October 2, 1965: On two days’ rest, Sandy Koufax sends Dodgers to World Series

Sandy Koufax won eight games for the Dodgers in September-October of 1965. (SABR-Rucker Archive.

By October, exhaustion was a standard part of every game for Sandy Koufax. But one out from clinching a World Series berth, the Los Angeles Dodgers ace reached new depths of fatigue. “I don’t remember ever being so tired in my life,” Koufax later confessed, but downplayed it for manager Walt Alston. “I’m dog-tired, but I think I have enough left to get this guy.”1 The manager nodded and strolled back to the dugout as Denis Menke stepped into the batter’s box.

Koufax had ample reason to be tired. Even before taking the mound for this penultimate game of the 1965 season on just two days’ rest, the lefty led the majors in innings pitched, batters faced, and complete games.2

Despite Los Angeles leading the National League standings most of the year, this opportunity to clinch the pennant seemed unlikely just two weeks earlier. In September, the San Francisco Giants posted a record of 21-9, including a 14-game winning streak, putting them 4½ games ahead of L.A. and the Cincinnati Reds. But the Dodgers bounced back, finishing the month with 13 straight wins and a two-game lead in the standings.

Koufax, who led all of baseball with 25 wins, won three games during that streak, all of them shutouts. When considered with his perfect game, Koufax hadn’t allowed a run in a win since September 5. A 26th Koufax win would not only send the Dodgers to the World Series, it would also tie the NL record for wins by a left-hander.3

The only pitcher with a chance to tie Koufax’s wins total was on the mound for the opposition. With 24 wins, Tony Cloninger had cemented himself as the Milwaukee Braves’ ace in the two years since Warren Spahn had left the team. His hope for a 25th victory wasn’t unfounded, as the Braves were the only team that had scored any runs off Koufax in his previous four starts. Eleven days earlier, in their final game in Milwaukee, the team’s hitters sent Koufax to the showers in the third inning, plating five runs on two home runs, including the only grand slam of Frank Bolling’s career.

Before the game, the Dodgers watched some of the Giants-Reds game before taking infield practice, knowing that, for pennant purposes, a San Francisco loss would be as good as an LA win. But Cincinnati stranded three runners in scoring position through the first three innings. “Let’s go win it ourselves!” shouted rookie Jim Lefebvre.4

Milwaukee leadoff hitter Felipe Alou went down on Koufax’s 370th strikeout of his record-shattering season. Two games earlier, he surpassed the major-league record of 349 K’s, set by Rube Waddell of the Philadelphia Athletics in 1904.5 A groundout by Hank Aaron and his 371st strikeout, of Gene Oliver, ended the inning.

Cloninger started the game third in the NL in walks, and with the second batter he faced, Jim Gilliam, he tied teammate Wade Blasingame at 116 apiece. When the 36-year-old Gilliam stole second, catcher Oliver fired the ball into center field, allowing Gilliam to advance to third.

Cloninger also began the game with the major-league lead in wild pitches and threw his 22nd with two outs. His first pitch to Ron Fairly was high and away, just beyond Oliver’s mitt, putting Gilliam and the Dodgers up a 1-0 in a hitless inning.

In the second, Koufax struck out the side. Cloninger responded with a three-up-three-down inning of his own.

Woody Woodward slapped a single up the first-base line to lead off the third, but when Alomar attempted to bunt him over, Koufax pounced on the ball and fired to second for the out. Cloninger, attempting to sacrifice Alomar to second, reached on a throwing error by third baseman Gilliam, but Milwaukee failed to capitalize. Alou struck out for a second time and Aaron smashed a line drive directly into Gilliam’s glove to end the inning.

After Cloninger retired the Dodgers in order again, Oliver tied the game with a leadoff solo home run, his career-high 21st of the year. Left fielder Lou Johnson tracked the ball and gave Dodger fans some hope that it might be reachable, but he crashed into the wall as it fell into the stands.

Pain radiated through Koufax’s arthritic elbow, but he managed to get three more outs, two of them K’s. He also issued his first walk of the game, to Mack Jones.

With the score tied, Cloninger set down the Dodger hitters in order again. It was around this time that the PA announcer at Dodger Stadium informed the crowd of 41,574 that San Francisco had beaten Cincinnati, 3-2.

About 350 miles up the California coastline, some Giants players turned on a transistor radio in the locker room at Candlestick Park. They couldn’t pick up Vin Scully’s play-by-play, but a local station was reading updates between songs. A few players sliced into a watermelon while manager Herman Franks, having discarded his uniform pants, paced the floor and sucked on an ice cream cone.6

Koufax struck out Cloninger and Aaron in a scoreless fifth. Cloninger opened the bottom of the fifth by walking Johnson, the first Dodger baserunner since Gilliam walked. “[Cloninger’s] a great competitor,” Spahn, now a 44-year-old fifth starter for the Giants, assured his teammates around the radio.7

Lefebvre, on his way to being named NL Rookie of the Year, hit a pop foul, but first baseman Joe Torre lost the easy out in the sun. Several pitches later, the rookie cracked a grounder toward third baseman Miguel de la Hoz. It appeared to be a double-play ball, but became the Dodgers’ first hit, shooting into left field to bring Johnson around to third.8

Wes Parker slapped a groundball toward first, and Torre quickly relayed home, sending Johnson scurrying back. Oliver’s throw to third appeared to be in time to catch Johnson, but umpire Tony Venzon signaled safe. “Caramba!” shouted de la Hoz as the Milwaukee bench erupted in protest.9

Cloninger walked John Roseboro on five pitches, and when his next three to Koufax were all balls as well, manager Bobby Bragan gave him the hook. “He was trying too hard,” Bragan lamented. “He wanted to get that 25th victory.”10

Ken Johnson’s first pitch missed the strike zone, walking Koufax and bringing Lefebvre home for a 3-1 Dodgers lead. The walk was charged to Cloninger, his 119th, which tied him with Pittsburgh Pirates All-Star Bob Veale for the NL lead.

“There’s nothing we can do about it now,” Franks declared while chomping a cigar, “We’re still alive. For four innings, anyway.”11

The next three Dodger hitters went down in order, ending the 29-minute half-inning. Despite the break, Koufax was still exhausted and changed his approach. For the rest of the game, he worked from a stretch, even without runners on base. “I didn’t have to raise up my arms so high and I didn’t have to kick my leg up either,” he later explained. “Kicking that leg took too much effort.”12 He retired the side in order.

The longer the game wore on without a Milwaukee runner advancing beyond first base, the quieter the San Francisco clubhouse grew. Willie Mays was one of the first Giants to leave.13 “He’s got a two-run lead in the seventh inning?” one Giants player grumbled to another. “I’ll listen to the rest of it in my car.”14

“If I wasn’t so old, I’d cry,” muttered Franks.15

When the ninth inning finally came, Koufax was out of steam. He surrendered a leadoff single to de la Hoz, who was replaced by pinch-runner Ty Cline. Alston began to worry about his pitcher tiring, noting, “He was getting the ball high and that generally is a tell-tale sign.”16 But Koufax struck out Jones,17 and Roseboro snapped the pitch to second base to catch Cline stealing.

Needing one more out, Koufax walked Woodward on five pitches, then threw a ball to Menke, prompting the meeting with Alston at the mound.

“I told him, ‘Yes, I’ll get ’em out.’ After you tell the manager that, you’d better get them out,” Koufax later recalled.18 With the count at 2-and-2, Menke hit a towering fly ball to left field.

“I thought it was never coming down,” recounted Lou Johnson, the 31-year-old who’d spent 13 years in the minors, bouncing around various systems, including Milwaukee’s. As he settled underneath, fans began to rush the field. “The onliest way I wasn’t going to catch it was if the good man up above got in my way.”19

The Dodgers swarmed Koufax, dancing and hugging in celebration. As they popped bottles of champagne and sprayed each other in the clubhouse, Koufax declined the bubbly and went to sit alone in a tiny kitchenette. “I’m tired. Very tired,” the sweaty pitcher whispered through his pain. “I don’t believe I could have gone any longer.”20

“Hey, Sandy,” reliever Bob Miller interrupted, pouring champagne over the back of Koufax’s head before the Los Angeles ace could turn around to acknowledge his name.21

“I feel like I’m 100 years old,” Koufax said.22

SOURCES

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

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN196510020.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1965/B10020LAN1965.htm

NOTES

1 Associated Press, “Koufax Admits He’s Tired: ‘Feel Like I’m a Hundred,’” Santa Cruz (California) Sentinel, October 3, 1965: 19.

2 His 326 2/3 innings pitched at the game’s start represented two complete games more than the 308⅓ innings of teammate Don Drysdale, the only other pitcher over 300. Both had faced 1,262 hitters, well ahead of Bob Gibson’s 1,198 in third place, and Koufax’s 26 complete games were two better than Juan Marichal. With his 20th complete game in the next day’s season closer, Gibson finished third in the NL with 299 innings pitched and 1,233 batters faced. New York Yankee Mel Stottlemyre led the American League in all three categories with 291 innings pitched, 1,188 batters faced, and 18 complete games.

3 Rube Marquard set the record of 26 wins in 1912, which was matched by Carl Hubbell in 1936. Koufax beat the record the following year when he went 27-9. Twenty-seven wins remain the NL record for lefties, matched by Steve Carlton with a 27-10 record in 1972. Lefty Grove holds the major-league record with 31 wins for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1931.

4 Paul Zimmerman, “Weary Koufax Still Calmest in Midst of Victory Celebration,” Los Angeles Times, October 3, 1965: D4.

5 He’d also long since passed his own NL record of 306, set in 1963. Koufax’s mark represented the modern record, but was the third highest total in baseball history. In 1884, Old Hoss Radbourn and Charlie Buffinton struck out 441 and 417 batters, respectively.

6 Jack McDonald, “Bye Bye World Series,” San Francisco Examiner, October 3, 1965: III-3.

7 McDonald, “Bye Bye World Series.”

8 Lefebvre knocked another single in the sixth, giving him both of the Dodgers’ only hits for the game.

9 Frank Finch, “It’s All Over!,” Los Angeles Times, October 3, 1965: D1. Blasingame was ejected for his complaints to the umpire.

10 Joseph St. Amant, “Bedlam in Dodger Clubroom,” San Francisco Examiner, October 3, 1965: III-3. Bragan was ejected by home-plate umpire Al Forman in the eighth inning for arguing balls and strikes.

11 George Ross, “Champagne in L.A.–Party’s Over in S.F.,” Oakland Tribune, October 3, 1965: 39.

12 Associated Press, “Koufax Admits He’s Tired.”

13 Charles Maher, “Giants Players Not Interested in L.A. Game,” Los Angeles Times, October 3, 1965: D4.

14 Ross, “Champagne in L.A.”

15 Ross, “Champagne in L.A.”

16 Zimmerman, “Weary Koufax Still Calmest.”

17 Jones was Koufax’s 382nd strikeout victim of the campaign, which remains the record for NL pitchers and the major-league record for left-handed pitchers. In 1973, right-hander Nolan Ryan struck out 383 as a member of the California Angels.

18 Zimmerman, “Weary Koufax Still Calmest.”

19 Sid Ziff, “Dodgers Steal It,” Los Angeles Times, October 3, 1965: D3; Zimmerman, “Weary Koufax Still Calmest in Midst of Victory Celebration.”

20 Associated Press, “Koufax Admits He’s Tired.”

21 St. Amant, “Bedlam in Dodger Clubroom.”

22 “Koufax Admits He’s Tired.”