Pittsburgh and Philadelphia - October 3, 1966
My virtual sports time travels took me to two stadiums in Pennsylvania yesterday. The Pirates, Giants and Dodgers were all in action in this state on the final day of the regular season schedule.
The Pirates were hosting the Giants in Forbes Field, while the Dodgers were at the Phillies in Connie Mack Stadium.
The 3 greatest players in the league were in action on this day in games that would decide the pennant - Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax and Roberto Clemente.
Here’s a photo of Koufax pitching in Philadelphia yesterday in 1966:
Here were the standings for the top teams in major league baseball at the beginning of the day on October 2, 1966:
In the American League the Orioles, led by Frank Robinson’s triple crown, had wrapped up the pennant over a week ago.
But in the National League it was coming down to this final day.
It is fitting that in this incredible 3-way 1966 National League pennant race, that was as close as could be all summer long, that all 3 contenders, the Pirates, Giants and Dodgers, should all still be playing in critical contests on this day.
The Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates had a sensational ‘66 season. They were by far the best hitting team in baseball earning the nickname, “Late Night Lightning.” On the batting charts, they had the top 2 hitters in the majors and 6 of the top 14 batters in the National League.
NOTE From The Sports Time Traveler
I interrupt this article to point out that the hitting prowess of these Pirates, anchored by Roberto Clemente (“The Great One”) and Willie Stargell, was such that several years later it spawned another more enduring nickname - The Lumber Company.
Now back to 1966.
The Pirates entered the game yesterday with a crucial role to play in the outcome of the National League pennant.
Sadly however it did not involve whether they would win the pennant. The Pirates had been eliminated the prior day when the Giants swept a doubleheader against them and leaped ahead from 3rd to 2nd place.
But in a bit of irony, for the city of Pittsburgh, the primary producer of steel, the fans at Forbes Field would still witness a game that would help decide the pennant, for the Giants had a chance to catch the Dodgers if they could beat the Bucs (as the Pirates are affectionately called in Pittsburgh).
The San Francisco Giants
The Giants also had a great year. But on September 20th, after losing 3 straight games at home to the Pirates, the Giants had fallen to 5 games out of 1st and appeared done.
The Giants were still 4 games out of 1st place on September 27th, but 5 consecutive wins got them to the position they were in yesterday.
The Giants still had a chance to win the pennant going into yesterday’s game. It involved several pieces of a pennant puzzle falling into place. They had to beat the Pirates, hope the Phillies sweep the doubleheader against the Dodgers, and then the Giants would still have to go Cincinnati and win a makeup game the next day. All that in order to force a playoff with the Dodgers, something the Giants had done in both 1951 and 1962, beating the Dodgers and going on to the World Series both prior times they were in this similar position.
The one constant on both those prior Giants teams, and this one in 1966, was their superstar center fielder Willie Mays.
The Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers are the defending World Series Champions, and National League champions 2 of the past 3 seasons. But this year they did not have sole possession of 1st place during the summer months until September 11th. They have been there ever since. And they came into yesterday needing just one win in a doubleheader against the Phillies to secure their 3rd pennant in 4 seasons.
The Dodgers would have Drysdale and Koufax starting in the doubleheader. Never before had this dynamic duo started together in a doubleheader as consequential as this one.
1:06pm ET - Dodgers at Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia
Before the Pirates and Giants got underway at 1:35pm yesterday, the Dodgers and Phillies had the first game of their doubleheader begin.
Larry Jackson was on the mound for the Phillies. The 35-year-old had shutout the Dodgers 2 weeks ago at Dodger Stadium. He had also held the Dodgers scoreless for the final 4 innings of his prior meeting with them.
In the top of the 1st, Jackson continued his recent mastery over the Dodgers, making it 14 consecutive scoreless innings.
In the bottom of the 1st, 29-year-old Don Drysdale took the mound. After being one of the top pitchers in baseball for the past 4 seasons, including 23 wins in 1965, Drysdale had held out during spring training (along with Sandy Koufax) and got off to the worst start of his career. After yielding 11 hits in just 5 innings in a loss on September 11th, Drysdale’s 1966 record sank to an abysmal 9 - 16.
But after that game, Drysdale turned a switch and suddenly started throwing like the perennial all-star he had been. In his next 5 starts, the Dodgers won all 5 games. Drysdale’s sudden resurgence was a key to propelling the Dodgers into the 2 game lead they held coming into yesterday’s game. And Drysdale entered this game with a streak of 25 consecutive scoreless innings.
The 1st Phillies’ batter in to face Drysdale in this huge contest was John Briggs. He promptly took Drysdale deep to center for a home run, breaking the scoreless innings streak with a bang.
Drysdale then issued a walk and two singles and the Phillies had a 2nd run. And when Drysdale opened the bottom of the 3rd giving up another walk and a single, Walter Alston decided to take him out.
Alston turned to Ron Perranoski, and he recorded 3 straight strikeouts, and didn’t allow a hit in 2 innings of work.
Phillies 2 - Dodgers 0 - End of 5 innings
1:35pm ET - Giants at Pirates at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh
When the Pirates’ ace, Bob Veale, threw the 1st pitch, fans in Forbes Field looking at the left field scoreboard saw the Phillies with an early 2 - 0 lead over the Dodgers.
Veale got the Giants down in order in the top of the 1st and got out of a jam in the top of the 2nd, keeping the Giants off the scoreboard at Forbes.
The Giants countered with their #2 starter, Gaylord Perry, who came into the game with 21 wins and a 2.98 ERA. Perry, had started the season an unbelievable 20 - 2, one of the best starts in MLB history, but he had lost 6 of his last 7 decisions. Now, he was pitching the biggest game of his young career.
In the bottom of the 2nd, Perry was the first to give up a run when Donn Clendenon tripled to lead off, and then scored on a Bob Bailey grounder.
Pirates 1 - Giants 0 - end of 2 innings
Say Hey!
But the Giants took the lead back in the top of the 3rd, when the Say Hey Kid, 35-year-old Willie Mays, hit a 2 out, 2-run homer over the left field fence. It was his 37th in 1966, and his biggest one of the year. It also gave him 99 runs scored, one shy of the 100 mark for a 13th consecutive season, a record held by Lou Gehrig. More importantly, the Giants took a 2 - 1 lead in this critical game.
But the Pirates came right back in the bottom of the 3rd when the top of the order, Matty Alou, Gene Alley and Manny Mota all singled, leading to a run. Then the Great One, Roberto Clemente, walked, and Clendenon hit a grounder that resulted in a double play but another run scoring. Even if you get these Pirates out they score!
Pirates 3 - Giants 2 - end of 3 innings
Approx. 2:40pm ET
Scoreboard watchers in both stadiums would have seen the 2 Pennsylvania teams leading the 2 California teams at this time.
At Forbes Field, the pitchers went into lock down mode. Perry allowed just 3 hits and no runs in the 4th through 8th innings. Veale was even better, allowing just 2 hits and no runs in that stretch. And he finished the 8th inning by getting Willie Mays to ground out. So he was past the Giants most dangerous hitter and poised for a Pirates victory.
At Connie Mack Stadium, Larry Jackson came to the mound in the top of the 6th, working on a shutout. He gave up a leadoff walk to Dick Schofield, a single to Willie Davis and then Ron Fairly homered. Suddenly the Dodgers were up 3 - 2.
Jackson stayed in the game however, and didn’t yield another hit until 2 outs in the 8th inning when Johnny Roseboro hit a double, and Jim Lefebvre was thrown out at home trying to score from 1st.
Dodgers 3 - Phillies 2 - Middle of the 8th inning
Approx. 3:45pm ET in Pittsburgh
In Pittsburgh, it did not look good for the Giants. They were losing and the Dodgers were winning in Philly, and either of those outcomes would spell the end of the season for the Giants.
The Giants were now coming up in the top of the 9th still behind 3 to 2. They were down to their last at bats of the season unless they could at least tie the game and hope the Phillies staged a comeback.
If they didn’t score, the game was over and the season was over, they would be eliminated.
Bob Veale had the opportunity to close out his 17th win of the season and salvage something going into the offseason after losing out on the pennant.
Veale started the 9th by walking the leadoff batter Jim Ray Hart. Next up, Jack Hiatt bunted Hart over to 2nd. With 1 down, and the tying run on 2nd, Ollie Brown, the Giants’ hero of the prior day, hit a pop up to short.
Now Bob Veale was 1 batter away from ending the Giants’ season, and handing the pennant to the Dodgers.
The batter was a pinch hitter, Ozzie Virgil. Virgil was a 34-year-old from the Dominican Republic who had played over 1,000 minor league games, while getting a taste of the majors every now and then since 1956. He was the ultimate utility player. Here in 1966, he had appeared in 42 games for the Giants playing catcher, 1st base, 2nd base, 3rd base and right field.
Now Virgil was the Giants last hope. He had never batted in such a position in his career. This was his moment. And he came through. Virgil punched a single to center that scored Hart to tie the game.
Veale got the next batter out, but the damage had been done. The game was tied.
The Giants were still alive. Now they had to stop the Pirates and force extra innings.
Giants 3 - Pirates 3 - Middle of the 9th inning
Approx. 3:45pm ET in Philadelphia
At about the same time, 300 miles east in Connie Mack Stadium, the Phillies came to bat in the bottom of the 8th down 3 - 2. Bob Miller, who had come on to replace Ron Perranoski for the Dodgers on the mound, was entering his 4th inning without allowing a run. But he immediately got into trouble. Dick Allen led off with a single. And then Miller muffed the play on Bill White’s bunt, with the result being that Allen went to 3rd and White wound up on 2nd.
That was all for Bob Miller. Walter Alston went to his top reliever, Phil Regan. Regan is having one of the great seasons in relief pitching history. Coming into this game he had a record of 14 - 1 with a league leading 21 saves, and an ERA of 1.62, even better than Koufax, and the best in baseball for anyone with over 100 innings pitched.
Regan was now in a position to try and save the game that would clinch the pennant. But he had runners on 2nd and 3rd and no outs. The first batter he faced was Dick Groat, the former MVP and batting champ in 1960. Alston elected to walk Groat to load the bases and enable a force out at home.
Next up was Cookie Rojas. He hit a grounder to 3rd baseman Dick Schofield. His throw was off and Dick Allen scored to tie the game. Now with the bases still loaded with Phillies, Clay Dalrymple singled scoring another run. The Phillies took the lead 4 - 3. After that Regan got the next 3 batters out, all while the bases were loaded, thus preventing a big inning and keeping the Dodgers in the game.
But now they were headed to the top of the 9th, and the last chance for the Dodgers to sew up the pennant early on this last day of the season.
Approx. 3:55pm ET in Pittsburgh
At about this time, the bottom of the 9th inning was underway in Pittsburgh with the Giants and Pirates tied at 3.
If the Pirates could score a run and win the game, the Giants season would be over regardless of what happened to the Dodgers.
First up was the number 8 batter, catcher Jesse Gonder. He grounded out. Next was the pitcher, Bob Veale. Harry Walker elected to leave Veale in the game to bat, and he struck out.
Now with 2 outs came the top of the order for the Pirates, the best hitting team in baseball.
Matty Alou, who entered the game with a major league leading .338 average stepped in. He singled.
Gene Alley was next, he also singled and Matty Alou made it to 3rd base.
Alou represented the winning run for Pittsburgh, and the end of the season for the Giants.
The next batter was Manny Mota. Mota had the 2nd best batting average in all of baseball at .331 (although he was shy of the required number of plate appearances).
Mota walked to load the bases.
That brought up The Great One, Roberto Clemente, with an opportunity to win the game.
Approx. 4:05pm ET in Philadelphia
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Frank Dolson reported that actor Danny Kaye, an avid Dodgers fan, and Dodgers’ GM Buzzie Bavasi were together in the press booth in Connie Mack Stadium where they were, “next to a teletype machine that was sending pitch-by-pitch description of the Giants-Pirates game from Pittsburgh… The Pirates had the bases loaded in the home ninth with the score tied 3 - 3.
As the pair and members of the press watched the teletype they also watched the action on the field in Philly.
The Phillies’ Chris Short was now on the mound and he had gotten Wes Parker to line out to center and Tommy Davis to fly out to right. The Dodgers were down to their last batter, Maury Wills.
Kaye, Bavasi and the reporters were eyeing the action on the field and the teletype simultaneously. Dolson wrote they, “were crammed into the tiny booth elbowing for position” to see the updates from Pittsburgh. While on the field, Maury Wills hit a drive to deep right field. Dolson described the action of the press booth onlookers, which was as exciting as the game itself. He wrote that they “peered out as (Phillies’ right fielder) Tony Gonzalez raced to the right field foul line, then back to the machine like people watching a tennis match.”
4:09pm ET in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia
The action on the field and on the teletype next happened in a boom-boom sequence that only Danny Kaye, Buzzie Bavasi and the handful of reporters experienced.
Dolson wrote, “Seconds after Gonzalez made the game-ending catch, the teletype made noises. ‘Out,’ the message began. ‘Clemente bounced out… on a very close play.”
Maury Wills was out in Philadelphia and Roberto Clemente was out in Pittsburgh at the precise same time.
Clemente had hit a high chopper. Giants’ 3rd baseman Jim Ray Hart told Harry Jupiter of the San Francisco Examiner, “I stuck up my glove and the ball bounced into it. I couldn’t see it.” The sun had blocked out Hart’s view. But he got the ball and threw The Great One out.
Almost simultaneously, game 1 of the doubleheader in Philadelphia was over. The Dodgers had lost. While in Pittsburgh, the Pirates had the man who is considered a lock for the 1966 NL MVP up (Clemente), with the bases loaded, and he wasn’t able to drive in the run.
The Giants were still alive!
Dolson wrote that in the press box in Philadelphia, “(Danny) Kaye put both hands on his head and tugged down viciously on the hat. ‘I had to stay up all night for this,’ he muttered. ‘Can you imagine?’”
Danny Kaye had flown all night from L.A. to Philly to be at the doubleheader.
NOTE from The Sports Time Traveler
I was fascinated by the presence of Danny Kaye in the press booth and how Danny Kaye and Buzzie Bavasi were following the game in Pittsburgh on the teletype machine 60 years ago, decades before the internet has enabled all of us to follow the action of games in a similar manner on our own cell phones. How futuristic it must have seemed to Kaye and Bavasi in 1966.
Back here in the present time, I asked my friend, Peter Bavasi, son of Buzzie Bavasi, if he was at the game with his dad back in 1966. Peter said, “No, I wasn’t there. That day I was finishing up the second season of my baseball apprenticeship as assistant to the GM of the Albuquerque Dodgers of the Texas League.”
I then asked Peter Bavasi about Danny Kaye, and he said, “The late Danny Kaye (was) a great friend of Buzzie’s from their Brooklyn Days, and always kind to us four Bavasi sons.”
Now back to 1966.
Approx. 4:15pm ET in Pittsburgh
In the top of the 10th, Bob Veale had come back out to the mound and gotten 2 outs, then he yielded a single to Matty Alou’s brother, Jesus Alou. This brought up Willie Mays in a big situation. An extra base hit or a homer would give the Giants the lead. Mays lifted a ball to right field and Clemente was there. The side was retired. Advantage Pirates.
In the bottom of the 10th, Bill Mazeroski came up with 1 out and singled. Maz has been delivering big hits for the Pirates all season it seems, and of course, he had delivered one of the great home runs in World Series history in 1960 to beat the Yankees in game 7.
Maz then made his way to 3rd base when Jose Pagan’s fly to left was misfielded by Jesus Alou. With runners on 2nd and 3rd and just 1 out, the Giants issued a pass to the catcher Jesse Gonder to get to the pitcher.
Now Bob Veale came out of the game for a pinch hitter. The bases were loaded with just 1 out. A walk or a single or a suicide squeeze bunt could win the game and end the Giants’ season.
Pinch hitter Jerry Lynch lifted another fly ball to Jesus Alou. He caught this one and Maz at 3rd base had no opportunity to try and score.
Next up was Matty Alou, the best hitter in the majors. He hit a grounder to 2nd baseman Jim Davenport who threw to McCovey, and for the 2nd consecutive inning the Giants had escaped with bases loaded and one of the majors’ best batters at the plate.
This must win game for the Giants was still tied and heading to the 11th inning.
Approx. 4:25pm ET in Pittsburgh
By this time, the scoreboard may have been updated at Forbes Field to show the Dodgers had lost the 1st game of their doubleheader.
The Giants would have been lifted knowing that the first piece of the pennant puzzle was in place.
Now they had to find a way to win this game instead of just extending it as they had the 2 prior innings.
Leading off the 11th against the Pirates new pitcher, Steve Blass was Jim Ray Hart who singled.
Now Giants’ manager Herman Franks brought in the big weapon he had on his bench - Willie McCovey. 28-year-old Willie McCovey was in his prime, and was having a super season in ‘66. An all-star for the 2nd time, he had 35 home runs coming into this game.
McCovey had not started because he was ineffective against the lefty starter Bob Veale, but now with the righty Steve Blass on the mound, Herman Franks went to McCovey.
Willie McCovey was surprised at the call. Harry Jupiter of the San Francisco Examiner reported that McCovey said to his manager, “Hey Herman, would not you rather have somebody bunt and me hit later on?”
“Hell, no,” replied Franks. “I’ve been waiting all day for the chance to use you. Go up there and bomb one.”
McCovey complied. Jupiter wrote, “McCovey tore into Steve Blass’s second pitch to him.” It was a tremendous shot. Reporters referred the hit as though McCovey had crushed a driver off the tee.
Jack McDonald, also of the San Francisco Examiner, wrote, “Willie McCovey hit one over the center-field wall, a feat in Pittsburgh supposedly achieved only by the Mantles and Ruths.” The fence in center at Forbes was 442 feet.
Harry Jupiter was ecstatic. He wrote, “It was a sensational home run, one of the top thrills of the 1966 season.”
When he returned to the dugout, having put the Giants ahead 5 - 3, teammate Frank Linzy quipped, “You’re on the green. You can get your putter out now.”
The Giants weren’t done teeing off on Steve Blass, 2 more singles and a double and the Giants finished the top of the 11th with a 7 - 3 lead.
But even a 4 run lead is not safe against these fierce hitting Pirates and they had the heart of their fearsome order coming up in the bottom of the 11th. The task to save the game was up to Giants’ pitcher Lindy McDaniel who was in his 4th inning of relief for Gaylord Perry.
The first batter, Gene Alley, singled.
Next Manny Mota singled.
Two men on, no outs for the Great One. Clemente hit a shot to center field, but Willie Mays reeled it in for out number 1.
Then Lindy McDaniel got Donn Clendenon and Bill Mazeroski to strike out. The game was over. The Giants had done what they needed to do. They had defeated the Pirates 7 - 3.
The Giants were jubilant in the clubhouse after the game. The 2nd piece of the puzzle had fallen into place.
Now they needed the Phillies to beat the Dodgers in the 2nd game of the doubleheader in Philadelphia.
The Giants Don’t Want to Go Home
The Giants were in a strange position. They didn’t want to go home.
After they left Forbes Field, they waited in the Pittsburgh airport after the game.
What they wanted was to fly to Cincinnati.
They would be heading to Cincinnati to play a make-up game if the Dodgers lost, leaving the Giants a half game out at the end of the day, and giving the Giants an opportunity to force a tie with the Dodgers, and a subsequent playoff.
There were two chartered planes at the Pittsburgh airport for the Giants. One bound home to San Francisco, the other to Cincinnati.
The Giants waited in the airport passenger lounge… and waited… and waited, while the Dodgers played the 2nd game of the doubleheader in Philadelphia.
The Giants were hoping they weren’t going home.
Approx. 4:46pm ET in Philadelphia
The 2nd game of the doubleheader in Connie Mack Stadium got underway with one of the top 5 starters in baseball, Jim Bunning of the Phillies striking out the Dodgers leadoff hitter Maury Wills, and following that up with a strikeout of Dick Schofield. Then Bunning got Willie Davis to hit a grounder right back to him. Side retired without sweat.
Bunning was off to a good opening to his league leading 41st start of the season. He had already posted a league leading 5 shutouts, perhaps he could win his 20th game of the season by shutting out the Dodgers today.
Perhaps Jim Bunning could defeat the Dodgers’ starter, Sandy Koufax, for 1st time in his career.
In the bottom of the 1st, Koufax, the undisputed top starter in baseball took the mound. Many were considering him the greatest lefty pitcher in history.
Koufax came into the game with 26 wins, the same number he had won last year in 1965. Now he was was now going for a personal record, win number 27, a win that would bring a pennant to the Dodgers.
But Koufax was pitching on just 2 days rest, after winning a complete game 4-hitter over the Cardinals 3 days ago.
Koufax started shaky.
He issued a single to the leadoff hitter Jackie Brandt. Cookie Rojas bunted to move Brandt to 2nd. Then Dick Groat singled and Brandt stopped at 3rd. Koufax now had men on 1st and 3rd with 1 out for one of the top hitters in baseball, Dick Allen.
Dick Allen came into the game as one of only 2 men in baseball in 1966 with at least 40 homers, 100 RBIs and a .300 average. The other hitter to achieve this was Frank Robinson, who had won the triple crown in the American League.
Sandy Koufax got Dick Allen to strike out.
It was big moment for Koufax in this game of enormous proportions.
With 2 outs, Koufax got Harvey Kuenn to ground out, and he had matched Bunning on the scoreboard with a “0” in the 1st inning.
Both pitchers breezed through the 2nd inning.
But in the top of the 3rd, the Dodgers got to Bunning in typical 60’s Dodgers’ small ball style. Wes Parker walked, stole 2nd and scored on a single. Then in atypical 60’s Dodgers’ style, Willie Davis belted a homer for the team with the 5th fewest four-baggers in baseball, and the Dodgers had given Koufax a 3 - 0 lead.
Koufax had another 1-2-3 inning in the 3rd, retiring his 8th consecutive batter.
In the top of the 4th, the Dodgers continued to get to Bunning. He gave up a leadoff double, followed by a single and sacrifice fly.
The Dodgers had a 4 - 0 lead.
Koufax meanwhile continued to throw shutout ball in the 4th, 5th and 6th innings. He finished off his 4th 1-2-3 inning in the 6th by striking out Dick Groat and Dick Allen.
Koufax was throwing masterfully. While Jim Bunning had been removed for a pinch hitter in the 5th.
In the bottom of the 7th, Koufax got the first 2 batters out extending a new streak of consecutive Phillies set down to 9. Then Bill White doubled, but was stranded at 2nd. It was 7 scoreless innings for Sandy in one of the biggest regular season starts of his career.
Dodgers 4 - Phillies 0 - end of 7th inning
Koufax with a 4 - 0 lead after 7 innings is golden, and the Giants’ players who had been hopefully following the game 300 miles away began fear their season was done.
In the top of the 8th, 2 Phillies’ errors led to another run for the Dodgers who now were up 5 - 0.
In the bottom of the 8th, Koufax gave up a leadoff walk, and nothing else.
8 shutout innings for Koufax.
The Dodgers added another run in the top of the 9th to go up 6 - 0.
Approx. 6:55pm ET at Greater Pittsburgh Airport
In the Pittsburgh airport, Steve Jacoboson of Long Island’s Newsday reported that Giants’ pitcher Ron Herbel, who was the possible starting pitcher for the game in Cincinnati if the Dodgers lost, asked the gate agent about take off time.
The agent said, “You don’t even know where you’re going.” Herbel replied, “We know where we’re going. Superman’s not going to give them seven runs in the ninth.”
Approx. 6:55pm EASTERN TIME at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia
Koufax came back to the mound in the 9th in Philadelphia to finish off the Phillies.
Dick Allen led off and reached base on an error.
Then Sandy Koufax gave up a single, another single, and a double.
Suddenly the Phillies had cut the lead in half and had the tying run on deck!
What a change of events!
Approx. 4:07pm PACIFIC TIME in San Francisco
In the San Francisco Examiner, Prescott Sullivan wrote about the scene in San Francisco, “All over town, transistor radios were tuned into the action. With three runs in, the Phils had a man on second base with none out and all of a sudden they had a big chance. At the Art Fair Center in Civic Center Plaza, where people were loitering, there was a buzz of voices… ‘They’re gonna do it,’ they said, meaning that the Phillies were going to tie it up, win it and retrieve a spark of life for the once dead Giants.
Approx. 7:07pm EASTERN TIME at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia
Now Koufax collected himself.
He got Bob Uecker to strike out.
He got Bobby Wine to ground out.
And then in poetic fashion, Sandy Koufax got his 10th strikeout of the day as he fanned Jackie Brandt to beat the Phillies and seal the pennant for the Dodgers.
That extended Koufax’s major league record to 97 games in which he had thrown 10 or more strikeouts in a game.
But Sandy Koufax could have cared less about the record. He had just pitched the Dodgers to a pennant.
Last year, in 1965, Koufax had also been on the mound when the Dodgers clinched the pennant on the 2nd to last day of the season.
But this one was sweeter. 1966 was the first time in his career that Koufax had pitched a pennant winning game on the final day of the season.
7:12pm ET in Greater Pittsburgh Airport
The Los Angeles Times Charles Maher reported that at precisely 7:12pm ET, the Giants players were sitting in the airport lounge when club VP, Charles Feeney walked in and said, “It’s all over in Philadelphia. The Dodgers won it, 6 - 3… you guys did all you could. We’re proud of you.”
The Giants had competed valiantly. They had won their last 6 games of the season. But it wasn’t enough to dethrone the Dodgers.
Sizing Up the Superstars
Of the three superstars who had played on this final day of the season, Roberto Clemente fared the poorest, although he did catch 2 long fly balls hit by Willie Mays, in 6 plate appearances he had reached base just once via a walk.
Willie Mays went just 1 for 5, but his 1 hit was big one, the 2-run homer that gave the Giants the lead in the 3rd inning.
The MVP honors for the day definitely belonged to Sandy Koufax for his masterful 8 shutout innings, and then saving the game for himself when he was in a jam in the bottom of the 9th, with the tying run at the plate.
Sandy Koufax had led the Dodgers to the pennant with the victory.
I Don’t Think I Ever Pitched a More Important Ball Game
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Frank Dolson captured a stunning quote from “Superman” aka Sandy Koufax.
Koufax told him, “I don’t think I ever pitched a more important ball game. Sure I want to win the World Series, but getting there, to me, is the toughest thing in the world. You play 162 games to get there.”
Koufax, who had shutout the Twins to win game 7 of the World Series last year in 1965, on just 2 days rest, had just indicated that this victory against the Phillies was the most important win of his illustrious career. Wow!
POSTSCRIPT - 1
Koufax’s victory on October 2, 1966 to clinch the pennant for the Dodgers was his 27th of the season, a career high.
It was also the final victory of his career.
In the World Series, the Dodgers were swept by the Orioles.
The following month Koufax made the surprise announcement that he was retiring due to his badly arthritic elbow.
POSTSCRIPT - 2
There were two Alou brothers playing in the game in Pittsburgh on October 2, 1966.
Matty Alou of the Pirates had a great day with 4 hits in 6 at bats. He raised his batting average to .342. And that was the best batting average in major league baseball in 1966.
His brother Jesus Alou, of the Giants, went 3 for 5. He finished the season batting .259.
The combined 7 hits by 2 brothers in a single MLB game is the 2nd most in baseball history. It is only exceeded by the June 15, 1929 game in which Paul & Lloyd Waner combined for 8 hits.
But Matty & Jesus did reach one unique distinction. While the Waner brothers both played for Pittsburgh, Matty & Jesus Alou are the only brother pair, playing for opposing teams, to combine for 7 hits in a game.
Another Brother
This pair had another brother, Felipe Alou of the Braves. Felipe had played his final game of the 1966 season the prior day going 2 for 6 to raise his average to .327 for the year.
While the Pirates Manny Mota, finished with a batting average of .332, he fell far short of the minimum number of plate appearances to qualify for the list of top hitters.
As a result, Matty Alou and Felipe Alou finished the 1966 season with the 1st and 2nd best batting averages in major league baseball.
Two brothers were the 2 best batters in baseball in 1966, and that is the only time that has ever occurred.
BOOKS BY THE SPORTS TIME TRAVELER
If you enjoyed this article, explore my books on baseball.
Both of my baseball books have been accepted into the Baseball Hall of Fame Museum Library Collection in Cooperstown.
You can find them on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B07JCC1Q7H/allbooks