The next delivery was high and away. 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. Koufax, a Jew, refused to pitch. ", Hendley has regained a small measure of celebrity. A number of his former players contacted him after Doyel's story appeared. He received more than the normal number of birthday cards, including one from Sandy Koufax. amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; Some high school data is courtesy David McWater. ", Hendley has regained a small measure of celebrity. Gregg Doyel, one of the scholastic pitchers Hendley coached, became a sportswriter and eventually learned, via the board game Trivial Pursuit, of his coach's accomplishments. Over the years, Hendley's appreciation of Koufax has grown. 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 Dodgers signed Koufax for a total salary and bonus package of $20,000 or roughly $170,000 in todays money. December 30, 1935 But the losing pitcher in each of the seven instances surrendered at least two more hits than Hendley. 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. WebKoufax only had two pitches: a 97 mph fastball that physicists denied but all facing batters said was gospel truth: the ball would suddenly hop up before crossing the plate. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; With Koufax leading the way on the mound, the Dodgers went on to capture the National League pennant and sweep the New York Yankees in the World Series. Mays or Koufax?, Los Angeles Times, April 3, 1966, p. C-3. Larry Schwartz, Koufaxs Dominance Was Short But Sweet, ESPN.com. Keith Thursby, Sandy Koufax on Pitching and Pain, April 10, 1969, LATimes.com, (Daily Mirror Blog), April 10, 2009. Koufax struck out the side. His career resum includes a 48-52 record, 3.97 ERA, 25 complete games, six shutouts. Don Zimmer just staged the greatest retirement in memory. Video: 9/9/65 [emailprotected]: Koufax fans 14 in perfect game. Maybe Ill go back to where I came from and finish college.. Marichal had thrown 227. Played for the Dodgers his entire career. Ive since heard a tape of that half inning: Theres not a single misstep. amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "thpohidill-20"; However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. 196 against him with three home runs, nine RBI, 16 walks and 30 strikeouts (in 33 games). The other Sandys -- Amoros, Valdespino, Alomar and Alomar Jr., Leon, Martinez, Alderson, Johnson and Consuegra -- are relegated to identification by surname. . On Sept. 21, 1962, at St. Louis, Koufax was making his first start in more than two months. Everyone knew he was pitching with traumatic arthritis in his left elbow, but how bad could it be when he pitched like that? Yogi Berra, the famous Yankee catcher known for his quips and his play. Dodgers starting pitchers Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, and Johnny Podres, and ace reliever Ron Perranoski combined to give up only four runs in four games. amzn_assoc_linkid = "8d4cde52eff6bfe761392f95d7780402"; And he remains as splendid a human being as any who has graced the planet -- courteous, caring, generous and unassuming. They had Harvey Kuenn hit for me [with two out in the ninth inning]. It became the gold standard the instant Koufax struck out Harvey Kuenn for the the 27th out. The Dodgers faltered that season, going 80 and 82 for the year, finishing sixth in the ten-team National League. Certainly it was a historic game because in no other game did two teams combine for so few hits. The Dodgers scored first in the bottom of the fifth on a monumental Frank Howard home run into the second (Loge) level at Dodger Stadium. That's how close they came to a double no-hitter evening. Koufax sought to rest more and not throw as much between starts. 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. Burdette, who was the winning pitcher, allowed 12 hits in his complete game victory, though. Yogi Berra Finally Gets the Credit He Deserves - MSN For our purposes today, though, the dazzling Koufax is merely half the story. Koufax also struck out three pinch-hitters, including Harry Bright to end the game. 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. Though a perfect game is a rarity, that Koufax pitched one in 1965 hardly was startling. His dad forgives him for that. His spontaneous account of the game was comparable to what he had witnessed. Koufax was routinely identified in Los Angeles newspapers as Sandy, no surname necessary. 32, Sandy Koufax. background-image:unset; 1960 baseball trading card, Sandy Koufax, pitcher, Los Angeles Dodgers. It became the gold standard the instant Koufax struck out Harvey Kuenn for the the 27th out. At the time Koufax was only the sixth pitcher of the modern era to throw a perfect game. The momentum he created for himself brought out the best in Scully and a powerful sense of resignation for Hendley. 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. Last Update:31 December 2020 Howard added a home run in the seventh. And one game for the ages, albeit a loss. ", Hendley added to his description of the game last winter. In the 1963 World Series, the Dodgers (99-63) faced the New York Yankees (104-57), with the Yankees favored to win the best-of-seven fall classic. Sabermetricians put little stock in pitchers' victories these days. But baseball -- more than the other sports -- often is unfair. "Sandy always has been gracious toward me," he said. ), Video: 50 Greatest Moments: #2 Koufax's perfect game, "We pitched against each other twice in six days," Hendley recalls. University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH). At Lafayette High, he became team captain and ranked second in division scoring. After going 8-13 that year, Koufax thought about quitting. So the uniqueness of the game is derived from Hendley exclusively. over New York Yankees (A.L.). Pitcher Carl Erskine is shown in his Brooklyn uniform. The Yankees tied it on a Mickey Mantle home run in the top of the seventh. in journalistic studies in 1971. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Hendley never had told his players of his baseball past. Sports fans around the country were saying how the Dodgers were going to blow it again. Subscribe to Stathead Baseball: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Baseball Reference Database. And Koufax admitted in one interview to having a good bit of trouble with Roberto Clemente of the Pittsburgh Pirates, especially in 1963. By 1965, he had almost unmatched cachet throughout the game. In a single game Mantle hit two homers that were longer than most major league players hit in a career! Merton Hanks also will be honored that night, receiving the Matt Hazeltine award as the 49ers' defensive player of the year. Thank you. After that, who knows? 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). The big league game has given us 22 other perfectos, 15 since Koufax produced his. Gilliam almost scored again in the eighth off Hal Reniff, but was caught in an attempt to steal third. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. 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. Click for copy. Hall of Famer Harry Hooper, a player from the same era as Koufax, had this to say about him: 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. Larry Schwartz, Total Domination, ESPN.com. Only perfection beat him. Somehow, at Candlestick, we expected more. 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. Frank Finch, Its a No-Hitter for Sandy And 9 Whiffs, Too!, Los Angeles Times, April 10, 1966, p. G-1. 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. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. Top 10 Vin Scully calls of all time - MLB WebSandy Koufax gave up 204 home runs in his career. He couldnt go on like this, not when his doctors could not rule out the possibility that he was risking permanent damage to his arm. Win Expectancy, Run Expectancy, and Leverage Index calculations provided by Tom Tango of InsideTheBook.com, and co-author of The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball. A young Sandy Koufax in his Brooklyn Dodgers uniform.Brooklyn Born. Later, however, the two pitchers discovered that each was being used in the sessions with Bavasi against the other, saying one was asking for more than the other. "In the latter part of the game, [Sandy] was awesome," Hendley said. Hendley never had told his players of his baseball past. However, during this time, the commissioner of the MLB, Bowie Kuhn, and Aaron began to butt heads. Sandy Koufax at White House reception with the President & First Lady, 2010. 32 -- like Joe D. in New York and Johnny U. in Baltimore. ", Hendley added to his description of the game last winter.