1965: Koufax vs. Spahn - Two of the Greatest Lefties Face Off

A dream matchup takes place in Dodger Stadium

DODGER STADIUM - June 21, 1965

When I embarked on this sports time travel adventure to experience the first half of Mets’ 1965 season, I had no idea the thrills I would experience.

This latest episode tops them all.

Yesterday afternoon, I could not believe the pitching matchup scheduled for the 1st game of the doubleheader between the Mets and Dodgers.

Sandy Koufax vs. Warren Spahn

Koufax, age 29, is the greatest lefty pitcher of this era.

Spahn, age 44, is the winningest lefty pitcher in MLB history.

What is so stunning about this matchup to me personally is that despite being a Mets fan all my life, I had no idea that Warren Spahn ever pitched for the Mets. He’s on the Mets simply because the Braves, where he pitched since 1942, dumped him. Yes, they dumped him, after he had one poor season in 1964. Mind you in 1963, Spahn was nearly as good as Koufax. Warren won 23 games to Koufax’s 25.

And here on the Mets, Spahn is not just throwing ceremonial end-of-career pitches. Warren has been wonderful all spring. But because he’s on the ‘not so Amazin’ Mets he’s mired with a terrible looking 4 - 8 record coming into yesterday’s game.

In an appendix at the end of this article, I have a summary of every one of Spahn’s 15 starts this season. You can see just how good he’s been.

Koufax, whose Dodgers’ are in 1st place, is having yet another off the charts season. He comes into this game 10 - 3 with a 2.04 ERA.

The Game

52,248 fans jammed Dodger Stadium for the doubleheader yesterday. In the top of the 1st of game 1, Koufax set down the Mets 1-2-3. Spahn gave up a single to Dodgers’ leadoff batter, Maury Wills, and then stranded Wills on 1st base by getting 3 successive groundouts.

In the 2nd, Koufax had another 1-2-3 inning. Spahn returned serve, putting down the Dodgers in order.

In the 3rd, Koufax completed his first trip through the Mets order unscathed, striking out Spahn to retire the side in order. Koufax was perfect through 3 and had 4 K’s. In the bottom of the inning, Spahn allowed another single to Wills, and nothing else.

METS 0 DODGERS 0 - end of 3 innings

Starting through the Mets lineup again in the 4th, Koufax allowed a walk and no other baserunners. He was perfect through 4 and had 5 strikeouts. Spahn had another 1-2-3 inning.

The first batter in the top of the 5th was the Mets’ Ron Swoboda. The 20-year-old rookie is 5th in the National League in home runs with 13. Koufax got him to ground out. Next up was a disappointing hitter, Jim Hickman. At 28, he was one of the original Mets from 1962. He had hit 41 homers in 3 seasons with a high of 17 in 1963. But this year, in 1965, he has been atrocious at the plate. He came into the game batting .143 in 55 games played. In his last 37 at bats, he has just 3 hits.

Somebody forgot to tell Jim he was supposed to be easy prey for Koufax. Hickman drilled a ball 400 feet into the left field pavilion for a home run. After the game, Koufax told Dave Berman of the Valley Times in Hollywood, “It was a curve that didn’t get down. It was the pitch I wanted, but I was thinking it might be high.”

After the homer, Koufax got another couple of K’s to retire the side. In the bottom of the 5th, Spahn had yet another 1-2-3 inning.

44 year old Warren Spahn had outdueled 29 year old Sandy Koufax through 5 innings.

METS 1 DODGERS 0 - end of 5 innings

In the 6th, Koufax returned to pitching perfect ball with a 1-2-3 inning. Spahn looked like he was going to do the same as he finally got Wills out and had 2 down when he faced the Dodgers’ Jim Gilliam. The 36-year-old long-time 2nd baseman, now playing left field, drilled a single to center. Then Wes Parker walked. And Ron Fairly doubled, scoring both runners. The Dodgers were back in front 2 - 1. Spahn then ended the inning by striking out Dodgers’ catcher Johnny Roseboro.

In the 7th, both Koufax and Spahn went 1-2-3.

Koufax got the Mets in order again in the 8th, notching strikeout number 11 to get the Mets’ Danny Napoleon who was pinch hitting for Spahn.

Warren came out of the contest having pitched one of his best games of the season. He had given up just 4 hits, and really just one mistake, the pitch to Ron Fairly, while facing the league’s top team. But he was now in line to lose another game.

Met’s relief pitcher Larry Bearnarth got the Dodgers in order in the 8th.

Then in the top of the 9th, Koufax came to the mound with a chance to seal the game. He had to face the top of the Mets order to do it. But that’s not really saying much here in 1965.

Here were the batting averages coming into the game of the Mets 1st, 2nd and 3rd batters:

.181 Billy Cowan
.206 Bobby Klaus
.271 Charley Smith

Koufax disposed of them in order and notched his 12th K to win the game. The final score was Dodgers 2 Mets 1.

Sandy Koufax had just pitched a 1-hitter. He also lowered his ERA to 1.96.

Koufax had pitched a gem, yet he barely won the game. Joseph Sheehan of the New York Times wrote, “Koufax had to be sharp to get the better of Warren Spahn. The still formidable 44 year old Met left hander yielded only 4 hits in the seven innings he worked and deserved no less than a tie.”

But it was a loss for Spahn whose record now looks awful at 4 - 9, just like the Mets’ last place record of 21 - 44.

The Dodgers’ padded their lead on the National League with the win moving to 42 - 24.

In the 2nd game of the doubleheader the Mets got one back. They beat Don Drysdale 3 - 2 thanks to a tie an 8th inning tie breaking double by Jim Hickman.

APPENDIX

Take a look at the start summaries for Warren Spahn this season.

Here’s the results of every Spahn start so far in 1965:

April 14 vs. Astros - No hits until 2 outs in the 5th. No runs through 6 innings.

April 20 at Dodgers - No runs through 8 innings. Allowed 1 run in a complete game win.

April 25 at Giants - No runs through 7 innings. Allowed 3 runs in a complete game win.

April 30 at Reds - No runs through 4 innings.

May 5 vs. Phillies - No runs through 5 innings. Allowed 1 run in a complete game loss.

May 11 vs. Cardinals - No runs through 6.

May 16 vs. Reds - 1 run through 4-1/3 innings.

May 20 vs. Braves - No runs through 4 innings.

May 24 vs. Phillies - 1 run through 7-2/3 innings. Allowed 2 runs in a complete game win.

May 28 vs Pirates - 1 run through 7 innings.

June 1 vs. Cubs - 1 run through 3-1/3 innings.

June 6 vs. Pirates - No runs through 4-2/3 innings.

June 11 vs. Dodgers - No runs through 4 innings. 1 run through 7-2/3 innings. Allowed 2 runs and 5 hits in a complete game loss.

June 15 vs. Reds - No runs through 2-1/3 innings. Allowed 3 runs in 7 innings.

June 20 vs. Dodgers - No runs through 5-2/3 innings

Warren Spahn doubles as the pitching coach on the 1965 Mets. If he would have just seen fit to take himself out of each game after about 4 or 5 innings to develop some of the younger arms, he would have an ERA below 1.00. But that’s not how pitching coaches or the winningest lefty in history think about the game here in 1965.

Thanks for reading.