did sandy koufax ever hit a homerun

There were 21 guys who did this in 2022, setting a new MLB record. Koufax attracted the notice of at least one scout for the Brooklyn Dodgers. A young Sandy Koufax in his Brooklyn Dodgers uniform. And that's as far as it went. Frank Finch, Koufax Notches 12th Win as Dodgers Top Reds, 4-1, Los Angeles Times, June 26, 1963, p. C-1. The big league game has given us 22 other perfectos, 15 since Koufax produced his. Hendley was a spot starter in 1965. Is the Stanley Quencher tumbler worth its TikTok hype? On bad days hed have to bend his neck to get his face closer to his left hand so that he could shave. Runnels the Slugger. ), Video: 50 Greatest Moments: #2 Koufax's perfect game, "We pitched against each other twice in six days," Hendley recalls. And Sandy needed to be perfect to gain that one victory. WebHas anyone ever hit a 600 foot home run? The quirky Royals reliever often noted that fair territory was 90 degrees of a circle, and foul territory occupied 270 degrees. "To be beaten by class, beaten by the guy who is one of the best, if not the best ever. And that's as far as it went. News reports called it a circulatory problem in the index finger of his left hand. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. Sandy Koufax Out Longer Than ExpectedFour to Six Weeks, Los Angeles Times, July 20, 1962, p. B-1. 32, Sandy Koufax. 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. Considering the deadline pressure, SportsChannel is doing a nice job condensing the weekday Giants and A's games into one-hour packages ("SportsChannel Light"), an especially rewarding treat if you haven't heard the score. PopHistoryDig.com, July 10, 2010. amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; That was the only way you could hit it.. Dodger manager Walt Alston went with #3 starter Johnny Podres over #2 starter Don Drysdale because he was left-handed and Yankee Stadium was favorable to left-handed pitchers. 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. Only perfection beat him. !,Los Angeles Times, May 12, 1963, p. I-1. 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. Hank Aaron, it seemed, was among the few hitters that had Koufaxs number. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. Over the course of a 20-year career, Tom Seaver won three Cy Young Awards and finished in the top five in Cy Young balloting five other times. After that, who knows? Koufax also struck out three pinch-hitters, including Harry Bright to end the game. In the decades that have passed, the legend of that game has grown. WebAces were on the mound again in a game 1 rematch between Whitey Ford and Sandy Koufax. On that night, Sept. 9, 1965, with both pitchers and Scully at their bests, Hendley was nearly the equal of Koufax. For our purposes today, though, the dazzling Koufax is merely half the story. Edward Gruver, Koufax, Taylor Trade Publishing, 2000. (LogOut/ One to tie, two to win. amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; In a single game Mantle hit two homers that were longer than most major league players hit in a career! 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. He also used Empirin with codeine for pain, which he took every night and sometimes during the fifth inning to make it through a game. However, during this time, the commissioner of the MLB, Bowie Kuhn, and Aaron began to butt heads. 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. He and the city were connected like JFK and Hyannisport, like Elvis and Memphis. 097 in his career. Click for photo plaque. His ERAs were 1.88, 1.74, 2.04 and 1.73. Writing for CBSSports.com, Doyel blew Hendley's cover in a column on April 30, 2015, the coach's 75th birthday. With the count 2-and-2, Koufax was a strike away from getting out of the jam. The big league game has given us 22 other perfectos, 15 since Koufax produced his. ", Hendley has regained a small measure of celebrity. And Koufax did, initiating a 30-inning run during which he walked one batter. Dan Quisenberry was certain of the game's inequities, based on the layout of the field. And seven of the 22, including Koufax's, have been decided by 1-0 scores. Sandy Koufax at work, Game 7, `65 World Series. But now the great Mantle had come to town, and he had homered off Koufax, and our lives were eminently richer. Mickey Mantle, Tom Tresh and Tony Kubek each struck out twice, and Bobby Richardson struck out three timeshis only three-strikeout game in 1448 regular season or World Series games. A crowd of 29,797 was on hand as Koufax took the mound. Hendley beat him three times and lost but once. He received more than the normal number of birthday cards, including one from Sandy Koufax. ", Hendley added to his description of the game last winter. Koufax was as magnificent a pitcher as any who ever has stood on a big league mound. He had thrown a no-hitter in each of the preceding three seasons. Koufax . Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. His spontaneous account of the game was comparable to what he had witnessed. He called it "unfair territory. He cant pitch on Yom Kippur [and] I cant pitch., Sandy would strike me out two or three times a game, said Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants. Johnson, Washington Senators, won 3 Triple Crowns: 1913, 1918 & 1924. Koufax's ERA in those games was 3.65. NL Los Angeles Dodgers (4) vs. AL New York Yankees (0). By the spring of 1954 he was also pitching for the college baseball team, and doing quite well. Jim Bouton, making his first World Series start, dueled Drysdale throughout, permitting only four hits in seven innings for a losing cause. Frankie Frisch, Jim Gilliam, John Podres, and Sandy Koufax with 4 World Series wins each.Frisch won the World Series with the 1921 and 1922 New York Giants He walked two. . Among Hendley's victories was a four-hitter, a 2-1 Cubs victory at Wrigley Field, against the Dodgers -- and Koufax -- six days after the perfect game. Even today, baseball has but one Sandy, as it has one Babe. The results clearly suggested that. The end can come any day or 10 years from now. Phone: 602.496.1460 He needed only to tidy up on his control that summer night in Chavez Ravine. As a kid, Sandy actually played more basketball than baseball, at least at first, beginning at a local Jewish Community Center and then in his senior year for the Lafayette High School basketball team. No one has won a Triple Crown in National League hitting since 1937 when Joe Medwick of the St. Louis Cardinals last did it. Paul Zimmerman, Koufax Best in Baseball, Los Angeles Times, June 27, 1962, p. B-2. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. In any case, to be the one best player in all three categories in a single season, whether for hitting or pitching, is a rare and distinctive honor, marking accomplished play. Bad news for Chris Morrow and other replacement players doing well in the Giants' system: You aren't welcome on the big club. Other pitching performance have dazzled us over the years. It takes a decidedly middle-aged person to call up the real Mantle, one of the three or four greatest all- around talents of all time. Switch teams or you have no chance. . He was the first three-time Cy Young winner in baseball. His work ("Oh, brother!") Marichal had thrown 227. . 32 -- like Joe D. in New York and Johnny U. in Baltimore. Yankee starter Al Downing, who would take the loss, went only five innings and charged with three runs. To make room for him, the Dodgers optioned their future Hall of Fame manager, Tommy Lasorda, to the Montreal Royals of the International League. Gilliam almost scored again in the eighth off Hal Reniff, but was caught in an attempt to steal third. 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. Burdette, who was the winning pitcher, allowed 12 hits in his complete game victory, though. Koufax ended up pitching two complete game shutouts in Games 5 and 7 of that World Series, with the Dodgers taking the Series, four games to three. I would think the last two or three innings -- that's as well as I've pitched.". This year's awards dinner, to be hosted by Gary Radnich, will be June 29 at the Nikko Hotel in S.F. Harvey Haddix and Lew Burdette pitched dual shutouts into the 13th inning. Sandy Koufax Stats by Baseball Almanac. His dad forgives him for that. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. By the way, Hendley allowed just one walk. Frank Finch, Koufax Victor, Misses Shutout in Ninth, Los Angeles Times, June 22, 1963, p. A-1. The Koufax perfect game against the Cubs was also noted for the play-by-play call by broadcaster Vin Scully, the venerable voice of the Dodgers for more than 50 years. He called it "unfair territory. Many thanks to him. 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. This was a ritual for Billy -- go to Texas, see Mickey -- and the reminiscing must have been awfully good that day. Click for card. His stomach was always queasy from the cocktail of anti-inflammatories he swallowed before and after games, which he once said made him half-high on the mound. He soaked his elbow in an ice bath for 30 minutes after each game, his arm encased in an inner tube to protect against frostbite. Hendley beat him three times and lost but once. He did have two home runs. Koufax and Scully, of course, have a long-standing Dodger Blue relationship. 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. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. By 1958,meanwhile, the Dodgerss organization leftBrooklyn for the promised land of Los Angeles, breaking the hearts ofmillions of New Yorkers as they went. "I was just getting people out. Frank Finch, Koufax, Drysdale Spurn Record Offer by Dodgers, Los Angeles Times, February 25, 1966, p. B-1. 196 against him with three home runs, nine RBI, 16 walks and 30 strikeouts (in 33 games). ", "Hitting would be a lot more rewarding," Quiz reasoned, "if you could hit the ball in any direction. Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers | Leave a Comment. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. 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. I'm 46, and I just barely qualify. He was born Sanford Braun, but took the name of his stepfather after his parents divorced and his mother remarried. Vin Scully, 29,000 People And A Million Butter-flies, Vin Scullys radio call of the ninth inning of Sandy Koufaxs 1965 perfect game, Salon.com., Tuesday, October 12, 1999. Sandy Koufax Man of the Year for Sport magazine, February 1964. That's how close they came to a double no-hitter evening. In fact, Sandy Koufax hit 2 home runs during his career, 0 while playing at home, and 2 while on the road. Photo, Ben Olender / L.A. Times. That's how close they came to a double no-hitter evening. In a 12-year big-league career, Koufax yielded 204 home runs, including six grand slams. Of the two varieties of Triple Crowns, the hitting Triple Crown is the rarer event, occurring less frequently than Triple Crowns in pitching. Video: 2015 ASG: MLB's 'Greatest Living Players' announced. Lasorda w Become a Stathead & surf this site ad-free. Hendley, pitching for the Cubs that night in Los Angeles, warrants none of the superlatives applied above. Koufax Cites Pressures on Pro Athletes, Los Angeles Times, April 10, 1969, p. E-12. Edward Gruvers April 2000 book, Koufax, 288pp. Koufax and Scully, of course, have a long-standing Dodger Blue relationship. Tommy Thompson, Good Life of Baseballs No. Certainly it was a historic game because in no other game did two teams combine for so few hits. And he hit the first pinch-hit home run in World Series history. Robert Creamer, An Urgent Matter Of One Index Finger, Sports Illustrated, March 4, 1963. He was also the first major leaguer to pitch four no-hitters which were also in consecutive seasons. Koufax, a Jew, refused to pitch. Video: 9/9/65 [emailprotected]: Koufax fans 14 in perfect game. And he remains as splendid a human being as any who has graced the planet -- courteous, caring, generous and unassuming. But Koufax shut down the Yanks after that as the Dodgers won 2-1, completing a surprising four-game sweep of New York to win the Series. Happy birthday, coach Hendley. His dad forgives him for that. Who has the most NL Gold Glove awards? Actually, he would let you look at it. Indeed, Koufax's overall record, beginning with the 1962 season and running through 1965, was 84-25, three of the losses coming at the hands of Hendley (Curt Simmons beat Koufax three times as well). His mother later remarried when Sandy was nine, to Irving Koufax, who Sandy regarded as his father. The bounces that footballs take are far less fickle than the bounces and ricochets that allow the most challenged baseball teams to beat the best. Podres delivered a six-hitter through 8+13 innings; ace reliever Ron Perranoski, also a left-hander, got the last two outs and the save, and the Dodgers headed home with 20 Series lead. "I was standing on the top step of the dugout, at the end. 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. So the uniqueness of the game is derived from Hendley exclusively. It was this bad: Koufax couldnt straighten his left arm-it was curved like a parenthesis. Explore Which team has won the most World Series since 2000? He still held his fork in his left hand, but sometimes he had to bend closer to the plate to get the food into his mouth. His career resum includes a 48-52 record, 3.97 ERA, 25 complete games, six shutouts. Later, another Dodger scout, Al Campanis heard about Koufax from a local sporting goods store owner, and after seeing the kid pitch locally invited him to Ebbets Field to tryout with the Dodgers. Indeed, Koufax's overall record, beginning with the 1962 season and running through 1965, was 84-25, three of the losses coming at the hands of Hendley (Curt Simmons beat Koufax three times as well). Sports fans around the country were saying how the Dodgers were going to blow it again. They created an enduring memory that night. I was at Koufax's perfect game in '65, and Cubs pitcher And what a great lesson that is. Because the Dodgers swept the series, the details of that last game have clouded over. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Sandy Koufax after pitching his 4th career no-hitter, also a perfect game, Sept 9th, 1965. Koufax played his entire career with the Dodgers organization, from Brooklyn, New York through Los Angeles, California,1955 to1966. . However, the scouts glowing report on the young pitcher was reportedly lost in the Dodger front-office. The St. Louis Cardinals took the pennant and beat the New York Yankees in the World Series. But this pinnacle performance of pitching wouldn't be a prominent part of our past if this oft-times pedestrian pitcher had permitted one more hit in his extraordinary eight innings. Hendley was a spot starter in 1965. 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. Koufax-Drysdale Spokesman Says Next Move Up to Dodgers, Los Angeles Times, March 3, 1966, p. B-6. RHP Tom Seaver. What could have happened? background-image:unset; . Koufax would hold that record until 1981 when Nolan Ryan threw his fifth no-hitter. ", Hendley has regained a small measure of celebrity. He did have two home runs. 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. The hard-throwing left-hander He clinched the pennant for Los Angeles for the second straight year with a complete game on two days rest. }, Cronkite School at ASU That night in Los Angeles, hitting the ball in any direction and with any chance of success was another issue. A NEW Mickey Mantle memory kicked in this week, replacing its evil twin. You never told us who you were. He walked Sandy was family in L.A. Still, neither is a regular occurrence, attesting to the difficulty of each. Even for a pitcher, Koufax was a weak hitter, batting just . A baseball day doesn't get a whole lot better than this one: a Hall of Famer who is included on any serious list of the top 10 pitchers of all time; an iconic announcer who tops almost every list of illustrious play-by-play men and, arguably, the best-pitched game -- both sides considered -- in the long history of the big leagues. Sandy Koufax hit 1 solo homers, 0 with a single runner on base, 1 with two men on base, and 0 grand slams. Just packed up and left in the middle of a game. 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. amzn_assoc_asins = "0061779008,147677630X,0316067156,0735215723"; Jack Olsen interview, Koufax On Koufax, Sports Illustrated, December 20, 1965. 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. Clete Boyer was the only Yankees regular not to strike out. Find out more. But even the extraordinary Pirates-Braves game of May 26, 1959, paled in comparison with the Koufax-Hendley game. Turning away sharply from a pitch, his spikes caught in the ground and he toppled over in pain, The Sporting News reported. 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). He then scored a moment later on Willie Davis' sacrifice fly. Even for a pitcher, Koufax was a weak hitter, batting just . Yogi Berra, the famous Yankee catcher known for his quips and his play. Indeed, Koufax's overall record, beginning with the 1962 season and running through 1965, was 84-25, three of the losses coming at the hands of Hendley (Curt Simmons beat Koufax three times as well). amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; On October 6th, 1963, in Game 4 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium, Koufax faced the Yankees a second time. Particularly in the last few innings, you knew that he knew he had the perfect game. His one-word identity spread over all of baseball. You could tell how much he wanted it. Last Update:31 December 2020 No-Hitters, .avia-section.av-k6v62xgq-c0812a68936ee67ed4883eaa9d35be9b{ Seldom has a person & pitcher pairing produced such excellence on both sides of the ampersand. Since 1933, it has been the summer showcase for the greatest athletes to ever play the game. Charles Maher, Frank Finch, Bavasi Doubts Koufax and Drysdale Will Sign, Los Angeles Times, March 23, 1966, p. B-1. Frank Finch, Koufax, Drysdale Eye $1 Million Pact, Los Angeles Times, February 23, 1966, p. B-1. It was the first game of a doubleheader in Pittsburgh. That brought to the plate James, a right-handed batter with a .277 average. As of mid-year 2010, Sandy Koufax was still active, appearing for example, at the May 27, 2010 White House reception in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month where he greeted President Obama who later joked with the audience that he and Sandy had something in common: We are both lefties, said the President. His 2,396 career strikeouts at retirement in 1966 ranked 7th best all-time. All images are property the copyright holder and are displayed here for informational purposes only. More remarkable was that Koufax was the losing pitcher in each of the other instances. December 20, 1965 Sports Illustrated cover honoring Sandy Koufax. The Drysdale-Jim Bouton duel in Game 3 (a 1-0 final) was the greatest single day of pitching I've ever seen. Use of his left arm was severely limited when he wasnt pitching. Larry Schwartz, Koufaxs Dominance Was Short But Sweet, ESPN.com. Only two left-handers in the ensuing years through 2000 started as many games in a season. Sandy Koufax, delivering his magic from the pitching mound during the mid-1960s. Koufax was routinely identified in Los Angeles newspapers as Sandy, no surname necessary. He struck out his final six batters and eight of the final 10. Who is the real home run king? "I was standing on the top step of the dugout, at the end. Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers making a pitch, 1960s. He had started once in two months, on Sept. 2, before opposing Koufax in a ballpark where he had been mostly unsuccessful. For our purposes today, though, the dazzling Koufax is merely half the story. Dodger team physician Robert Kerlan diagnosed him with traumatic arthritis. Los Angeles Times opening-day welcome to the new L.A. Dodgers, April 18, 1958. "He actually sent me a card," Hendley said. 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. The game is also featured in Jane Leavys 2002 biography of Koufax. "We both gave up two runs, we both allowed five hits. Past Mayors Of Wodonga, Qian Julie Wang Wedding, Articles D