In this edition of the The Sports Time Traveler I have two pieces of fascinating news to share:
HONOR - The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown has accepted my book, THE 1955 BROOKLYN DODGERS - MY DAD’S TEAM, into the Museum Library Collection.
DISCOVERY - I have “discovered” a record set by Sandy Koufax in his rookie season, in 1955, that no one else has reported on since the day it happened.
HONOR - THE HALL OF FAME ASKS FOR MY BOOK
Three weeks ago, on July 15th at 3:33pm, an email came into my inbox from Cassidy Lent, the Museum Library Director for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
The email referenced my new book, THE 1955 BROOKLYN DODGERS - MY DAD’S TEAM, in the subject line.
The body of the email contained this line, “We’d love a copy for the Library collection.”
Wow! I got chills reading that.
The timing was amazing. I had a friend who had recently informed me that he was headed to Cooperstown for the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies taking place on July 26th.
My friend is Dr. Ron Elinoff, the biggest Dodgers fan I know, and one of the few people I know personally, besides my dad, who actually attended games in Ebbets Field. He also attended World Series games last year in Dodgers stadium, sitting within shouting distance of Sandy Koufax.
Dr. Elinoff was a contributor to my book. He reviewed many of the chapters as I was writing the manuscript. And his enthusiasm for the project provided important inspiration to me as I wrote the majority of the book while I was recovering from open heart surgery. I wrote the book as a tribute to my dad. But I was also constantly thinking about Dr. Elinoff as I penned many lines. And I often emailed him to share a discovery (like the one coming later in this post).
I couldn’t think of a better way to do something special for Dr. Elinoff than to ask him to personally present the book to the Baseball Hall of Fame while he was in Cooperstown for the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.
I was able to arrange for this special presentation to take place the day after induction ceremonies.
In the picture below, the book is being presented to the Museum Library Director, Cassidy Lent (wearing green jacket). The presenter is Dr. Ron Elinoff (in Brooklyn Dodgers outfit).
When Dr. Elinoff sent me the picture I was far more thrilled for him than I was for myself.
And now I’d like to share with you one of the many fascinating “discoveries” I made about the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers during my research on the book.
“DISCOVERY” - IN A KOUFAX 1955 ROOKIE YEAR GAME
I put “Discovery” in quotes because I didn’t actually discover it, rather I uncovered it. It’s been sitting in the newspaper archives of the New York Daily News for 71 years. But no one else has ever reported on it.
Last year, on August 26, 2025, as I was conducting my daily archive searches to read about the Brooklyn Dodgers game against the Cincinnati Reds that took place the night before, 70 years earlier, on August 25, 1955, I came across something astonishing.
Sandy Koufax was called into the game by Walter Alston for mop up duty in the top of the 9th after the Reds had taken an 8 - 3 lead. There were runners on 1st and 3rd and no outs.
Koufax was a 19-year-old rookie. He had not pitched in more than a month. And he had only appeared in 5 games for a total of less than 11 innings all season.
Now he had to face one of the most dangerous hitters in the National League, Gus Bell, who had 23 HRs / 80 RBI’s / .306 Average.
Koufax got Bell to swing and miss 3 straight times.
Next up was Matt Batts. Although never a star player, Batts was having one of the best batting stretches of his 10 year career, batting .300 for the past month.
Koufax got Batts to swing and miss 3 straight times.
With 2 outs, Rocky Bridges came to the plate. Bridges was having the best season of his career and entered the game hitting .315 on the year.
Koufax got Bridges to swing and miss at the first 2 pitches. Then Bridges managed a short fly to the 1st baseman for the final out of the inning.
Only one sportswriter who covered the game bothered to mention the next day that Sandy Koufax had thrown 8 consecutives swinging strikes. Dick Young mentioned it in his article on the New York Daily News on August 26, 1955.
8 Consecutive Swinging Strikes
I have done quite a bit of research on this and I have found only one other instance that is documented of a pitcher throwing 8 consecutive swinging strikes. That occurred June 12, 2002, when Brian Lawrence of the Padres did it.
It is possible that it may have been done prior to Koufax, in the dead ball era, perhaps by Walter Johnson, Cy Young or Christy Mathewson. But as far as what I have found documented, Sandy Koufax is the 1st pitcher in MLB history to throw 8 consecutive swinging strikes.
What makes this even more shocking is that Koufax did it in an era when strikeouts, and therefore swinging strikes, were far harder for a pitcher to get.
In 1955, across the major leagues, there was 1 strikeout for every 7.75 at bats.
In 2025, there was 1 strikeout for every 4.03 bats.
So it was approximately twice as hard in 1955 to achieve what Koufax did than it is today.
In addition, Koufax didn’t achieve the 8 consecutive swinging strikes against poor hitters. Collectively, the 3 batters Koufax faced averaged 1 strikeout for every 9.80 at bats. And Gus Bell only struck out 1 time for every 10.75 at bats in 1955.
In contrast, Brian Lawrence in 2002, faced 3 poor hitters when he ran off 8 consecutive swinging strikes. None of the 3 batters Lawrence faced were hitting over .250 and one was batting under .200.
MORE ABOUT KOUFAX’S ROOKIE YEAR
You can read much more about Sandy Koufax’s rookie year, including a sensational start he had just 2 days later, in my new book, THE 1955 BROOKLYN DODGERS - MY DAD’S TEAM.
You can find THE 1955 BROOKLYN DODGERS - MY DAD’S TEAM on Amazon or get a personalized, autographed copy on ETSY at these links:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B07JCC1Q7H/allbooks
https://www.etsy.com/shop/SportsTimeTravelerUS
I certainly will. I heard about the book on Gary Livicari’s baseball site, “Baseball History Comes Alive”. I have written essays on the site in the past.
I live in NH and am not too far from the stadium where the old Nashua Dodgers played. In 1946, while Jackie Robinson was assigned to Montreal by the Dodgers, Nashua had a Class B franchise where Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe were assigned as other Dodges affiliates were located in the South. The team was managed by Walter Alston and the GM was Buzzie Bavasi . Talk about a Dodger team with future HOF’ers and almost HOF’ers-all involved later in the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers.
I just ordered the book on Amazon. Can’t wait to read it.⚾️