans the opportunity to see the legendary pitcher once again. Whitey Ford took the mound as the AL starter. The AL struck first in the second inning when Gil McDougald doubled.10 Don Larsen, who threw a perfect game in the 1956 World Series, batted in McDougald, prompting Stengel to tell him, “I told you, you shouldn’t have switched to pitching.”11

Larsen played in left field, and another pitcher from Stengel’s Yankees teams, Vic Raschi, was in right. Broadcasting the game, Vin Scully said, “They still think [highly] of DiMaggio when they put two pitchers alongside him in the outfield.”12

In the final inning, Pee Wee Reese singled to center and reached third on Musial’s single. Reese was batted in by Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst.13 The game ended in a 1-1 tie.14

Number Retirements

Following the old-timers event, Dodgers president Peter O’Malley, PA announcer John Ramsey, and Commissioner Bowie Kuhn15 gathered at home plate with Robinson, Campanella, and Koufax to formally retire their numbers. This was the first time the Dodgers organization had retired numbers.16

Koufax (No. 32) had an illustrious career, all as a Dodger (1955-1966). The seven-time All-Star won three Cy Young Awards, along with three pitching Triple Crowns, while earning five ERA titles. He pitched in four World Series and was the Series MVP twice. “The Left Arm of God” threw four no-hitters, including a perfect game. Later in 1972, he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Speaking first, Koufax said, “Growing up in Brooklyn, I had some heroes. … I never thought I would get this chance to be standing with them today.”17

Campanella (No. 39) was in a wheelchair due to a career-ending car wreck. He played eight seasons in the Negro Leagues prior to suiting up for the Brooklyn Dodgers (1948-1957). A legendary catcher with an incredible arm, he was an 11-time All-Star who won MVP awards three times. The upbeat, fun-loving “Campy” finished with 260 homers, a career batting average of .283, and an OPS of .859. He entered the Hall of Fame in 1969. “I’m only sorry I didn’t get to play even one game in LA,” Campanella said. “But I’m still a Dodger and I always will be.”18

Robinson (No. 42) served in the U.S. Army during World War II and played in the Negro American League in 1945. He broke the color barrier in 1947, becoming the first Black major leaguer in the modern era. As a pioneer, Robinson carried a heavy burden. He was subjected to racism and, at times, raised spikes while making defensive plays as an infielder. With the Brooklyn Dodgers, he was the 1947 Rookie of the Year, the 1949 MVP, and a seven-time All-Star. Retiring after the 1956 campaign, he finished with a .313 average, .887 OPS, and 200 stolen bases. Robinson had been largely estranged from baseball since his retirement.19 He retired feeling disrespected because the Dodgers wanted to trade him to the New York Giants.20 He also was frustrated with baseball’s treatment of Black players and the limited opportunities for executive roles.21 Unbeknownst to many fans, his health was failing.22 The crowd saluted him with a thunderous standing ovation. “This is one of the great moments of my life,” Robinson said. “It’s a genuine thrill and a pleasure to be asked here.”23

In 1997, Robinson’s No. 42 was retired throughout baseball.24

Regular-Season Game

After the ceremonies, it was time for the Dodgers to host the Cardinals. The pitching matchup featured LA lefty Claude Osteen (6-2, with a 1.35 ERA) and righty Bob Gibson (2-5, 3.59 ERA) for St. Louis.25 The Dodgers (28-17) were in first place in the NL West Division, 1½ games ahead of the Cincinnati Reds. The Cards (16-28) were in the NL East’s cellar (sixth place), 15½ games behind the division-leading New York Mets.

On this heady day, if there was any disappointment for Dodger fans, it was that right fielder and future Hall of Famer Frank Robinson was sidelined with a hamstring injury.26

Osteen had a one-two-three first inning. In the bottom half, Bobby Valentine drew a leadoff walk, but Cardinals catcher Ted Simmons threw him out attempting to steal second. Gibson got out of the inning when Bill Buckner, handling right field in Robinson’s place, and Willie Davis popped out.

Through four scoreless innings, a pitchers duel was underway, with Osteen giving up one hit and no walks and Gibson yielding two hits and one walk.

St. Louis third baseman Joe Torre, the reigning NL Most Valuable Player, led off the fifth by belting a homer to left, his fifth of the season and only his second hit in his last 19 at-bats.27 In the bottom of the frame, Gibson gave up a leadoff single to Wes Parker; the inning ended when third baseman Steve Garvey flied out and Duke Sims grounded into a double play. Cardinals 1, Dodgers 0.

In the seventh, three Cardinals with sub-.200 batting averages contributed to a run-scoring rally. Right fielder Luis Meléndez,28 who began the day with a .191 average, singled to right. He advanced to third when .186-hitting center fielder José Cruz also singled to right. Then, .120-batting shortstop Dal Maxvill laced a single to left, scoring Meléndez and advancing Cruz to second for a 2-0 Cardinals lead. With two on and no outs, Osteen was relieved by lefty Pete Richert, who struck out Gibson and Lou Brock.29 St. Louis’s Ted Sizemore, who’d been the NL Rookie of the Year with the Dodgers three seasons earlier, flied to center for the third out.

In the bottom of the seventh, Buckner singled off Gibson, but “Gibby” countered by striking out Davis. Willie Crawford grounded into a double play to end the inning.

Richert got two strikeouts in the top of the ninth. Maxvill singled to center. Then, Gibson stepped into the batter’s box and punched a two-run homer into the left-field bleachers. It was the 18th home run of his career.30 Cardinals 4, Dodgers 0.

In the bottom of the ninth, Gibson secured the victory with a popout from shortstop Bill Russell and fly-outs from pinch-hitter Manny Mota and Valentine. On just three days’ rest, Gibson was overpowering and now had tallied 21 consecutive scoreless innings. Thanks to double plays, he faced only 28 batters. Osteen took the loss. The Cards had four runs on nine hits, the Dodgers no runs on five hits. The game lasted just 1 hour and 59 minutes, partly because Gibson worked quickly. During the game’s broadcast, Scully said, “Gibson pitches as though he’s double parked.”31

Perhaps the Cardinals had some extra adrenaline – there had been a fire at their hotel the night before.32 It seemed fitting that on Old-Timers Day, the stars of the big-league game were some of the older Cardinals: 36-year-old Bob Gibson, 33-year-old Dal Maxvill, and 31-year-old Joe Torre. 33

Author’s Note

From a historical perspective, the biggest surprise from this memorable day is there was no official mention made at Dodger Stadium of the 25th anniversary of Robinson breaking the color barrier. In 2022, longtime Los Angeles Times sportswriter Ron Rapoport wrote: “They seemed to be treating a historic moment as just another Cap Day.”34 Robinson did make another public appearance in October in Cincinnati, where he threw the ceremonial first pitch at Game Two of the World Series. This event included the only official observance by Major League Baseball of the 25th anniversary. Nine days later, on October 24, 1972, Robinson died at age 53.35

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Ray Danner and copy-edited by Mike Eisenbath. The author thanks John Fredland, Gary Belleville, and Kurt Blumenau for their assistance.

Sources and Photo Credits

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and SABR.org for general player, team, and season data.

The baseball card images were downloaded from the Trading Card Database.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN197206040.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1972/B06040LAN1972.htm

Notes

1 Adult tickets for the 1972 season, including this game, ranged from $1.50 to $3.50. Dodgers Yearbook 1972, The Los Angeles Dodgers: 54. 

2 Stengel played for Brooklyn, and the Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Giants, and Boston Braves; he retired with a .284 batting average and an OPS of .766. In addition to being the skipper for Brooklyn (1934-1936), he managed the Boston Bees, Boston Braves, the Yankees, and finished his career managing the expansion New York Mets from 1962 through ’65. In 1966, he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager. He also had strong ties to the Los Angeles community, as a longtime resident of Glendale, California, not far from Dodger Stadium. Katherine Yamada, “Yankees’ Stengel Called Glendale Home,” latimes.com, June 11, 2005, https://www.latimes.com/socal/glendale-news-press/news/tn-gnp-xpm-2005-06-11-export1486-story.html.

3 Associated Press, “Old No. 37: A Yank in Dodgerville,” Fresno Bee, June 5, 1972: 20.

4 Stengel reminisced about his career and talked about some of the old-timer players who were present, including Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and Don Larsen.Associated Press, “Dodgers Pay Tribute to Stengel: Retire Uniforms of Three Greats,” Paducah (Kentucky) Sun, June 5, 1972: 14.

5 Neal Russo, “Ah, The Good Old Days: Musial’s a Big Hit Again,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 5, 1972: 31.

6 Alston was doing double-duty, managing the old-timers in the early afternoon and the Dodgers later in the day.

7 Newcombe was the Dodgers’ Community Relations Director in 1972. Kostya Kennedy, “Book Excerpt: The Day Jackie Robinson Came Home to Dodger Stadium,” Los Angeles Times, April 14, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2022-04-14/book-excerpt-the-day-jackie-robinson-returned-to-dodger-stadium.

8 Bud Furillo, “Jackie Too Crippled For Old-Timers,” Los Angeles Herald Examiner, June 5, 1972: C-1.

9 Bob Hunter, “Dodgers and Ex-Star Robinson Bury Hatchet at Stengel Day,” The Sporting News, June 24, 1972: 9. Wills did not play in the subsequent game against the Cardinals. This was the last season of his 14 years in the majors. Wills was a switch-hitting shortstop who was a seven-time All-Star. Another player on the Dodgers’ roster who could have played in the old-timers game was right-handed pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm, age 49. The 1972 season was the last of his 21 big-league campaigns. His final game was about a month later, on July 10, just a few days shy of his 50th birthday. The eight-time All-Star was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 1985.

10 Furillo, “Jackie Too Crippled For Old-Timers.”

11 Russo, “Ah, The Good Old Days: Musial’s a Big Hit Again.” Larsen was a good-hitting pitcher who Stengel managed while with the Yankees. Larsen finished his 14-year career with a batting average of .242 and a .662 OPS.

12 Russo, “Ah, The Good Old Days: Musial’s a Big Hit Again.”

13 Like Alston, Schoendienst was participating in the old-timers game and managing his club (the Cardinals) during the subsequent regular season game.

14 Furillo, “Jackie Too Crippled For Old-Timers.” Sixty-one-year-old Dixie Walker was one of the old-timer participants. He made a running “finger-tip” catch of a liner to center by Andy Carey. Walker was a four-time All-Star who played in the majors 1931–1949. As a Brooklyn Dodger in 1947, he was known for his initial resistance to the color barrier being broken, but later he came to accept Jackie Robinson as a teammate. In 1972, Walker worked as a batting instructor for the Dodgers. Dodgers Yearbook 1972, The Los Angeles Dodgers, 51.

15 Kuhn collected the three retired uniforms to take them to the Hall of Fame. NL president Chub Feeney, and AL president Joe Cronin were also on hand. Bud Furillo, “Jackie Too Crippled For Old-Timers,” Los Angeles Herald Examiner, June 5, 1972: C-1.

16 Ron Rapoport, “Jackie Robinson Wanted Lasting Change, Not a Day,” Los Angeles Times, accessed November 7, 2025, https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2022-04-14/baseball-reveres-jackie-robinson-but-robinson-didnt-revere-baseball-heres-why. In subsequent years, the Dodgers retired these numbers (as of May, 2026): #1 – Pee Wee Reese, #2 – Tommy Lasorda, #4 Duke Snider, #14 – Gil Hodges, #19 – Jim Gilliam, #20 – Don Sutton, #24 – Walter Alston, #34 – Fernando Valenzuela, and #53 Don Drysdale. See “Retired Numbers, Los Angeles Dodgers,” mlb.com, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.mlb.com/dodgers/history/retired-numbers.

17 Furillo, “Jackie Too Crippled For Old-Timers.”

18 Russo, “Ah, The Good Old Days: Musial’s a Big Hit Again.” Due to the car wreck in January 1958, Campanella was paralyzed. He had intended to move to Los Angeles with the team and play with the 1958 Dodgers. Joe Posnanski, The Baseball 100, (New York: Avid Reader Press, 2021), 51.

19 Rapoport, “Jackie Robinson Wanted Lasting Change, Not a Day.” Once his playing days were over, Robinson stayed away from baseball, although he did speak at his Hall of Fame induction in 1962. He had other interests and his closest friends were not baseball people. Robinson worked as a business executive for a restaurant chain. Kostya Kennedy, “Book Excerpt: The Day Jackie Robinson Came Home to Dodger Stadium,” Los Angeles Times, April 14, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2022-04-14/book-excerpt-the-day-jackie-robinson-returned-to-dodger-stadium.

20 Gordon Verrell, “Jackie Robinson – Dodger Feud Ends,” Long Beach (California) Independent Press-Telegram, June 4, 1972: S2.

21 Kostya Kennedy, “Book Excerpt: The Day Jackie Robinson Came Home to Dodger Stadium,” Los Angeles Times, April 14, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2022-04-14/book-excerpt-the-day-jackie-robinson-returned-to-dodger-stadium.

22 Rapoport, “Jackie Robinson Wanted Lasting Change, Not a Day.” Robinson was losing his eyesight, was diabetic, and had heart disease. Although he was younger than some of the Old-Timer Game participants, his health did not permit him to play.

23 “Those Were The Days My Friend,” Long Beach (California) Independent Press-Telegram, June 5, 1972: C1.

24 On April 15, 1997, the 50th anniversary of Robinson breaking the color barrier, Commissioner Bud Selig permanently retired Robinson’s number for every team associated with major league baseball. Since 2004, April 15 has been celebrated as Jackie Robinson Day – when major league ballplayers wear #42 in honor of Robinson.  

25 The 32-year-old Osteen, a two-time All-Star at this point, had won four of his five previous starts. “Gomer” had an excellent season in 1972, finishing with 20 wins and a 2.64 ERA. He finished his 18 years in the majors with a 3.30 ERA. Gibson had a slow start in ’72, losing his first five decisions. He righted the ship in late May by winning two starts in a row prior to this game. He completed the 1972 season with 19 wins and a 2.46 ERA.

26 Bob Hunter, “Mota Smash Hit Playing Dodgers’ Pick-Me-Up Role,” The Sporting News, June 24, 1972: 9. Robinson was leading the team in most offensive categories. His last game had been on June 1; he returned to the lineup on June 6. The 1972 season was his only year with the Dodgers. Less than three years later, Frank Robinson became the first Black manager in NL/AL history.

27 In the previous season, Torre led the majors with a .363 batting average and was the 1971 NL MVP. The nine-time All-Star and two-time Manager of the Year was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a manager in 2014.

28 Melendez was playing right field because Bernie Carbo was on military reserve duty for the weekend.

29 Brock led the majors in stolen bases the prior season (with 64) and in 1972 (63). The speedy outfielder was a six-time All-Star who entered the Hall of Fame in 1985. Brock is second in major league career stolen bases with 938 (Rickey Henderson is the all-time leader with 1,406 steals).

30 This was Gibson’s first homer of the year. He had been mired in a season-long batting slump (1-for-25). This was uncharacteristic of Gibson who was typically a good-hitting pitcher. He retired with 24 home runs and a .206 batting average (including four seasons where he hit .240 or higher).

31 Associated Press, “Gibson Mows Dodgers, 4-0,” San Bernadino County (California) Sun, June 5, 1972: 34.

32 Neal Russo, “Gibson Coasts in the West,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 5, 1972: 29. The fire was not considered major, but it did generate a lot of smoke. It was caused by a cigarette tossed into a hotel trash can.

33 At the end of the ’72 regular season, Los Angeles (85-70) finished in second place, 10 and ½ games behind the Cincinnati Reds in the NL West. St. Louis (75-81) was in fourth place in the NL East, 21 and ½ games behind the first place Pittsburgh Pirates.

34 Rapoport, “Jackie Robinson Wanted Lasting Change, Not a Day.”

35 Rich Puerzer, “Jackie’s Last Stand: Jackie Robinson’s Last Public Appearance and His Appeal for the Integration of Major League Baseball Management,” in Jackie: Perspectives on 42, Bill Nowlin and Glen Sparks, eds. (Phoenix, Arizona: SABR, 2021), accessed December 7, 2025, https://sabr.org/journal/article/jackies-last-stand-jackie-robinsons-last-public-appearance-and-his-appeal-for-the-integration-of-major-league-baseball-management/.