October 14, 1965: The Mystique of Sandy Koufax

October 14, 1965, 60 years ago: A World Series loaded with storylines comes to a classic end.

After surviving a long and hard National League Pennant race with their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, the Los Angeles Dodgers were in the Series for the 3rd time in the last 7 seasons. If you count their time in Brooklyn, it had been 9 times (with 3 other near-misses) in 19 years.

Although 2-time former batting champion Tommy Davis had been injured for most of the season, they still had the premier base thief of the era, Maury Wills, the starting pitching tandem of lefthander Sandy Koufax and righthander on Drysdale, and an exceptional defense. It surprised no one that they were back in the Fall Classic.

But the American League Champions were a surprise, because they were not the New York Yankees. For various reasons, the team that had won 29 of the last 44 AL Pennants, including the last 5, had collapsed, falling to 6th place.

After a few years of improvement, the Minnesota Twins, who had been the Washington Senators until 1960, surged to 1st place. Although their main slugger, Harmon Killebrew, had an injury-plagued season that kept his power stats down, they also had power in Bob Allison and Don Mincher, their own 2-time batting champion in Tony Oliva, and their own Wills equivalent in shortstop Zoilo Versalles.

"Zorro" batted .273, and led the AL in total bases, doubles, triples and runs scored -- but also in strikeouts -- and finished 2nd to Oliva in hits. He added 19 home runs and 77 RBIs from the leadoff spot in the order. He was also awarded a Gold Glove. Versalles and Koufax were named their respective Leagues' Most Valuable Players.

For the Twins franchise, it was their 1st Pennant since 1933, as the Senators, and they were seeking their 1st World Series since 1924. The Minneapolis Millers of the American Association had won a Pennant as recently as 1958.

It was a bitter reality for Senators fans, who lost their team because owner Calvin Griffith was not only a cheapskate, but a racist, who wanted to move from a majority-black city to one with hardly any black people. (That has since changed, tremendously.) An expansion team named the Washington Senators replaced them, but was terrible, and became the Texas Rangers for the 1972 season. To make matters worse, the Twins' Pennant-clinching game was against the "New Senators." The Washington Nationals finally came along in 2005, and won a World Series in 2019.

The Dodgers were favored, due to their pitching and their overall experience. But they had a problem: Game 1 was scheduled for October 6. On the Jewish calendar, that coincided with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the faith's holiest day. And Koufax was Jewish.

It doesn't fall on the same day of the Christian calendar every year. In 1934, it fell on September 19, and the Detroit Tigers had a key game on that date, and their biggest star, Hank Greenberg, sat it out. The Tigers ended up winning the Pennant, anyway. But Koufax told manager Walter Alston that he wouldn't pitch Game 1. So it would be Drysdale instead, starting against a black pitcher, Jim "Mudcat" Grant.

October 6, 1965: In Britain, serial killer Ian Brady was arrested for murder in Manchester. His accomplice, Myra Hindley, was arrested 5 days later. Steve Scalise, later elected to Congress from Louisiana, was born.

The 1st World Series game ever played in Minnesota got underway at Metropolitan Stadium, selected for a site in suburban Bloomington because it was roughly the same distance from downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul, and the Twins wanted to pander to both of the "Twin Cities" by not offending either one.

The Dodgers' Ron Fairly opened the scoring with a home run in the top of the 2nd inning. But Mincher hit one to tie the game in the bottom of the 2nd. And the bottom dropped out on Drysdale in the bottom of the 3rd. He gave up 6 runs on 6 hits, including a 3-run homer by Versalles, plus a walk and an error. When Alston came to the mound to take him out, he said, "I bet you wish I was Jewish, too!" Meaning, that he wasn't available to have such a bad outing. In contrast, Grant cruised after the Mincher homer, going the distance, and the Twins won, 8-2.

October 7, 1965: The Soviet Union announced that their probe, Lunik 7, had landed on the Moon. What they didn't say was that it landed so hard, it was destroyed, and was unable to send any information back to Earth. British intelligence picked this up, and told the NATO alliance, including the U.S.

The refusal to pitch on Yom Kippur raised Koufax from the level of a superstar to that of an all-time Jewish-American icon. But the extra day of rest did neither him nor the Dodgers any good. He and Twins starter Jim Kaat traded goose eggs until the bottom of the 6th, but an error by Wills to start that inning opened the door to 2 Minnesota runs. The teams traded runs in the 7th, and Kaat helped his own cause with a 2-RBI single in the 8th. The Twins won, 5-1.

The Series went west, and the Twins had a 2-0 lead, and they had already beaten Koufax and Drysdale once each. Their confidence was at an all-time high.

October 8, 1965: A travel day in the Series. The International Olympic Committee accepted West Germany and East Germany as separate nations, to present separate teams starting in 1968. They would continue to do so through 1988.

The Post Office Tower, now the BT Tower, opened in London. At 619 feet, it was then the tallest structure in the United Kingdom.

President Lyndon B. Johnson ended Bethesda Naval Medical Center, in the Washington suburb of Bethesda, Maryland, for surgery to remove his gall bladder. He stayed for 2 weeks, and upon his return to the White House, enjoyed showing the White House press corps his scar. In 2022, my mother, who was then older than LBJ lived to be, had her gall bladder removed. She was released 2 days later.

October 9, 1965: At a nursing home in Seriate, Italy, 8 elderly women died, and another 7 were seriously injured, after all 15 had been given seemingly routine injections of a "heart tonic" as part of their regular treatment. The deaths all happened within 2 hours after they were given the shots. No cause was ever found, and no one was ever punished for the deaths.

The Dodgers were desperate. They had the home crowd behind them, but they would be facing Twins pitcher Camilo Pascual. If Koufax had the best curveball in the NL at the time, then Pascual had the best one in the AL.

But John Roseboro singled home 2 runs in the bottom of the 4th, Lou Johnson doubled 1 home in the 5th, Wills doubled 1 home in the 6th, and Claude Osteen pitched a 4-hit shutout. The Dodgers won, 4-0, and were back in the Series.

October 10, 1965: A 24-day strike by New York City's newspapers ends. However, it will end up being the final blow for the New York Herald-Tribune (a.k.a. The Trib), the New York Journal-American, and the New York World-Telegram & Sun (a.k.a. The World-Telly). All would fold the following Spring, leaving The New York Times, the Daily News, and the New York Post.

Actor Chris Penn was born. He became an actor, like his brother, Sean Penn, but never achieved the same level of notoriety, and died of heart disease in 2006.

The starters for Game 4 would be the same as those of Game 1. This time, the Dodgers got to Grant early, scoring a run in the 1st and another in the 2nd. Killebrew and the Dodgers' Wes Parker traded home runs in the 4th. Oliva hit a home run in the 6th, but the Dodgers answered right back, chasing Grant with 3 runs. Johnson added a homer in the 8th.

Drysdale was on his game, going the distance and striking out 11. The Dodgers won, 7-2, to tie the Series. And Koufax would be pitching Game 5. True, he would have only 3 days' rest, but so had Drysdale.

October 11, 1965: Dorothea Lange, who documented the effects of poverty during the Great Depression through her photography, including the iconic 1936 photo Migrant Mother, died at the age of 70. And the Indianapolis Times, a newspaper founded in 1888, published its last issue.

Pitching through pain, Koufax allowed just 4 hits and 1 walk, striking out 10. Kaat didn't make it out of the 3rd inning. In the 7th, Koufax himself had an RBI single off Jim Perry. The Dodgers won, 7-0, and now led the Series 3-2.

The Twins' sky-high confidence had vanished in 3 days. However, they would be going home, where they had already beaten the Dodgers twice. And if they won Game 6, they would have to face either Drysdale on 3 days' rest or Koufax on 2 in Game 7, so they liked their chances.

This was also (probably) the day on which Orlando Hernández Pedroso was born in Villa Clara, Cuba. "El Duque," brother of fellow pitcher and fellow Cuban escapee Livan Hernández, pitched for the 2 most demanding bosses in the Western Hemisphere: Fidel Castro and George Steinbrenner. He won 4 World Series: 1998, 1999 and 2000 with the Yankees, and 2005 with the Chicago White Sox.

October 12, 1965: Another travel day in the Series. Hirokazu Yasuhara, the Japanese video game designer who created Sonic the Hedgehog, was born.

October 13, 1965: Grant pitched on just 2 days' rest, and he was fine. He went the distance, allowed just 1 run, a homer by Fairly in the 7th, and hit a home run of his own in the 6th. Allison hit a home run in the 4th, and the Twins won, 5-1. The Series was going to a Game 7.

Twins manager Sam Mele decided to start Jim Kaat for the 3rd time. Alston decided to skip over Drysdale and go with Koufax. Both men would be going on 2 days' rest. The difference was, Kaat had been knocked out of Game 5 early. Koufax had pitched a complete game.

What's more, the circulatory issue in his left arm, which would lead him to retire after 1 more season, made throwing his amazing curveball too painful. He was going to the mound with everybody in the ballpark, including the Twins' hitters, knowing that he was going to throw a fastball on every single pitch.

And the Twins had a good lineup, and The Met was a hitter-friendly ballpark. And, so far, every game in the Series had been won by the home team.

October 14, 1965, 60 years ago: American poet Randall Jarrell was hit by a car in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and died. He was only 51 years old, and had been prescribed heavy drugs due to depression. And Steve Coogan, the British comedian famous for playing inept newscaster Alan Partridge, was born in the Manchester suburb of Middleton.

Jim Gilliam singled for the Dodgers in the top of the 1st, but it came to nothing. With 2 outs in the bottom of the 1st, Koufax walked Oliva and Killebrew, but struck Earl Battey out to end the threat. The Dodgers began the top of the 3rd by Roseboro hitting a double, Koufax drawing a walk, and both men advancing on a groundout by Wills. But neither Gilliam nor Willie Davis (no relation to the injured Tommie) could bring them around. Versalles singled with 1 out in the bottom of the 3rd, but did not score.

The top of the 4th began with Johnson hitting a home run, Fairly a double, and Parker a single. Down 2-0, Mele took Kaat out, and replaced him with Al Worthington. He ended the threat, but, essentially, the game was over. In spite of his pain, Koufax sent the Twins down 1-2-3 in the 4th. With 1 out in the 5th, he allowed a double to Frank Quilici and a walk to Rich Rollins, but got out of it.

The Dodgers got 2 men on in the 6th, and 2 more in the 7th, but none of them scored. Koufax sent the Twins down 1-2-3 in the 6th, the 7th, and the 8th. In the 9th, he got Oliva to ground out, but Killebrew singled to left. That brought the tying run to the plate with only 1 out. Koufax must have been in agony at this point. But he struck Battey out on 3 pitches. With a 2-2 count, he struck Allison out to end it. Dodgers 2, Twins 0. The Dodgers were the World Champions, and Koufax accepted handshakes -- with, of course, his pain-free right hand.

He had thrown 122 pitches to 33 batters. He allowed no runs on 3 hits and 3 walks striking out 10. The game was still in doubt when he threw his last pitch.

For the 2nd time, the 1st in 1963, Sandy Koufax was named the Most Valuable Player of the World Series. This was after he had refused to pitch on his religion's holiest day. Whatever he had to atone for, refusing to pitch on that day was not part of it.

Would his place in history actually be higher if he had lost Game 7, and his refusal to pitch on Yom Kippur had cost the Dodgers the World Series? It would have been a point of pride for some American Jews, and for people of any faith who like to say, "It's only a game" (or "It's just a game").

Instead, in spite of how much it hurt, he got to have it all: He was true to his faith, he was true to himself, and he got the job done for his team. Because of this, Sandy Koufax is one of the few baseball players ever who can truly be said to have had a "mystique."

The Dodgers won the Pennant again in 1966, but lost the World Series to the Baltimore Orioles. Koufax then bowed to the pain and retired, just short of turning 31. Three years after that, Drysdale also had to retire due to injury, only 33. The Dodgers went into rebuilding mode, and began building a team that won 5 Pennants and a World Series between 1974 and 1981 -- and then, with another rebuild, made it 8 Division titles, 6 Pennants and 2 World Series between 1974 and 1988.

The Minnesota Twins would fall just short of the Pennant in 1967, and win the newly-created AL Western Division in 1969 and 1970, but lose the AL Championship Series both times. In 1982, they and the NFL's Minnesota Vikings left Metropolitan Stadium for the Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis. The Twins won the World Series in 1987 and 1991. Each time, they won all their home games, and lost all their away games. To this day, the Twins' all-time record in World Series games is 0-9 on the road, but 11-1 at home. The only loss was 1965 Game 7.

There are 5 members of the 1965 Dodgers who are still alive, 60 years later. Koufax, 1st baseman Wes Parker and 2nd baseman Dick Tracewski played in Game 7. On the roster, but not playing in that game, were 2nd baseman Jim Lefebvre and pitcher Claude Osteen.

Sandy Koufax, throwing out a ceremonial first ball

in the 2018 World Series

Playing for the Twins in this game, and still alive, are 5 men: Right fielder Tony Oliva, center fielder Joe Nossek, and 3 pitchers named Jim: Jim Kaat, Jim Merritt and Jim Perry. Also on the roster and still alive: 1st baseman Rich Reese, 2nd baseman Bernie Allen, 3rd baseman Frank Kostro, center fielder Jimmie Hall, right fielder Andy Kosco, catcher John Sevchik, and pitchers Camilo Pascual, Al Worthington, Dick Stigman, Bill Pleis, Jerry Fosnow, Pete Cimino and Garry Roggenburk. So, 18 players.

Worthington is 1 of 6 surviving former New York Giants. Roggenburk, along with the late Rich Rollins and Don Mincher, and the late Dodger Tommy Davis, would play for the ill-fated 1969 Seattle Pilots.

Koufax is also 1 of the last 4 living former Brooklyn Dodgers, and the last survivor of their 1955 World Series winners. If he makes it to December 30, he will be 90 years old.

He shares that birthday with:

* From sports: Baseball players Frank Torre, A.J. Pierzynski; football players Jim Marshall, Mel Renfro and Carson Wentz, and executive Ron Wolf; basketball players Steve Mix, Kenyon Martin and LeBron James; hockey pioneer Lester Patrick; soccer stars Gordon Banks, Berti Vogts, Charlie Nicholas; boxer Laila Ali (daughter of Muhammad Ali); disgraced sprinter Ben Johnson; and, if you count golf as a sport, which I don't, Eldrick "Tiger" Woods.

* From show business: Authors Rudyard Kipling and Douglas Coupland; actors Joseph Bologna, Russ Tamblyn, Fred Ward, Daniel Sunjata; actresses Jeannette Nolan, Concetta Tomei, Patricia Kalember, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Tracey Ullman, Eliza Dushku, Kristin Kreuk and Caity Lotz; TV director James Burrows; singers Bo Diddley, Skeeter Davis, Del Shannon, Paul Stookey (of Peter, Paul & Mary), Michael Nesmith and Davy Jones of The Monkees, Patti Smith, Jeff Lynne, Suzy Bogguss, Tyrese Gibson, Ellie Goulding, and Kim Tae-hyung (a.k.a. V of BTS); Miss America Pageant host Bert Parks;  rock musician and producer Felix Pappalardi; and TV journalists Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer. And, sort of, "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss.

* And from politics: Coca-Cola founder and Atlanta Mayor Asa Griggs Candler, New York Governor and 1928 Democratic Presidential nominee Alfred E. Smith, Japanese general and war criminal Hideki Tojo, Fox News host Sean Hannity, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.