October 2, 1966: Sandy Koufax’s last regular-season hurrah

Sandy Koufax struck out 10 and beat the Phillies in his last regular-season start. (SABR-Rucker Archive)

Sandy Koufax, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ superstar left-hander, won his final major-league game on Sunday October 2, 1966.

The Phillies had taken the first game of a doubleheader, 4-3, in Philadelphia, when Chris Short came on in relief and won his 20th game.1

When the Dodgers lost the opener of the doubleheader, they had to keep tabs on the San Francisco Giants’ game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Dodgers wanted to avoid a three-game playoff by winning the second game. Koufax, who had 26 wins in the season far, was pitching on two days of rest. While waiting to learn about the outcome of the second Giants-Pirates game, he reportedly said something akin to “The hell with it. Let’s win the goddamn game.”2 The Giants and Pirates went into extra innings before the Giants finally won, 7-3, in 11 innings, while the Dodgers and Phillies were playing their second game of the day.

Jim Bunning, who was 19-13, started strong in the top of the first inning when both shortstop Maury Wills and third baseman Dick Schofield went down on strikeouts. Center fielder Willie Davis grounded out, Bunning to first baseman Bill White. Koufax had a slightly more difficult start. Center fielder Jackie Brandt led off the bottom of the first with a single to Wills. Right fielder Cookie Rojas sacrificed Brandt to second base when the bunt was hit to Koufax, who threw the ball to Jim Lefebvre covering first base. Dick Groat singled to third baseman Schofield, leaving men on first and third with one out. Koufax struck out third baseman Dick Allen. Left fielder Harvey Kuenn grounded out to third.

Bunning made it through the top of the second inning when Dodgers right fielder Ron Fairly singled to right. Lefebvre flied out to Kuenn. Left fielder Lou Johnson popped out to second baseman Tony Taylor and catcher John Roseboro popped out to third baseman Allen.

Taylor and White went down on strikes against Koufax to start the Phillies’ half of the inning. Catcher Bob Uecker grounded out to Wills, who threw the ball to first baseman Wes Parker to finish out the inning.

The Dodgers scored three times in the third inning. Parker worked a walk against Bunning. He stole second base while Koufax was batting. After Koufax struck out, Wills hit a fly ball to Kuenn. Schofield drove a single to center field to score Parker. Davis hit a long two-run home run to right field that increased the score to 3-0. Fairly then flied out to Taylor.

Koufax, for his part in the bottom of the third, got Bunning to hit a comebacker. Brandt flied out to Fairly and Rojas lined out to Wills.

Lefebvre led off the top of the fourth with a double to right field. Johnson got a bunt single that put runners on first and third. Roseboro hit a sacrifice fly to Brandt, making the score 4-0. Johnson stole second base and moved to third on catcher Uecker’s throwing error. Bunning intentionally walked Parker to get to Koufax, who struck out. Wills grounded out to Groat to end the inning.

Groat led off the bottom of the fourth and reached base on Wills’ error. Allen, who was emerging as a big star with 40 home runs and 110 RBIs, went down on strikes. Kuenn flied out to right field for the second out. Taylor reached on an infield single to third, putting runners on first and second. Koufax got out of trouble by striking out White.

Bunning got the Dodgers out in order in the top of the fifth inning: Schofield grounded to shortstop, Davis flied to center, and Fairly grounded to shortstop.

After Koufax struck out Uecker leading off the bottom of the fifth, he started to feel some discomfort in his back, especially after working to pinch-hitter Gary Sutherland, batting for Bunning. For the rest of the game, between innings, the Dodgers trainers and retired pitching legend Don Newcombe popped Koufax’s back into place.3 Sutherland flied out to Johnson in left field for the second out. Brandt grounded out to second baseman Lefebvre to end the inning.

The Phillies brought in 21-year-old Rick Wise to pitch in the top of the sixth inning.4 Lefebvre flied out to center fielder Brandt. Johnson beat out an infield hit to third. Roseboro flied to Brandt for the second out of the inning. Johnson stole second base. Wise intentionally walked Parker to face Koufax. Shortstop Groat fielded Koufax’s grounder and got an unassisted force out at second base.

Koufax was still feeling the effects of the knot in his back but had an easy sixth, getting Rojas to pop out to third and striking out Groat and Allen, ending the inning with the Dodgers still leading 4-0.

Wise had an easy seventh, striking out Wills and getting Schofield and Davis on groundballs. Koufax, in the bottom of the inning, got Kuenn on a fly ball to right field and Taylor on a groundball to shortstop. With two outs, White doubled to right field, but Uecker grounded out to third base.

The Dodgers’ Fairly doubled to left to begin the eighth. Lefebvre bunted and third baseman Allen’s error put runners on first and third with nobody out. But Phillies shortstop Groat snagged Johnson’s liner and doubled Lefebvre off first. But Phillies second baseman Taylor booted Roseboro’s grounder and Fairly scored, giving the Dodgers a 5-0 lead. Wise struck out Parker to end the inning.

Johnny Briggs, pinch-hitting for Wise, coaxed a walk out of Koufax to begin the bottom of the eighth. Center fielder Davis caught Brandt’s fly ball, Rojas popped out to Schofield at third, and Groat grounded to shortstop Wills, who stepped on second base to force out Briggs.

Darold Knowles relieved Wise in the top of the ninth inning. He struck out Koufax, then walked Wills and surrendered a single to Schofield, with Wills stopping at second base. Willie Davis’s groundout to second moved the runners up, Taylor to White, advancing both baserunners. Fairly’s single to right scored Davis; Schofield also attempted to score, but right fielder Rojas’s throw home snuffed him out at home plate. Koufax and the Dodgers had a comfortable 6-0 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth. Dodgers manager Walter Alston decided to let Koufax finish the game.5

It was a near thing. Leadoff batter Dick Allen reached base on an error by third baseman Lefebvre and Kuenn singled to left. With runners at first and second base, Tony Taylor’s single to center gave the Phillies their first score of the game, and there were still runners at first and second for Bill White, whose double to right field scored both and made it a 6-3 game with no outs. But Koufax made quick work of the Phillies, fanning Uecker for the first out, getting pinch-hitter Bobby Wine on a grounder to shortstop, and striking out Brandt–his 10th strikeout of the game–to seal his 27th win of the season and his last career win.

Koufax said, after the game, “Thank God it’s over.”6 Some sportswriters suggested that “it” was culmination of winning the National League pennant on the final day of the season as compared to the Baltimore Orioles, who had won the American League pennant by nine games. Many, including ESPN’s Steve Wulf, have suggested that this may have been Koufax’s most consequential win.7 Pitching on short rest, he navigated through a tense ninth inning with a bad back. He knew the ramifications that emanated from this game. He got the last three batters with a flourish and finished his regular-season major-league career.8

Koufax finished his final season with a record of 27-9. He led the majors in wins, ERA (1.73), strikeouts (317), and complete games (27), Not surprisingly, Koufax won his third Cy Young Award.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

The author had a virtual front-row seat watching this event. Sandy Koufax’s last major-league win was the first full game that the author, as a 10-year-old boy, ever watched on television. The game was telecast in the Philadelphia region on Philadelphia’s Channel 6, WFIL. Byrum Saam, Bill Campbell, and former Phillies legend Richie Ashburn were the announcers.

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/PHI/PHI196610022.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1966/B10022PHI1966.htm

NOTES

1 David Skelton, “A Season-Ending Doubleheader and Its Impact on the 1966 World Series,” SABR Baseball Research Journal, Fall 2014. https://sabr.org/journal/article/a-season-ending-doubleheader-and-its-impact-on-the-1966-world-series/, accessed March 12, 2023.

2 Steve Wulf, “Sandy Koufax’ Final Victory Might Have Been His Best,” ESPN.com, September 30, 2016. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/17671148/los-angeles-dodgers-pitcher-sandy-koufax-relives-finest-game, accessed May 8, 2023.

3 George Lederer, “Sandy’s Dramatic Win Clinches Pennant Dodgers’ Magic Number 32,” (32 is Koufax’s uniform number. Lederer is suggesting that the number 32 is magic for Koufax and the Dodgers.) Long Beach (California) Press Telegram, October 3, 1966: 25.

4 Wise was later traded for Steve Carlton. Joseph Durso, “Cardinals Trade Carlton to Phillies and Get Wise,” New York Times, February 26, 1972: 21.

5 Glenn Stout and Richard Johnson, The Dodgers: 120 Years of Dodgers Baseball (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. 2004), 296.

6 Associated Press, “Victory Bath: Champagne and Shaving Cream,” Los Angeles Times, October 3, 1966: III, 1.

7 Wulf.

8 Koufax did pitch in Game Two of the 1966 World Series, giving up just one earned run in six innings, but was bested by Baltimore’s Jim Palmer, who threw a four-hit shutout.