Steve Webb
LOS ANGELES, CA — This week, the Minnesota Twins and LA Dodgers are hooking up in a two-game series at Dodger Stadium. It’s the first time in five years that the Twins have made the trip to the Ravine. The Dodgers had been scheduled to play AL Central teams in 2020, but we all know what happened there. So, Twins/Dodgers got pushed back to this season. So far, the Dodgers have gotten the better of the Twins, winning the first three games of the season series. However, whenever these two teams get together, long-time Dodger fans can’t help but think back to the epic showdown these two teams had in the 1965 World Series. The series went the full seven games, and though it was touch and go at times, the Dodgers prevailed four games to three. But what a series it was!
Series begins in Minnesota
The Twins, recently moved from Washington where they were the Senators, sported a lineup of big bats. Hall of Famers Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva led a team that also featured MVP Zoilo Versailles, catcher Earl Battey, and center fielder Bob Allison. The stacked Twins lineup had won the American League by seven games, easily outlasting the second-place White Sox.
The Dodgers on the other hand, had already won it all twice since moving to LA, capturing the title in 1959 and 1963. These were the Dodgers of Gilliam, Wills, Davis, and Parker. And more importantly, the Dodgers of Koufax and Drysdale. The team finished the year two games ahead of the rival Giants and came into Minnesota looking for a third title in six years.
Games 1 & 2 go to the Twins
The first two games were played in the old Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, MN. And, Game One is more important for who didn’t play than for who did. The game fell on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. By Jewish Law, Jews were not allowed to do work of any kind on that day, and Koufax chose to honor his commitment to his faith.
Koufax summed up his thoughts at the time in an interview with UPI’s Milton Richman, saying that a “man is entitled to his belief and I believe I should not work on Yom Kippur. It’s as simple as all that and I have never had any trouble on that account since I’ve been in baseball.”
Dodger owner Walter O’Malley stood by his star. “I won’t let Sandy pitch on Yom Kippur under any circumstances,” O’Malley told the press. “I can’t let the boy do that to himself.”
The Catholic O’Malley then added that he wasn’t above some divine intervention to avoid playing Game 1 on Yom Kippur, noting he’d “ask the Pope what he can do about rain on that day.”
Rain did not come, though, and Game 1 went on as scheduled. The Dodgers threw Don Drysdale instead of Koufax, and the Twins countered with Mudcat Grant. The Twins had an easy time of it in the game, exploding for six runs in the bottom of the third and then coasting to an 8-2 victory. Suddenly the Koufax decision was looking a little dicey.
It looked even more so when Sandy got the start in Game 2. He and Jim Kaat battled through five scoreless innings before the Twins took advantage of a Jim Gilliam error in the bottom of the sixth. With the heart of the order coming up, Koufax gave up a double to Tony Oliva and a run-scoring single from Harmon Killebrew. Koufax had given up three runs (only one earned) and his day was done. The Twins would go on to win 5-0 and go ahead in the series 2-0.
Three straight W’s at Dodger Stadium
With their backs to the wall, the Dodgers came home in need of some hometown magic. They got just that. Claude Osteen pitched a 4-0 shut-out in Game Three, and Don Drysdale got plenty of run support in Game Four to take a 7-2 victory and tie up the series at two games apiece.
Koufax came back to the bump in Game Five, looking for redemption. Facing Jim Kaat once again, Sandy was brilliant, shutting out the powerful Twins lineup and allowing just four hits while striking out ten. Meanwhile, the Dodgers got a couple of runs in the bottom of the first off Kaat and a couple more in the bottom of the fourth, and won the ballgame going away 7-0. They were now ahead 3-2 in the series, but would have to win this one on the road, as the teams were headed back to the Land of 10,000 Lakes to finish off the series.
Game Six to the Twins
With the series shifting back to the Twin Cities, the Dodgers had to secure a road win to take the ring. But in Game Six, it was the Dodgers’ turn to be on the wrong end of a complete game. This time it was Game One winner Mudcat Grant who went the distance, giving up just one run and scattering six hits. The Twins, meanwhile, got to Claude Osteen, who had been so good in Game Three. And it was Mudcat Grant himself who delivered the big blow, smacking a 3-run homer off of Osteen in the bottom of the sixth to put the game on ice for the Twinkies. That set up an epic Game Seven on October 14, 1965
Koufax cements legendary status
Here’s where Koufax’s Yom Kippur decision complicated things. Manager Walter Alston had a choice to make. Did he throw Game Four starter Don Drysdale on three days’ rest, or go back to Koufax, who had just pitched Game Five and would come into the Game with just two days’ rest? Not sure how much thought there was to give. Sandy was the GOAT. And Sandy got the ball.
And Koufax was beyond brilliant. He went nine full innings and only gave up three hits (including two doubles to the Twins’ future manager Frank Quilici). But beyond that, the Twins got nothing off him. Koufax allowed no hits with runners in scoring position, and kept putting up zero after zero after zero.
Jim Kaat, meanwhile, just didn’t have it in this one. He only gave up two runs in his time on the mound (3.0 IP), but that was plenty for the Dodgers. The Dodgers got those two runs in the top of the 4th. Left Fielder Lou Johnson hit a leadoff home run in the inning, and Wes Parker got a run scoring single to score Ron Fairly and chase Kaat from the game.
The rest of the day was all about Koufax. He struck out ten, and dominated the Twins during the late innings. He retired 14 of the last 15 hitters he faced, and the lone hit came on a line drive by Harmon Killebrew that just evaded the glove of shortstop Maury Wills in the bottom of the ninth. However, that one hit meant that the tying run was now at the plate, and Koufax was showing signs of fatigue, not landing his pitches nearly as crisply as he had earlier in the ballgame.
However, Sandy reached back and summoned up his reserve of energy. He struck out good-hitting catcher Earl Battey on just three pitches. That brought up Bob Allison, who had already homered in Game Six the day before. After getting a foul back for strike one, Koufax missed on consecutive pitches to fall behind in the count 2-1. He reached back and threw a fastball by Allison to even up the count. Koufax stepped off the rubber to gather his thoughts. And then…
WHIFF! A swing and miss from Allison and your Los Angeles Dodgers were champions of the world for the year 1965.
A remarkable end to a fantastic season
Koufax, who had finished the year 26-8 with a 2.04 ERA, would go on to win his second Cy Young Award in 1965. Then, after one more brilliant season, Sandy’s career was over. In 1966, the Dodgers would make their second straight World Series, but get swept by the emerging powerhouse of Earl Weaver‘s Baltimore Orioles. So, this game in 1965 would be the last World Series win for Koufax. He would finish his career with an incredible 0.95 ERA in the World Series, and give Dodger fans enough memories to sustain them until they would once again reach the Promised Land in 1981.
Koufax had stuck to his guns and honored his faith, and in so doing created a baseball legend that will live on forever.
