(This is the fourth in a series that celebrates the 100^th anniversary of Dazzy Vance’s great 1924 season with the Brooklyn Robins/Dodgers.)

By Glen Sparks

Brooklyn manager Wilbert Robinson penciled a new name into the Dodgers’ line-up on April 30. The St. Louis Cardinals had traded third baseman Milt Stock to Brooklyn just a few days earlier for catcher Mike Gonzalez and about $7,500 cash. “We’re no longer a second-division club,” Brooklyn first baseman Jack Fornier said.

Stock was 29 years old but in his 12^th season. He was a career .290 batter (.342 on-base percentage) with a solid glove. He lined up at the hot corner on this Wednesday afternoon at Braves Field, with Dazzy Vance pitching for Brooklyn against Boston’s Sterling “Dutch” Stryker, a 28-year-old rookie from Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey. About 2,500 fans watched the action.

Brooklyn took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Bernie Neis and Jimmy Johnston began the game with back-to-back base hits.  Zack Wheat made it three straight singles, bringing home Neis. Johnston, though, kicked up a swirl of dirt as he was thrown out by centerfielder Johnny Cooney trying to make it safely into third.

Fournier walked to put runners on first and second. That brought Stock to the plate for his first at-bat as a Brooklyn Dodger. The Chicago, Illinois, native singled to score Wheat. With Tommy Griffith at bat, Stock took off and slid safely into second base for the theft. Griffith struck out, and Stock committed his first Brooklyn faux paus. He strayed too far off second, and Stryker picked him off.

The “speed ball merchant” Vance, as described by the New York Daily News, allowed a single and a walk in the bottom of the first but then retired the Braves three straight. Dazzy gave up a solo run in the second inning on a Mickey O’Neil base hit that scored Casey Stengel (Yes, that Casey Stengel. He was a decent hitter before joining the managerial ranks.). Casey had led off the frame with a single and advanced one base after Ernie Padgett walked.

Boston scored three more times in the fifth inning, thanks in part to a Johnston throwing error, and grabbed a 4-2 lead. Stryker, meanwhile, was cruising. After giving up those two runs in the first frame, he allowed just two singles over the next five, one in the second and another in the sixth.

Brooklyn broke through again in the seventh. Tommy Griffith led off with a double, and Andy High tripled into right field. High scooted home on a Boston error.

The game, called “peppery” by the Boston Globe, went into extra innings with the score tied 4-4. Both starting pitchers kept battling. Johnston singled to start the Brooklyn 11^th. Stryker allowed a double to Wheat, putting runners on second and third. Fournier lined out, bringing up Stock. Could he come up big again in his Dodgers debut?

Yes, he could. Stock hit a Stryker pitch into left field, driving home both runners. Griffith and High flied out to end the inning.

Stuffy McGinnis popped out to start the bottom half of the 11^th.  Stengel also popped out. Vance got Padgett to fly out. Dazzy, who scattered eight hits and struck out three, improved his record to 2-1 and, since only one of Boston’s runs was earned, lowered his ERA to 1.82. Brooklyn was now 5-7 on the season.

(Last year, I wrote a series of weekly posts about the 1963 Dodgers that won a pennant and beat the New York Yankees in the World Series. This is the first in a series that celebrates the 100^th anniversary of Dazzy Vance’s great 1924 season with the Brooklyn Dodgers/Robins. I’ll usually post on Saturdays.)

By Glen Sparks

Dazzy Vance won his first big-league game on April 12, 1922.  He was 31 years old, not quite a grizzled veteran by baseball standards but hardly a fresh-faced kid. From there, the burly right-hander put together a remarkable Hall of Fame career, most of it spent with the Brooklyn Robins (aka the Dodgers).  He led the National League in strikeouts seven times and posted the lowest ERA three times.

Vance enjoyed his best year in 1924. He won a league-high 28 games and struck out 262 batters, or almost twice as many as his teammate Burleigh Grimes, who K’d a runner-up135. Writers voted him the NL MVP.  Rube Bressler from the Cincinnati Reds said hitters could not see Dazzy’s fastball and that his curveball resembled “an apple rolling off a crooked table.”

Born March 4, 1891, in Orient, Iowa, Charles Arthur Vance grew up on a farm in southern Nebraska. He pitched for local semi-pro teams and grew to 6-feet-2-inches, 200 pounds. Scouts described his fastball as “dazzling.” Vance broke into pro ball in 1912 with the New York Prohibitionists of the Class D Nebraska State League.

The Pittsburgh Pirates purchased his contract in 1915, although his heater had lost some zip. “Something went wrong with my right arm,” he said. He split time with the Pirates and, after being traded, the New York Yankees. He went 0-4 with a 4.11 ERA.

Vance toiled in the minors for the next few years and pitched in two games for the Yankees in 1918. Over his 2 1/3 innings, he allowed five runs (four earned) and did not record a decision.

Dazzy’s arm still hurt in 1920. By then, he was pitching for the New Orleans Pelicans of the Southern Association. One humid night, during a poker game with teammates, Vance banged his right elbow on the table while celebrating a winning hand. The pain was unbearable.  

Supposedly, a surgeon removed some bone chips from that cranky elbow. Anyway, Dazzy found his fastball again and, after sitting out the 1920 campaign, won 21 games for the 1921 Pelicans. Brooklyn purchased his contract.

Vance won 18 games in 1922 and topped the NL with 134 strikeouts and five shutouts. An 18-game winner again in 1923, Dazzy struck out a league-best 197 batters. Following one early outing, the New York Times reported, Vance was “at all times the master of the situation.” Dazzy’s biographer John Skipper wrote, “The more he pitched, the more confident he seemed. His fastball was buzzing, and he had much better control of his pitches.”

Brooklyn hoped to improve in 1924 after consecutive sixth-place finishes. Vance and Burleigh Grimes (21-18, 3.58 ERA in 1923), another right-hander, and lefty Walter “Dutch” Ruether (8-13 but a 21-game winner two years earlier) led the pitching staff. Hard-hitting first baseman Jack Fornier, second baseman Jimmy Johnston, and left-fielder Zack Wheat steered the offense.

James Crusenberry wrote in the New York Daily News on March 30, 1924, “The Dodgers have a chance of playing the part of the dark horse in the (pennant) race.”

(This is the 31st and final post in my series about the 1963 Dodgers.)

By Glen Sparks

Amid all the hoopla and champagne showers after the Dodgers swept the New Yankees in the 1963 World Series, Sandy Koufax spoke about a future that he foresaw as grand. The left-hander wanted to continue pitching for a long time.

“My goal is to go on and on, like Warren Spahn” said Koufax, who was 27 years old and had 93 career wins. He told George Lederer of the Long Beach Independent, “My goal is to be the biggest winner in history. I’ll probably have to pitch 30 years to do it, but right now I feel like I can go on forever. The day you can’t do the job, the hitters will let you know before anyone else.”

Spahn, another great lefty, had just completed his 19^th season and had won 350 games. As a 42-year-old with the Milwaukee Braves in 1963, he went 23-7 with a 2.60 ERA. He would pitch two more years and win 13 more games before being ushered into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot. (Spahn had 44 wins through his age-27 season. He missed three seasons due to his service in World War II.)

Koufax’s career took different turns, of course, and, as most baseball fans know, did not last nearly as long as Spahn’s. He still established himself as baseball royalty and collected plenty of hardware.

He took home both the Cy Young Award and National League MVP honors in 1963 after leading the circuit in wins (25). ERA (1.88), strikeouts (306), shutouts (11). WHIP (0.875) and more. Koufax earned the first pitching triple crown (leader in wins, ERA, and strikeouts) since the Detroit Tigers’ Hal Newhauser in 1945 and was the first pitcher to win an MVP award since the Dodgers’ Don Newcombe in 1956.

Until 1970, the writers only placed one pitcher onto the Cy Young ballot. So, in 1963, Koufax got all the votes. Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick said to an Associated Press reporter, “I can understand why the vote was unanimous. Koufax not only is a wonderful pitcher, but he has a wonderful personality and a terrific hold on the baseball public.” (Another important note: Baseball gave out just one Cy Young award in those days. The award was not given to the top pitcher in each league until 1967.)

The Dodgers ace also won the MVP with relative ease. Writers gave him 14 of 20 first-place votes, or 10 more first-place votes than MVP runner-up Dick Groat of the St. Louis Cardinals. Koufax got three second-place votes, a single third-place vote and a six-place vote. He got 237 total votes, while Groat earned 190.

One writer left Koufax off the ballot. Braves slugger Henry Aaron finished third overall (135 votes), while Los Angeles relief pitcher Ron Perranoski was fourth (130 votes) and infielder Jim Gilliam finished sixth (62 votes). Tommy Davis (eighth place), Maury Wills (17th) and Don Drysdale (21st) also got votes.

Koufax told Frank Finch of the Los Angeles Times, “I didn’t think I was going to win it because I didn’t think a pitcher would get the vote. I felt Dick Groat would be up there, but I’m amazed that Jim Gilliam didn’t finish higher than sixth. Junior never gets what he deserves. He deserved to be higher.”

Gilliam, in turn, passed on some compliments of his own. “He’s one of the greatest of all time,” Gilliam said, referring, of course, to Koufax. “He deserves every honor he gets. He’s an overpowering pitcher. I hope I never have to hit against him.”

“A perfect game!”

Koufax pitched three more years. He opened the 1964 campaign by blanking the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-0, but later that month, also against St. Louis, he “felt something let go” in his left arm and missed three starts. In August, he woke up one morning with his elbow “as big as his knee” and missed the rest of the season. He still posted a 19-5 won-loss record in 29 games and once again led the National League in ERA (1.74) and shutouts (seven). Koufax also topped the circuit with a 0.928 WHIP and allowed a league-low 6.2 hits per innings.  

The Los Angeles ace hurled the third no-hitter of his career on June 4, against the Philadelphia Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium. Koufax struck out 12 and faced the minimum 27 batters (Dick Allen walked in the fourth inning but was caught trying to steal second base.)  Bob Feller, who also threw three no-hitters in his incredible career, predicted additional no-no’s for Koufax. “The way this guy is going, he has a good chance to pitch several more,” Feller said. Koufax finished third in the Cy Young voting, but the Dodgers fell to sixth place in the National League.

At some point in 1964, Dodgers team doctor Robert Kerlan diagnosed Koufax’s ongoing arm ailment as traumatic arthritis. Koufax began taking anti-inflammatory pills, while trainers rubbed a nasty goop called Capsolin onto his arm on pitching days. Capsolin–a chili pepper salve—encourages circulation but burns the skin. Other pitchers also used Capsolin but not to the extent Koufax did. “Most pitchers diluted it with cold cream or Vaseline,” Jane Leavy wrote in her 2002 Koufax biography. “Koufax used it straight, gobs of it.” Once, teammate Lou Johnson wore one of Koufax’s sweatshirts onto the field on a cool night in Pittsburgh. “First, he began to sweat,” Leavy wrote. “Then his skin blistered. Then he threw up.”

Koufax pitched the greatest game of his career on September 9, 1965, against the Cubs at Dodger Stadium. That night, he threw not just the fourth no-hitter of his career but also a perfect game. He struck out 14 batters, including the final six. “A Michaelangelo among pitchers, Sandy Koufax produced his masterpiece Thursday night,” Frank Finch wrote in the Times. This is the game famous for Vin Scully’s play-by-play account. His ninth-inning narration is included in some books on great sports writing. “There are 29,000 people in the ballpark and a million butterflies. … Sandy into his windup. Here’s the pitch: swung on and missed, a perfect game!”

A few weeks later, Koufax wrapped up another incredible campaign. He won 26 games and led the league in most important pitching categories. He struck out a major-league record 382 batters and posted a career-low 0.855 WHIP. The Dodgers won 97 games and the NL pennant. They faced the Minnesota Twins in the World Series. Koufax pitched three games, went 2-1 and posted a 0.38 ERA. He struck out 29 batters in 24 innings and allowed just 13 hits. Koufax beat Jim Kaat, 2-0, in Game Seven.

Following a well-publicized holdout, teamed with Don Drysdale, Koufax put together another fantastic season in 1966 when he won a career-high 27 games and boasted the lowest ERA in the National League for the fifth straight year (1.73). Koufax struck out at least 300 batters (317, to be exact) for the third time and, of note, led the league in starts (41), innings pitched (323), complete games (27, for the second straight year) and shutouts (five). He looked as good as ever.

The Dodgers won a second straight pennant and met the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series. In a surprising upset, Baltimore won in four games. Koufax pitched Game 2 against 20-year-old Jim Palmer and took the loss. He went six innings and gave up four runs, just one of them earned. The last batter he faced, Andy Etchebarren, grounded into a double play.

Koufax, who won his third Cy Young award and finished runner-up in MVP voting for the second straight year, announced his retirement on November 18, a few weeks after he threw that final pitch. He was just 30 years old and had won 165 games, far short of Spahn’s mark as the winningest left-hander in major-league history. Despite pitching for parts of just 12 seasons, he retired with the seventh most strikeouts of all time (2,396) and the ninth most shutouts (40). Koufax had a dazzling 0.95 ERA in World Series action.

He and a host of media members gathered at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills. “There’s not much to say,” Koufax began. The pitcher described how he took between 15 and 18 hydro-cortisone shots and “a large quantity of pills” to get through the 1966 season. “I pitched only one game in which my arm didn’t hurt. I needed a shot every other game to kill the pain. … The arthritis got to the point where I was told there could be permanent physical damage. I didn’t want to take the chance of disabling myself for the rest of my life.”

No one from the Dodgers’ coaching staff or front office attended the press conference. Team owner Walter O’Malley was in Japan, where his ballclub—minus a superstar left-hander—had just wrapped up an 18-game tour. O’Malley sent a message: “We wish Sandy great happiness and good health in retirement.” Manager Walter Alston said, “He was possibly the greatest pitcher ever in baseball. I hate to see him go.”

Los Angeles, winners of four pennants and three World Series championships over the past eight years, slipped to eighth place in 1967 and rose only to seventh in 1968. Koufax, meanwhile, entered the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972, his first year on the ballot, with 86.9 percent of the vote.

In June 22, the Dodgers unveiled a statue of the former pitcher. The statue stands next to one of another all-time great, Jackie Robinson. According to one count, the 86-year-old Koufax thanked 46 former teammates, friends, and others during a 10-minute speech. He called the statue “one of the great honors of my life.”

Clayton Kershaw, a future Hall of Famer, who will surely be honored with a statue of his own at Dodger Stadium after his career ends, also spoke. He said, “In the years and generations to come, I hope a kid sees this statue and asks his mom or dad about Sandy Koufax, and I hope they tell him he was a great pitcher, but more than that he was a great man who represented the Dodgers with humility, kindness, and passion and class.”

(This is the 30^th post in my series about the Dodgers’ 1963 season.)

By Glen Sparks

Sandy Koufax jumped in place and thrust his arms skyward moments after the Dodgers swept the vaunted New York Yankees in the 1963 World Series with a 2-1 victory. The Dodger Stadium crowd roared, and teammates mobbed the hero of the moment, who won two Series games and struck out a record 23 batters.

“This makes up for last year,” Johnny Podres said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “Damn right, it’s better than ’55. Why, you just can’t beat those guys in four straight.” Dodgers manager Walter Alston also thought back to the team’s embarrassing collapse of 1962. “This makes up for everything,” he told the Times. Alston had now won three World Series in the past nine years.

It was a big day in Los Angeles. On the morning before first pitch, about 200 Dodger fans gathered near the hotel where the Yankees were staying and heckled some of the visiting players. At least one fan played “Taps” on his bugle.

A few hours later, about 56,000 fans filed into Dodger Stadium. The Hollywood contingent included Danny Kaye, Yul Brynner, Doris Day, Fred MacMurray, and others. Eddie Fischer sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Game Four was a rematch of Game One, Koufax vs. Whitey Ford, the two aces. Right away, Koufax looked just as tough as he did in the opener when he struck out a World Series record 15 batters, and the Dodgers won, 5-2. He struck out two in the opening frame. Ford walked Maury Wills to lead off the game but got Jim Gilliam to ground into a double play.

Koufax held the Yankees hitless for the first three innings and fanned four. Bobby Richardson was the first Yankee to reach base, on a one-out double in the fourth. That was all New York could manage. Tom Tresh popped out, and Mickey Mantle grounded out.

This game was shaping up like another pitchers’ duel. Through the first four innings, Ford had only allowed the walk to Wills.

Elston opened the New York fifth by singling into center field. Hector Lopez, though, flied out, while Joe Pepitone struck out and Clete Boyer grounded out.

With one out in the bottom of the fifth, Frank Howard launched a fearsome home run deep down the left-field line. “I just guessed right,” Howard told the L.A. Times. “I was looking for a breaking pitch, and that’s what Whitey threw. I hit the ball much harder in Yankee Stadium for the double, but this was a great feeling. I thought it might curve foul, but then I knew it was a homer.”

To Ford’s credit, he settled down after Howard trotted home. Bill “Moose” Skowron lined out and John Roseboro struck out swinging. Both pitchers set down the opposition 1-2-3 in the sixth inning.

Tresh popped up to begin the New York seventh. Mickey Mantle followed by driving a Koufax pitch into the Dodger Stadium seats. The game was now tied, 1-1. Mantle, Joe Trimble wrote in the New York Daily News, “came out of his personal fog” with that homer. He now had 15 career World Series home runs, tying Babe Ruth for the most ever. About the homer, Koufax said, “When the ball’s hit that hard, you know you threw it pretty fast.”

The New York lead lasted just a few minutes. Gilliam led off the Los Angeles eighth by reaching on an error. His grounder settled into Clete Boyer’s glove, and the third baseman “made a perfect throw, belt-high” to first baseman Joe Pepitone, Trimble wrote. On a sunny, 80-degree day, though, Pepitone looked into the glare and at fans dressed in white shirts. The ball flicked off Pepitone’s wrist and into short right field. Gilliam headed all the way to third base. Willie Davis lifted a fly ball deep enough into right-center field for Gilliam to score.  “Boyer’s throw was perfect,” Pepitone confirmed. “It was right there. I just lost it in the crowd.”

Koufax struck out Boyer leading off the Yankee eighth. Phil Linz singled, but Kubek hit into a double play. The Yankees were down to their final three outs.

After Hal Reniff, in relief of Ford, retired Los Angeles 1-2-3 in the bottom of the eighth, Koufax walked out to the mound for the ninth inning. Richardson singled on a fly ball that dropped in right-center field. Koufax came back to strike out Tresh looking on a curveball. “I’m glad Tresh didn’t swing at it,” Koufax said. “It wasn’t a good pitch.” Mantle, down 0-2 on two fastballs, swung through a curveball. “I thought I made a good pitch on Mickey,” Koufax said. “Evidently, he was looking for a fastball because he was fooled by the pitch.”

Elston Howard reached base on a fielder’s choice, and Richardson made it safely into second base on Tracewski’s error. The game ended when Hector Lopez hit a weak ground ball to Wills, who threw to Skowron at first base for the out.  (This was reminiscent of the final out of the 1955 World Series when Howard hit a grounded out to shortstop Pee Wee Reese.)

About his performance, Koufax told the Daily News, “I thought my fast ball was better than my curve today. I thought I had good stuff today and that I pitcher better in this game than I did in the first game. I was more consistent, and I thought my control was pretty good.” Alston said, “He pitched too quickly at (Dodger Stadium).  He was grabbing the ball and firing it. Today, he paced himself, and I wasn’t about to remove him. The pitches to Tresh and Mantle in the last inning were terrific.” Not surprisingly, Koufax was named the World Series Most Valuable Player. Besides going 2-0 and striking out 23, he boasted a 1.50 ERA over his 18 innings. He allowed just 12 hits and walked three.

The Los Angeles ace and New York native pitched Game Seven with a corn that had broken loose. Dr. Robert Kerlan, the Dodgers team physician, told the Associated Press, “This left an ulcerated area—a raw area—between the toes.” Kerlan “deadened” the spot with a local anesthetic. He also spoke with Koufax several times during the game about the injury. “I thought we might have to give him another shot,” Kerlan said, “but he said he was getting along all right.”

Dodger players sang and shouted from inside the locker room and doused one another with champagne. Dan Hafner wrote in the L.A. Times, “The pent-up emotions of a year of frustrations were turned loose in a wet, roaring celebration.”

New York manager Ralph Houk told reporters, “We played a very good series, and we’ll win a lot more series in the future. … Ford pitched a great game … a great game.”

The Yankees posted a collective ERA of 2.91 over the four games, a commendable figure. Dodger pitching, though, combined for an even 1.00 ERA and allowed just 22 hits, an average of less than six a game. Mantle went just 2-for-15 despite the homer. Tommy Davis (6-for-15, two RBIs) and Skowron (5-for-13, three RBIs) led the Dodgers on offense.  Willie Davis and Roseboro also drove in three runs.

Fred Claire, a future front-office executive for the Dodgers, covered this game for the Pomona Press-Bulletin. He wrote, “The Los Angeles Dodgers, who were the joke of the baseball world in 1962 because they blew the National League title, are the world champions of 1963 because they blew the New York Yankees off the field in four games. … An autopsy showed that the Yankees passed away due to an overdose of Dodger pitching.”

Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully said, “The 1963 World Series was probably the sweetest of all for anybody with the Dodgers. Not only to beat the Yankees but to beat them four straight.”

Koufax said, “I never thought of winning in four games. You think of struggling to beat these guys in seven. They have a great club. All the games were close. We just got enough runs to win each game.”

A few thousand miles from Los Angeles, in Darrtown, Ohio, “the quiet, country hometown of Manager Walt Alston,” not far from Cincinnati, residents honked their car horns and celebrated the good work and fortune of the city’s most famous resident. One woman said, “I never so much activity in Darrtown since I don’t know when.”

Box score

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN196310060.shtml

(This is the 29^th post in my series about the 1963 Los Angeles Dodgers.)

By Glen Sparks

Don Drysdale baffled New York Yankee batters for nine innings in Game Three of the 1963 World Series. He won a 1-0 pitchers’ duel on a glorious Saturday afternoon at Dodger Stadium and lifted his team to within one victory of a sweep.

The local guy (Van Nuys High School, Class of ’54) and tall, side-arming right-hander struck out nine and allowed just three hits. As reporters gathered around him in the locker room after the masterpiece had concluded, Drysdale yelled out, “Somebody get me a beer!” He continued, “It was the biggest game I’ve pitched all season because it came in the World Series. … It was big to me because I realized its importance.” He told the Long Beach Independent, “I had confidence in everything I threw. I felt as good physically and mentally as I have in a long time.”

Five days earlier, Drysdale threw five shutout innings against the Philadelphia Phillies in his final regular-season start. Phillies manager Gene Mauch said. “They’ll will never score on him if he’s this way in the Series. I’ve never seen Don so sharp.” Drysdale won 19 games during the regular season but lost 17. He posted a 2.63 ERA and struck out 251 batters.

Jim Bouton started for New York. The future writer of the baseball classic book Ball Four had just completed a successful sophomore campaign. An All-Star, he finished the regular season with a record of 21-7 and a 2.53 ERA.

The Dodgers had won the first two games of the ’63 Series, both played at Yankee Stadium. Sandy Koufax set a World Series by striking out 15 in Game One as the Dodgers coasted to a 5-2 victory. Los Angeles won the next day, 4-1, behind Johnny Podres.

Frank Finch of the Los Angeles Times wrote, “The glum, grimly determined Yankees held a star-chamber session in the clubhouse before working out at Dodger Stadium Friday.” New York manager Ralph Houk described the meeting as typical pre-game stuff and insisted that he gave no “Win one for the Gipper” speech.

Nearly 56,000 fans filed into Dodger Stadium for Game Three. Tony Kubek led off by grounding out. Bobby Richardson popped out, and Tom Tresh chased a pitch for strike three.

The Dodgers scored the game’s only run in the bottom of the first. Jim Gilliam drew a one-out walk and went to second base on a wild pitch after Willie Davis lined out to right field. Tommy Davis grounded a single up the middle, and Gilliam sprinted home. Ron Fairly popped out to end the inning.

One of the Yanks’ few good scoring chances came in the second inning. Mickey Mantle led off with a bunt single. But not just any bunt single. Braven Dyer from the L.A. Times described it as “a tape-measure bunt, probably the longest in Series history.” Joe Pepitone followed that by getting hit by a pitch.  Elston Howard struck out before both runners advanced on a Johnny Blanchard groundout. Drysdale gave Clete Boyer a free pass to load the bases and bring up Bouton, who ended the threat by striking out.

Bill “Moose” Skowron continued to delight in New York pitching. He began the L.A. half of the second by singling to left field. He went to second on a wild pitch and made it to third base on a John Roseboro ground out. Bouton, though, struck out Dick Tracewski and, after walking Drysdale, got Maury Wills to fly out.

The game settled into a solid pitchers’ duel. New York waited until the sixth inning to get another hit. Kubek singled and advanced to second on a Richardson sacrifice. He made it third base on a Tresh groundout, but Drysdale closed the door by striking out Mantle. New York Times columnist Arthur Dailey wrote that “Drysdale pitched with a swaggering confidence bordering on insolence.”

L.A. tried tacking on an insurance run in the seventh inning. Roseboro led off with a base hit and Tracewski slipped a bunt hit past third baseman Clete Boyer.  Roseboro beat the throw to third, and Tracewski made it to second. Drysdale grounded out, and Roseboro faked going home. Traceski, though, headed to third where he was tagged out on a weird double play. Dyer wrote, “Tracewski came awfully close to being the goat.” Wills grounded out to end the inning.

Hal Reniff took over for Bouton in the eighth inning. He walked Gilliam, who made it to second base on a Willie Davis sacrifice bunt. Howard, though, threw out Gilliam trying to steal third, and Tommy Davis struck out swinging.

Drysdale struck out Tresh to start the ninth, and got Mantle to ground out. The game ended, and the Dodgers took a 3-0 Series lead, when Pepitone flied out to Tommy Davis in deep leftfield. That long drive put a fright into the Dodgers. The ball nearly landed into the seats for a home run. “I was scared,” Drysdale admitted in the L.A. Times. Alston said, “It scared the tar out of me.” Ron Fairly caught Pepitone’s drive. For a moment, he thought “it might be gone,” he said. “Then I saw it coming down, and I knew I could catch it. When I got hold of that ball I held it tight and squeezed. Boy, I felt good.”

Houk said, “It was a real well-pitched game on both sides. If that last one by Pepitone had been hit a little sharper, we might still be playing.” Houk complimented Drysdale but added, “I think Koufax baffled us a little more.”

Paul Zimmerman from the L.A. Times wrote, “It was a normal Drysdale game in that his teammates got him that one run and left the rest of the job up to him.” Alston said, “Koufax and Podres were great, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen Drysdale any better.”

In his article for Sports Illustrated, William Leggett wrote, “In two hours and five minutes, Drysdale pitched the best game of this superbly pitched series. The Dodgers gave him one cheap, lucky, idiotic, precious run and he defended it.”

Drysdale told the San Francisco Examiner, “I wasn’t nervous, and I wasn’t tired. It was a tight game and a World Series game, and there’s no time to get edgy or think about getting tired.  You have only one thought on your mind and that’s to bear down.”

In his L.A. Times column the next day, Jim Murray poked a little fun at the Bronx Bombers. “The thing about the Yankees is that, when you’re around them, you can almost smell the money. … I was frankly surprised they didn’t have chandeliers over the shaving mirrors and the dugout stocked with period furniture. … The Yankees are about as fussy about their employees as the Mellon Bank. You not only have to hit .300 to be a Yankee, you have to bring three credit references and a letter from your pastor.”

Houk warned that the World Series was not over. “The last game is the toughest to win. Nothing is impossible,” he said. “We’ve won more than four in a row in our life. They say this thing is never over until the last out. Well, we’ve got 27 more outs.” Alston figured to suffer through all 27 of them even up by three games. “I still don’t trust the Yankees, … in a nice way, you understand” the skipper said in the New York Daily News. “I don’t think they’d steal our bats or anything like that.”

Box score

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN196310050.shtml

(This is the 28^th post in my series about the 1963 Los Angeles Dodgers.)

By Glen Sparks

Johnny Podres never lacked for confidence. In 1955, he stood up on the team bus headed to Yankee Stadium for the deciding game of the World Series. He asked for one run from his team’s offense, just one run. He got two. The Dodgers shut out the Yankees, 2-0, and won their first World Series.

Going into the 1963 World Series, with the National League pennant clinched and the Yankees awaiting once again, someone asked Podres, “What do you think of the heralded Yankee power?” Podres answered, “I’ll stick their bats into their ears.”

The left-hander from Witherbee, New York, did just that in Game 2, figuratively speaking, of course. Podres allowed only one extra-base hit, a double, over 8 1/3 innings as the Dodgers won, 4-1, on October 3 at Yankee Stadium. The Dodgers took a 2-0 Series lead in front of 66,455 fans.

Podres went 14-12 during a solid 1963 campaign. He had a 3.54 ERA and completed 10 of his 34 starts. He also posted five shutouts. He was great in July (6-1 record, 1.49 ERA) and struggled in August (1-3, 6.59 ERA). In five career post-season starts, he had a 3-1 record and a 2.40 ERA.

Al Downing, a future Dodger, started for the Yankees. A left-hander from Trenton, New Jersey, Downing had just completed an impressive rookie campaign. He went 13-5 over 24 games (22 starts) and posted a 2.56 ERA with 171 strikeouts in 175 2/3 innings.  The 22-year-old threw a plus fastball but sometimes struggled with his control and walked 80.

The Dodgers took an early 2-0 lead. Maury Wills led off the game with a ground-ball single and promptly stole second base with Jim Gilliam at bat. A Gilliam base hit continued the rally, and Willie Davis followed with a two-run double. Downing settled down after that tough start and retired the next three hitters.

Podres, meanwhile, allowed just a Tom Tresh single in the bottom half of the first. Both pitchers recorded two strikeouts in the second inning, and Podres surrendered his first hit, a one-out single to Elston Howard. He also walked Joe Pepitone.

Downing fanned two more Dodgers in the third and worked around a Tommy Davis triple. The Yankees went down 1-2-3 in their half of the third.

Bill “Moose” Skowron, who went 2-for-3 with two RBIs in Game One, tormented his former team once again when he led off the fourth inning with a home run down the right-field line. The Dodgers now led, 3-0.

Yankee hitters could do little against Podres. Mickey Mantle and Hector Lopez grounded out, and Howard flied out in the bottom of the fourth. Pepitone grounded out, while Clete Boyer and Harry Bright struck out in the fifth. Thus far, Podres had given up just the Howard single. He was battling both the New York hitters and a bad cold. “I was tense and didn’t have my usual rhythm in the first couple of innings,” he told the New York Daily News. “Then I got it and I finally started to pitch well—in and out—until I tired about the eighth inning.”

Ralph Terry took over for Downing in the sixth inning. The 6-foot-3-inch right-hander from Big Cabin, Oklahoma, allowed only a Skowron base hit. The Yankees recorded their second hit of the game in bottom half of the sixth on a two-out single from Tresh. Mantle flied out to end the inning.

After Terry quickly set down the Dodgers in the top of the seventh, Hector Lopez began the bottom half with a ground-rule double. Podres, though, retired the next three batters. He was pitching a gem.

Willie Davis lined a one-out double into left field in the Los Angeles eighth. A Tommy Davis triple into left-centerfield put the Dodgers ahead, 4-0.

Podres surrendered just a two-out single to Bobby Richardson in the bottom half of the half, and Hal Reniff, in relief of Terry, pitched a perfect fame for New York in the top of the ninth.

Mantle opened the bottom half of the ninth by lining out to deep left field. It was his third long out of the game. “I thought two of them might have been out of the park in L.A.,” Mantle told the New York Daily News afterward. “But we weren’t playing in L.A., were we?”

Lopez followed Mantle and hit his second ground-rule double of the game. The brought Dodgers manager Walter Alston out of the dugout and to the mound. Alston replaced Podres with Ron Perranoski. “I knew he was tired, and hated to take him out, since he was that close to a shutout,” Alston said. “But, if I had to go, this was the time for it. Perranoski was all ready in the bullpen, and I wanted to bring him in when he’d have some breathing room.”

The reliable relief specialist surrendered a single to Howard that scored Lopez for the Yanks’ only run of the game. Perranoski recovered and induced a groundout from Pepitone. Boyer struck out swinging to end the game.

In the New York Daily News, Tresh said, “Podres hasn’t got anywhere near the stuff that Koufax has, but what he does have he certainly knows how to use.” Howard said, “Podres still is a helluva pitcher. He still has great control. You notice, he only had one walk.”

Popular Los Angeles Times columnist Jim Murray wrote, “Johnny Podres, that celebrated bon vivant, marriage counselor (he counsels against it), and woodcraft instructor, expertly stuffed the Yankee bats into their hip pockets.”

Downing, for his part, gave himself good marks. “I know I made one bad pitch,” he said. “That was Skowron’s home run. It was a strike on the outside corner, but I didn’t have too much on the pitch. Otherwise, I think I pitched all right.”

The Series was hardly over. The Yankees lost the first two games in the 1956 Fall Classic but came back to win in seven games. Two years later, they overcame a 3-games-to-1 lead versus the Milwaukee Braves and won three straight. “We’re not throwing in the towel,” Yankees manager Ralph Houk said. “One thing I can assure you: this club won’t quit on itself.  We may not win, but we aren’t quitting.”

Jim Bouton would be starting against the Dodgers in Game 3. Did the 22-year-old New Jersey native learn anything about the Dodgers from the first two games, other than what the scouting reports told him. “Not a thing,” he insisted. He added, “Well, I can’t say that I’m going to start out cocky.”

In the Daily News, Houk said, “We’ll do some hitting before this thing is over. We’re long overdue. I kinda think we might get some hits against—who is it, Drysdale?—on Saturday.”

Maury Wills predicted in the Los Angeles Evening Citizen News that the Series would end in Los Angeles. “Yeah, I think we’ve got it,” Wills said. “Tell ‘em to relax. I don’t think we’ll come back to New York. I don’t want to. I’ve got some fishing and hunting to do.”

(This is the 27^th post in my series about the 1963 Los Angeles Dodgers.)

By Glen Sparks

Yogi Berra, the New York Yankees’ quotable catcher, had this to say after Sandy Koufax struck out 15 batters in Game One of the 1963 World Series: “I wonder how come he lost five games this year.”  Koufax, of course, won 25 games in addition to losing five.

No pitcher had ever collected so many strikeouts in a World Series game. Koufax broke the record set by former Dodger Carl Erskine in Game Three of the 1953 Series.

About Koufax’s performance, Yankee superstar Mickey Mantle told the Associated Press, “Everything I read about him was true, and everything they told us about him also was true. What a pitcher!” The Dodgers beat the Yankees, 5-2, on October 2 in front of 69,000 fans at Yankee Stadium.

Koufax battled another left-hander, Whitey Ford. They were two of the best pitchers in baseball. Besides going 25-5, Koufax posted a National League-low 1.88 ERA and struck out a league-high 306 batters. He went on to win baseball’s Cy Young Award and N.L. Most Valuable Player honors. Ford enjoyed a big year in his 12^th season with the Yankees. The native New Yorker—like Koufax—went 24-7 with a 2.74 ERA.  

Maury Wills led off the game by striking out. Jim Gilliam flied out, and Willie Davis went down swinging. Koufax did Ford one better in the bottom half of the first. He struck out the side. Tony Kubek and Bobby Richardson swung at strike three, and Tom Tresh watched it whizz by. In True Blue, the writer Roger Kahn recalled, “The scouting report on (Richardson) was, ‘don’t throw him a high fastball.’ So, Koufax threw him three high fastballs. Three pitches, three strikes, sit down. Then, Koufax looked straight into the Yankee dugout. I could see Sandy saying in that look, ‘I can pitch it to your power, and I’ll still strike you out.’”

The Dodgers jumped ahead, 4-0, in the second inning. Frank Howard hit a one-out double that slammed against some loudspeakers high on the centerfield wall at the House that Ruth Built. Mantle called the drive “one of the hardest hit balls ever hit over my head.” According to Frank Finch in the L.A. Times, “Stadium observers said it was the first time the speaker system had been hit on the fly.”

Bill “Moose” Skowron, the former Yankee, grounded a single up the middle, and Howard lumbered home. Skowron, who struggled through the regular season, admitted after the game that “I want to beat the club that traded me. I’m also making my salary drive. If I do well in the Series, maybe they’ll have me back next year. I certainly want to stay with L.A.” Dick Tracewski singled, and John Roseboro greeted Ford with a three-run homer. Koufax flied out, and Wills struck out to end the frame.

Koufax responded to the big inning by retiring the side in order and getting two more strikeouts, one with Mantle at the plate, the other with Roger Maris batting. After whiffing, an unhappy Mantle turned to L.A. catcher John Roseboro and asked, “How the blank are you supposed to hit that blank?”

Los Angeles got to Ford for another run in the third inning. Once again, it was Skowren who came up with the big hit. He lined a two-out single that scored Willie Davis.

Koufax continued to mow down Yankee batters. He picked another strikeout in the third inning and four more in the fourth. He still had not allowed a hit. Post-game, Roseboro told the L.A. Times, ”Sandy was never better than he was in the early innings. Everything he threw was a strike. He was mixing up his pitches—curve, fastball and change-up.”

Ex-Dodger Stan Willians, acquired in the Skowron trade, relieved Ford in the sixth. Over his three innings of shutout work, the 6-foot-5-inch right-hander allowed only one hit and struck out five.

New York missed out on a great scoring chance in the fifth. After Mantle struck out and Maris flied out, Elston Howard broke up Koufax’s early no-hitter with a base hit to right field. Joe Pepitone and Clete Boyer followed with singles to load the bases. Hector Lopez, though, whiffed to end the inning.

The Yankees threatened again in the sixth. Tony Kubek grounded out, but Bobby Richardson and Tresh reached via the base on balls. Following the second walk, Koufax kicked at the dirt on the pitching mound. “Yes, I was disgusted,” the pitcher said to George Lederer in the  Long Beah Independent. “I just don’t like to walk anyone. I don’t like to beat myself.”

Dodgers manager Walter Alston stepped out of the dugout for a brief talk with his ace. “Sandy doesn’t need much help ever, but I didn’t want him to get too fine on Maris” Alston told the Independent.

Koufax recovered and retired the side 1-2-3 in the seventh, gaining two more strikeouts. He fanned Phil Linz to start the eighth before Kubek singled. Richardson struck out swinging, the 14^th Yankee to go down on strikes. Koufax had tied Erskine’s mark. The next batter, Tresh, drove a pitch deep into the left-field pavilion for a two-run homer.

Tresh told the New York Daily News, “I hit a fastball. I felt he gave me one good ball to hit each time up. But he’s got such good stuff he doesn’t have to pitch to corners. He’s like your Jim Bouton. The real good fastball and curve, and just get it over the plate.”

Koufax said he knew it when he tied Erskine’s record. “And I thought to myself, I’d like to get that 15^th strikeout in the ninth. But my emotions were mixed on that score.”

During the 1959 World Series, Erskine had walked up to Koufax and said, ‘Sandy, I’d like to see you break my record.’ I knew he was rooting for me today, so  I was just little sad as well as glad when I broke the record.”  Erskine was his typical gracious self. “I’m delighted that Sandy has kept it in the Dodger family, and I think he’s the man who deserves to have it,” he told UPI. In True Blue, Richardson said, “That night, on the TV highlights, all you saw was all the Yankees whiffing.”

Elston Howard lined out to start the ninth, and Pepitone grounded a single to right field. Boyer flied to Willie Davis for the second out. Harry Bright, a veteran right-handed batter, pinch-hit for Steve Hamilton, who relieved Williams in the top half of the ninth. Bright went down swinging on a 2-2 fastball to end the game and give Koufax the record.

Roseboro ran out to embrace Koufax. Alston followed as did the rest of the Dodgers. Koufax had his first World Series victory. Ford already held the record for most career World Series wins with 10. Now he had the most losses, too, with six.

Koufax stopped short of calling this his best game. “I lost my rhythm in the middle innings,” he told the L.A. Times. “Probably because I was pitching too fast.  And I got a little tired around the sixth and seventh. But I finished strong. After I got tired, I stopped throwing the curve so much. I was never worried about my control. The best thing about my pitching today was control.”

Roseboro told the Independent,  “If he hadn’t lost his curve ball in the middle part (of the game), he could have struck out 18 or 20.” Elston Howard told the L.A. Times, “Koufax’s curveball breaks like something rolling off a table.” Mantle said, “His fastball must sink or hop or something.”

Yanks manager Ralph Houk decided, “It’s no disgrace to lose to a pitcher like Koufax. You’ve got to give him full credit. He pitched a helluva game. Chances are, we’ll see him again.” Elston Howard, though, reasoned, “He can’t pitch every day.”

Notes

Among the fans at Yankee Stadium were Dr. Robert Kerlan and Dr. Robert Woods. They were there to root on one of their patients, Sandy Koufax. Kerland and Woods treated Koufax for the blood clot in his left index finger that put him out of action for a chunk of the 1962 season. Kerlan told the Long Beach Independent that the injury nearly required amputation. Koufax, Kerlan said, was “within 24 to 48 hours of the end of his career.”

Fans camped outside Dodger Stadium in hopes of getting a ticket when the World Series arrived in Los Angeles for Game Three. About 2,000 tickets would be going on sale for each game. Fans braved a chilly—at least by L.A. standards—night. Sally Araugo was the first in line. While sitting in her cot, she told L.A. Times columnist Sid Ziff, “I’m not leaving until I get tickets for my husband and myself. We love the Dodgers. We’ve seen 50 games this season.”