did sandy koufax ever hit a homerun

Jack Doyle, Pitcher Perfect, 1963-1966, Hendley never had told his players of his baseball past. James swung and launched a shot onto the pavilion roof in right for a grand slam. Koufax left baseball with the highest regard of his fellow players, as he had been a model professional, not one to seek the spotlight or boast of his abilities, and often thinking and acting on behalf of the team rather than himself. !,Los Angeles Times, May 12, 1963, p. I-1. . And to add class and a coating of brilliance to their tandem achievement, the game was narrated by a man who has risen to the level of national icon because of his genius in the booth, Vin Scully. Sandy Koufax, 1st Cy Young, Detroit Free Press, October 25, 1963. At the University of Cincinnati he became a walk-on freshman basketball player. The Pirates traded Groat to the St. Louis Cardinals prior to the 1963 season, and he nearly won a second MVP trophy, finishing as the runner-up to Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax. But the Dodgers swept the three games from the Cardinals to move four games ahead with nine to play; a 41 win over the Mets clinched the pennant in the season's 158th game. According to base-stealing threat Lou Brock of the St. Louis Cardinals, Koufax couldnt field bunts well or hold runners on base too well. background-color:#ba3434; The Yankees tied it on a Mickey Mantle home run in the top of the seventh. Maybe Ill go back to where I came from and finish college.. The Dodgers had spotted Koufax a 4-0 lead in the first with the help of a triple by Willie Davis, singles by Tommy Davis and Frank Howard surrounding a walk, John Roseboros two-run double and a single by Larry Burright. Grover Cleveland Alexander had 3 Triple Crowns, 1915, 1916 & 1920. And in the post-WWII period the more modern era of baseball Koufax would be the only guy to win three Triple Crowns for pitching (see Triple Crown sidebar below). More remarkable was that Koufax was the losing pitcher in each of the other instances. Use of his left arm was severely limited when he wasnt pitching. In the American League, Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox won the hitting Triple Crown twice, in 1942 and 1947; Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees did it in 1956; To be the one best player in all three categories in a single season, whether hit- ter or pitcher, is a rare and distinctive honor, marking accomplished play.Frank Robinson of the Baltimore Orioles in 1966; and Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox was the last hitter to do so in 1967. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Frank Howard homered into the second deck down the left-field line, a feat that went unmatched at Dodger Stadium for years. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. And the run he surrendered, in the fifth inning, was unearned. For our purposes today, though, the dazzling Koufax is merely half the story. Now 76 and 15 years into his retirement from teaching, Hendley still lives in the Macon area, where he coached high school baseball, with his wife Runette. 196 against him with three home runs, nine RBI, 16 walks and 30 strikeouts (in 33 games). There was no success to be had on Sept. 9 that year, despite his brilliant pitching; strange because the Cubs pitcher often prospered when he opposed Koufax. The Yankees batted just .171 and scored only four runs in the Series, with Koufax being a primary factor, receiving the World Series MVP award. The next delivery was high and away. But the losing pitcher in each of the seven instances surrendered at least two more hits than Hendley. Click for card. ", Video: 2015 ASG: Koufax throws out first pitch to Bench. amzn_assoc_region = "US"; Hendley beat him three times and lost but once. Hendley, pitching for the Cubs that night in Los Angeles, warrants none of the superlatives applied above. Brooklyn had dibs on Duke Snider, Gil Hodges and the other Boys of Summer. Even today, baseball has but one Sandy, as it has one Babe. amzn_assoc_title = "Related Reading"; Koufax wasnt as sharp as he would be in later no-hitters, walking five and narrowly escaping trouble several times. The event they created, known as nothing more than "CHI at LA" before it began, stands among the most astonishing games ever played at any point of any baseball season. The Yankees scored twice in the eighth inning when Tony Kubek singled with one out and Tom Tresh homered with two outs to cut the lead to 52. Also, of the seven championships from the Dodgers franchise, it remains the only one won at home. But Marichal and Spahn had surrendered eight hits each before a home run by Willie Mays ended the 16-inning, 1-0 game. Now 76 and 15 years into his retirement from teaching, Hendley still lives in the Macon area, where he coached high school baseball, with his wife Runette. 555 N. Central Ave. #416 . Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. The 60th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the American League (AL) champion and two-time defending World Series champion New York Yankees against the National League (NL) champion Los Angeles Dodgers; the Dodgers swept the Series in four games to secure their second championship title in five years, and their third in franchise history. Bruce Jenkins has written for the San Francisco Chronicle since 1973 and has been a sports columnist since 1989. James Lincoln Ray, Important Facts About Sandy Koufax: Dodgers Ace May Have Been Baseballs Best Lefthanded Pitcher, Suite 101.com., June 12, 2008. won't be missed at all. over New York Yankees (A.L.). Sandy Koufax hit 1 solo homers, 0 with a single runner on base, 1 with two men on base, and 0 grand slams. "Sandy always has been gracious toward me," he said. They shouldn't bother. James swung and launched a shot onto the pavilion roof in right for a grand slam. But in the bottom of the inning, Gilliam hit a high hopper to Yankee third baseman Clete Boyer; Boyer leaped to make the grab, and fired an accurate throw to first base. "In the latter part of the game, [Sandy] was awesome," Hendley said. Baseballs overlooked superstar finally gets his due in a new documentary, It Aint Over. His column ended thusly: "Today he turns 75. Who was Sandy Koufax for the Brooklyn Dodgers? University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH). And one game for the ages, albeit a loss. Pitcher Carl Erskine is shown in his Brooklyn uniform. Sandy attended Brooklyns Lafayette High School, but sports were not played there for a few years due to a teachers dispute. Roscoe McGowen, Dodgers Win; Koufax Is Victor Dodger Allows 2 Hits, Fans 14 in Beating Redlegs, 7 to 0, New York Times, August 28, 1955. ", Hendley's loss seemed quite unfair. Koufax's ERA in those games was 3.65. ". And Koufax did, initiating a 30-inning run during which he walked one batter. Though, Leavy reported, the hand injury had bothered Koufax since April (by July, the tissue was close to gangrene, she wrote), he entered the September start against St. Louis with a 14-5 record and 2.15 ERA. The end can come any day or 10 years from now. ), The World Series Most Valuable Player Award went to Sandy Koufax, who started two of the four games and had two complete game victories. Frank Finch, Koufax, Drysdale Spurn Record Offer by Dodgers, Los Angeles Times, February 25, 1966, p. B-1. How fast did Sandy Koufax throw a baseball? Still, neither is a regular occurrence, attesting to the difficulty of each. My friends and I were drenched in the glory of Mays, Aaron, Clemente and Robinson; we'd watched them consistently for years. Others also saw a few weaknesses in Koufax. Koufax was named the World Series Most Valuable Player. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. The game is also featured in Jane Leavys 2002 biography of Koufax, Sandy Koufax: A Leftys Legacy. Howard added a home run in the seventh. One of his two sons, Bart, lives nearby, and he enjoys baseball and embraces the advanced metrics that have emerged in the past 15 years. And I knew every pitch he was going to throw fastball, breaking ball or whatever. A 1955 Sandy Koufax rookie year card by the Topps card company, said to be a desirable card among collectors. Koufax and Scully, of course, have a long-standing Dodger Blue relationship. Happy birthday, coach Hendley. Associated Press, Koufax, Dodger Pitching Star, Retires Because of Ailing Arm; Fearing a Permanent Injury to Elbow, Hurler, 30, Stops at Peak of His Career,New York Times, Saturday, November 19, 1966, p. 1. But the Yankees came to Dodger Stadium for the third and fourth games of the 1963 World Series, what would be the climax of an L.A. sweep. . Koufax would finish a very close second to Pittsburgh hitter, Roberto Clemente, in the National League voting that year for the regular season Most Valuable Player. Who has the most NL Gold Glove awards? Click for card. It may have been a surprise to many fans when Koufax retired, but in 1965-1966, he was having regular and severe arm pain and had adopted various remedies to keep pitching. "Early in the game, I didn't have great stuff," Koufax said afterward. "Easy," someone said at the time. As well as he was throwing and setting people down, there was very little chance of overcoming him. In fact, things are going so right for Koufax that last Saturday in Milwaukee, one of the rare occasions when he did not pitch well, he hit a three-run homer to prevent defeat. In order to harness his immense talent, Koufax had to learn to trust and tame Gibson was replaced by Curt Simmons, a left-hander who had made one start since late August. Hendley, pitching for the Cubs that night in Los Angeles, warrants none of the superlatives applied above. Harvey Haddix and Lew Burdette pitched dual shutouts into the 13th inning. What was the crowd at Sandy Koufaxs first no hitter? Koufax, meanwhile, was perfect no runs, no hits, no walks. And he remains as splendid a human being as any who has graced the planet -- courteous, caring, generous and unassuming. Particularly in the last few innings, you knew that he knew he had the perfect game. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. But even the extraordinary Pirates-Braves game of May 26, 1959, paled in comparison with the Koufax-Hendley game. Bad news for Chris Morrow and other replacement players doing well in the Giants' system: You aren't welcome on the big club. Koufax started 41 games that year as he did the previous year. Yogi Berra, the famous Yankee catcher known for his quips and his play, remarked of Koufax after watching his Game 1 performance: I can see how he won 25 games. Koufax played his entire career with the Dodgers organization, from Brooklyn, New York through Los Angeles, California,1955 to1966. Stats. Some defensive statistics Copyright Sports Info Solutions, 2010-2023. By the way, Hendley allowed just one walk. Manager Walter Alston called Drysdale's performance "one of the greatest pitched games I ever saw." Moreover, neither pitcher had the cachet of Koufax, and Scully didn't provide the play-by-play. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. ". Koufax, a Jew, refused to pitch. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. He lasted just 4 innings. Sorry to see the Giants join the pitiful parade of teams befouling the home-plate backstop with advertising. I would think the last two or three innings -- that's as well as I've pitched.". Sandy Koufax after pitching his 4th career no-hitter, also a perfect game, Sept 9th, 1965. amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn became Hall of Famers, and they already had developed uncommon prestige within the game by July 2, 1963, when their Giants and Braves opposed each other in San Francisco. In that game, Koufax struck out the first five Yankees he faced. ", "Hitting would be a lot more rewarding," Quiz reasoned, "if you could hit the ball in any direction. BY PETER MOORE 2023-05-01T07:00:00.0000000Z Return to Top; Major League Players. He won 25 games three times and captured five straight ERA titles from 1962 through 1966. Koufax Cites Pressures on Pro Athletes, Los Angeles Times, April 10, 1969, p. E-12. When they went to St. Louis for a three-game series on September 16, their lead was one game over the Cardinals, who had won 19 of 20 games. Played for the Dodgers his entire career. Gary Kaufman, Vin Scully, Salon.com, Tuesday, October 12, 1999. He never once fumbles for a word, makes a false start or trips over himself. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Frank Finch, Sandys Finger, Arm Okand How! ), Video: 50 Greatest Moments: #2 Koufax's perfect game, "We pitched against each other twice in six days," Hendley recalls. This was a ritual for Billy -- go to Texas, see Mickey -- and the reminiscing must have been awfully good that day. Though a perfect game is a rarity, that Koufax pitched one in 1965 hardly was startling. October 2, 1966 If you see a misplaced button on this guy's shirt, don't mention it. I'm 46, and I just barely qualify. Total Zone Rating and initial framework for Wins above Replacement calculations provided by Sean Smith. Roscoe McGowen, Dodgers Top Pirates, 4-0; Koufax Blanks Pittsburgh; Brooks Need 7 for Pennant, New York Times, September 4, 1955. Of the two varieties of Triple Crowns, the hitting Triple Crown is the rarer event, occurring less frequently than Triple Crowns in pitching. But Koufax shut down the Yanks after that as the Dodgers won 2-1, completing a surprising four-game sweep of Roscoe McGowen, Brooklyn-Bred Bonus Baby Is Coming of Age; Koufax 2-Hitter in 2d Start Is Sign of Maturity; Dodgers Are Getting Return on Money Paid to Hurler, New York Times, August 29, 1955. amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "thpohidill-20"; "This game is the most recognizable thing I've ever done in baseball," Hendley said after the game. This could be another tale of the astounding exploits of Sandy Koufax, one more of so many; and each one warranted. "I was standing on the top step of the dugout, at the end. ", "Hitting would be a lot more rewarding," Quiz reasoned, "if you could hit the ball in any direction. The Yankees' four runs in the series was, at the time, the second-lowest total in a World Series, as the Philadelphia Athletics had scored only three runs in 1905. Much of the play-by-play, game results, and transaction information both shown and used to create certain data sets was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. The Drysdale-Jim Bouton duel in Game 3 (a 1-0 final) was the greatest single day of pitching I've ever seen. Find out more. . "He actually sent me a card," Hendley said. he set records as one of the nicest people ever to play or manage the game, as well. SF tourists go in droves to In-N-Out. Scores from any date in Major League history, Minor, Foreign, College, & Black Baseball, Frequently Asked Questions about MLB and Baseball, Subscribe to Stathead Baseball: Get your first month FREE. That was the only way you could hit it.. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Heres one account from Sports Illustrated by Tom Verducci in 1999, describing what Koufax was going through: In the last 26 days of his career Koufax started seven times, threw five complete-game wins and had a 1.07 ERA. Up 4-0, Koufax picked up where he left off, striking out Mantle and Maris, then getting Elston Howard on a foul pop up. Runnels the Slugger. Former professional baseball player Sandy Koufax began his career in 1955 when he was signed by his hometown Brooklyn Dodgers. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. Or write about sports? 3 What was the crowd at Sandy Koufaxs first no hitter? He had started once in two months, on Sept. 2, before opposing Koufax in a ballpark where he had been mostly unsuccessful. Though a perfect game is a rarity, that Koufax pitched one in 1965 hardly was startling. That's how close they came to a double no-hitter evening. Of Vin Scullys historic broadcast of the game, one Salon.com writer, Gary Kaufman, offered this description: I found a transcript of Scullys call of the ninth inning of Sandy Koufaxs perfect game It read like a short story. On that day he carried a perfect game into the eighth inning against the San Francisco Giants, a team then powered by a bevy of capable hitters including future Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, and Orlando Cepeda. ", Video: 2015 ASG: Koufax throws out first pitch to Bench. His 2,396 career strikeouts at retirement in 1966 ranked 7th best all-time. His one-word identity spread over all of baseball. In 114 career at-bats against him, Aaron hit .368, with an on-base percentage of .433. In the game we examine herein, the performance Hendley delivered indicates that a victory or non-victory doesn't begin to evaluate a pitcher's performance in a sensible, meaningful way. Only perfection beat him. In the 1965 World Series, the Dodgers faced the Minnesota Twins, and Koufax was the likely candidate to pitch Game 1 on October 6th, 1965. His elbow was shot full of cortisone several times a season. Koufax struck out the side. Since then, no left-hander has had more wins in a season nor a lower ERA (Phillies pitcher Steve Carlton had 27 wins in 1972). Their only six confrontations occurred in the first four seasons of a five-season sequence, 1962-66, when Koufax was at the peak of his career. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. Video: 9/9/65 [emailprotected]: Koufax fans 14 in perfect game. Willie Davis doubled in two runs in the first inning, former Yankee Bill Skowron homered in the fourth, and Tommy Davis had two triples, including an RBI triple in the eighth to lead the Dodger offense. Only two left-handers in the ensuing years through 2000 started as many games in a season. Joe Jares, Sandy Makes A Pitch For Posterity, Sports Illustrated, August 2, 1965. Like Koufax, Hendley was betrayed by his pitching elbow and forced to retire earlier than planned. Frank Finch, Koufax Shuts Out Milwaukee, 7-0, Los Angeles Times, May 29, 1963, p. C-1. Seldom has a person & pitcher pairing produced such excellence on both sides of the ampersand. I was at Koufax's perfect game in '65, and Cubs pitcher In 1959, the Dodgers won the National League pennant race and beat the Chicago White Sox in the World Series. He also played some local baseball in a youth league, and later as a 17-year old pitcher, in a Coney Island league. NL Los Angeles Dodgers (4) vs. AL New York Yankees (0). I would think the last two or three innings -- that's as well as I've pitched.". But even the extraordinary Pirates-Braves game of May 26, 1959, paled in comparison with the Koufax-Hendley game. Frank Finch, Koufax Victor, Misses Shutout in Ninth, Los Angeles Times, June 22, 1963, p. A-1. Who is the youngest person in the Baseball Hall of Fame? The 1963 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1963 season. Hendley was a spot starter in 1965. And Koufax did, initiating a 30-inning run during which he walked one batter. Legendary Dodgers lefty Sandy Koufax chose not to start Game 1 of the 1965 World Series because it fell on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar -- and he became an even greater hero to fans. PopHistoryDig.com, July 10, 2010. amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; "What a nice man! For our purposes today, though, the dazzling Koufax is merely half the story. Get well, Mick. The storyline isn't only that he pitched a perfect game 50 years ago tonight, but rather that the opposing pitcher, one Bob Hendley, pitched a one-hitter while Koufax was perfecting his resum. Sandy Koufax on Friday avenged the previous Sundays loss in Houston by striking out 14 Colt .45s in a shutout win at Dodger Stadium. Harvey Haddix and Lew Burdette pitched dual shutouts into the 13th inning. Switch teams or you have no chance. Ive since heard a tape of that half inning: Theres not a single misstep. Join our linker program. ", Hendley added to his description of the game last winter. Yogi Berra, the famous Yankee catcher known for his quips and his play. 097 in his career. With the count 2-and-2, Koufax was a strike away from getting out of the jam. Even today, baseball has but one Sandy, as it has one Babe. In the game we examine herein, the performance Hendley delivered indicates that a victory or non-victory doesn't begin to evaluate a pitcher's performance in a sensible, meaningful way. I was at Koufax's perfect game in '65, and Cubs pitcher Bob Hendley nearly pitched a no-hitter himself that night, but the magnitude of the World Series turned Drysdale-Bouton into legend. He had also thought about going into the electronics business. Thank you. The results clearly suggested that. What made the game such a seductive piece of history was, of course, Koufax's involvement. L.A. rightfully claimed him as its own. . In his major league career, Koufax set some dazzling marks. 60th edition of Major League Baseball's championship series, Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California, "Stanley Cup Final: Kings vs. Rangers in L.A.-New York Championship Duel", "1963 World Series Game 1 Los Angeles Dodgers vs. New York Yankees", "1963 World Series Game 2 Los Angeles Dodgers vs. New York Yankees", "1963 World Series Game 3 New York Yankees vs. Los Angeles Dodgers", "1963 World Series Game 4 New York Yankees vs. Los Angeles Dodgers", "1963 World Series Game 1, Los Angeles Dodgers at New York Yankees, October 2, 1963", "World Series Gate Receipts and Player Shares", "JOEY BISHOP SHOW with "The L.A. Dodgers" NBC sitcom", "World Series came out big winner over NFL", Bums: An Oral History of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Orel Hershiser's scoreless innings streak, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning, Bill Mazeroski's 1960 World Series home run, Carlton Fisk's 1975 World Series home run, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1963_World_Series&oldid=1139597287, October 1963 sports events in the United States, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Game 4 was the highest-rated sports broadcast of 1963, per, This page was last edited on 15 February 2023, at 23:04. Rookie Status: Seldom has a person & pitcher pairing produced such excellence on both sides of the ampersand. Koufaxalso talked about his responsibility to pitch well enough during pennant races to help the Dodgers get into and win the World Series, thereby helping his teammates boost and even double their incomes by adding World Series bonus money. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. At an age when he should be acting like one of the game's respected veterans, Tony Phillips has become the biggest hothead in baseball. On bad days hed have to bend his neck to get his face closer to his left hand so that he could shave. But first baseman Joe Pepitone lost Boyer's peg in the white-shirted crowd background; the ball struck Pepitone in the arm and rolled down the right field line, allowing Gilliam to scamper all the way to third base. Sandy Koufax, the L.A. Dodgers star pitcher, soaking his arm in a whirlpool after a game in April 1964. Koufax and Scully, of course, have a long-standing Dodger Blue relationship. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. Why did Sandy The event they created, known as nothing more than "CHI at LA" before it began, stands among the most astonishing games ever played at any point of any baseball season. Answer: While it is possible Koufax could hit 100 mph in his younger years, the fastest pitch he ever threw which was recorded was in the low 90s. amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "thpohidill-20"; And he hit the first pinch-hit home run in World Series history. Burdette, who was the winning pitcher, allowed 12 hits in his complete game victory, though. He and the city were connected like JFK and Hyannisport, like Elvis and Memphis. The other Sandys -- Amoros, Valdespino, Alomar and Alomar Jr., Leon, Martinez, Alderson, Johnson and Consuegra -- are relegated to identification by surname. He called it "unfair territory. And to add class and a coating of brilliance to their tandem achievement, the game was narrated by a man who has risen to the level of national icon because of his genius in the booth, Vin Scully. His only grand slam was the one off Koufax. Daily Mirror/LATimes blog says this 1966 photo by Art Rodgers shows Sandy Koufax wincing in pain, but wining his 4th consecutive game, and seven for eight, May 23, 1966. And seven of the 22, including Koufax's, have been decided by 1-0 scores. And Drysdale, so mean, so precise, pitched a three- hit shutout. Thanks for visiting and if you like what you find here, please make a donation to help support the research and writing at this website. Hendley, left-handed and born in Macon, Ga., pitched in the big leagues for seven seasons, three with the Milwaukee Braves, 1 1/2 with the Giants and two-plus with the Cubs before ending his career with the Mets in 1967. Trouble occurred before the game started. You never told us who you were. Did Sandy Koufax ever hit a home run? Because there are no announcers in the TV booth, SportsChannel is picking up that day's radio call -- also a pleasant surprise, with the chance to hear Hank Greenwald and Lon Simmons doing television. Click for copy. 4 Who was Sandy Koufax for the Brooklyn Dodgers? Trouble was, said Brock, with Koufax on the mound, nobody got on base too often., To find more sports stories at this website, please visit the Annals of Sport category page, or Baseball Stories, a topics page with thumbnail sketches and links to 14 other baseball stories. He called it "unfair territory. And what a great lesson that is. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. But Marichal and Spahn had surrendered eight hits each before a home run by Willie Mays ended the 16-inning, 1-0 game. david oyelowo parents, tom succession black eye, 2 bed houses for sale in mitcham surrey,

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