Koufax, Guerrero, Welch Highlight This Day in Dodgers History
"Two and two to Harvey Kuenn, one strike away." Everybody knows Vin Scully's call from Sandy Koufax's perfect game, "September the 9th, 1965, in the City of Angels." The end of Sandy's first no-hitter, June 30, 1962, not so much. Most of us only know that it happened, 58 years ago today. Ah, but there's more.
The then 51-29 second-place Dodgers beat the 20-53 expansion New York Mets behind the ace's five-walk, 13-strikeout, no-hit gem, 5-0, at Chavez Ravine. Among the stymied Mets whose names you might recall include Richie Ashburn, Felix Mantilla, Frank Thomas (not that Frank Thomas, this Frank Thomas), Jim Hickman, Chris Cannizzaro and losing pitcher Bob Miller, the latter three of whom would go on to become Dodgers.
Los Angeles jumped on Miller for four runs in the first inning, with Tommy Davis and Frank Howard singling in runs and John Roseboro doubling home two more. Howard would homer off Ray Daviault in the seventh and six outs later Koufax would become the first Dodgers left-hander to record a no-hitter since Nap Rucker in 1948.
The Koufax no-hitters not mentioned above were recorded on May 11, 1963, 8-0 over San Fransciso at home and June 4, 1964 at Philadelphia. In all, Koufax would pitch four no-hitters for the Dodgers, in four consecutive seasons.
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While Sandy's no-hitter stands out as the highlight from this day in Dodgers history, there were others. And here they are.
1920: Two hits from eventual-Hall-of-Famer Zack Wheat and a complete game five-hitter by fellow-HOFer Burleigh Grimes are good enough for a Brooklyn Robins 3-1 win over the Giants at the Polo Grounds.
1947: Pee Wee Reese's two singles and homer and Carl Furillo's single, double and triple pace the Dodgers over the Phils at Shibe Park, 7-4. Rex Barney the winner, Schoolboy Rowe the loser.
1955: Brooklyn over New York at Ebbets Field, 6-5, in 11 . That's 11 innings the old fashioned way, by actually getting a man on base and bringing him around for a win. In this case, the man was Furillo, who had walked, been sacrificed to second by Dixie Howell and singled home by George Shuba. What a country.
1963: Henry Aaron singles and homers to raise his batting line to .323/.396/.604, Tommie Aaron's single raises his to .245/.284/.351 and Tony Cloninger with the two-hit shutout, Milwaukee over L.A. 7-0 at Dodger Stadium.
1965: Miller goes 8 2/3 in relief of Nick Willhite, Dodgers over Cubs, 4-3, at Wrigley Field.
1975: Davey Lopes goes 4-4, Ron Cey has two hits, including a homer and Andy Messermith goes the distance in a 4-1 win over Rich Folkers and San Diego at Dodger Stadium.
1978: Six shutout innings with no walks and six strikeouts for Bob Welch, Los Angeles over Cincinnati at Riverfront Stadium, 5-2.
1981: Work stoppage. How quaint.
1985: Pedro Guerrero's 15th round-tripper of the month ties a major league record for home runs in June and sets a Dodgers' franchise record for homers in any month, Welch goes seven and Bruce Sutter blows a save and takes the loss, L.A. over Atlanta, 4-3, at home.
2004: Brett Tomko gets the better of someone, and glory be it's the Dodgers, 7-1 at Chavez Ravine. Hideo Nomo allows seven earned in 4 2/3.
2013: Four weeks into his career, red hot Yasiel Puig doubles and triples in a 4-5 performance, A.J. Ellis adds three hits and Stephen Fife tosses seven shutout innings for 6-1 win at Dodger Stadium.
And remember, glove conquers all.
Howard Cole has been writing about baseball on the internet since Y2K. Follow him on Twitter.
