ONE MORE FOR 2025
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SANDY KOUFAX
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SANDY KOUFAX
The great (an adjective that feels so inadequate) Sandy Koufax is 90 years old today. I’m not going to bore you with all the numbers that made Koufax so amazing. I will bore you by telling you he gave me my favorite Bar Mitzvah present.
We were not a religious family, but my mother was insistent that I get some kind of Jewish education. Unlike The Monkees, even at a young age, I was not much of a believer. We had to switch temples a few times because while I resented going to Sunday School, I drew the line on going to Hebrew School during the week. This was particularly true during the World Series, when weekday games were day games, and I was way more interested in listening to the game on my transistor radio than in anything going on in the classroom. So we kept switching temples so I could go to one that did not require weekday indoctrinations.
When the time came for my bar mitzvah, my parents had no interest in the event. Remember, for my mom, it was all about the education, and in retrospect, I think for my dad, it was probably about saving money, which was not in abundance in our household. But I was insistent. I clearly remember telling them that if they made me go to Hebrew School, I wanted to at least be rewarded for it. I made a compelling argument (my parents always insisted that I should have been a lawyer), and I had a small event. The one thing that I wanted, I received. I told my folks that I wanted to invite Sandy Koufax. I enclosed a note with the invite that said, if he couldn’t attend, please just send me an autograph. He returned the invitation beautifully signed. I saw it in the house a few years ago, and I will find it again someday and share a picture.
That anecdote is not included in the definitive biography written by the person who should be the next commissioner, Jane Leavy, but there are so many great stories in Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy. It’s a must-read.
Koufax’s pitching partner was Don Drysdale. These two Hall of Famers hurled the Los Angeles Dodgers to three World Series championships and four National League pennants.
Since Koufax joined the Dodgers organization in 1955, and is still described as a close friend of the organization and unofficial pitching sage. The Dodgers have won all nine of their World Championships and have made 28 postseason appearances.
Before the 1966 season, Koufax and Drysdale both refused to report to Spring Training, beginning a joint holdout on February 28, 1966, that lasted 32 days. Instead of negotiating separately, they hired Koufax’s business manager, entertainment lawyer J. William Hayes, and told the Dodgers they would only negotiate as a unit through this agent, which was radical in the pre‑free‑agency era.
They asked for a combined three‑year, $1 million contract to be split evenly (about $167,000 per year each), which would have made them the highest‑paid players in baseball, surpassing Willie Mays’s then‑record salary.
The Dodgers refused the agent and the multi‑year demand, but after a month‑long standoff, the sides settled on one‑year deals: roughly $125,000 for Koufax and $110,000 for Drysdale (some accounts round Koufax’s figure to $130,000 and Drysdale’s to $105,000), making Koufax MLB’s highest‑paid player in 1966, which sadly was Sandy’s final season. That year, Sandy won his second straight Cy Young Award, finished second in MVP voting for the second straight season, went 27-9 with a 1.79 ERA, and struck out 317 batters in 323.0 IP. In his 41 starts, he threw 27 complete games, all in so much pain, he wouldn’t consider pitching another season.
STAT OF THE DAY
From 1960 to 1969, Bob Gibson led the decade with 2071 strikeouts in 2447.0 IP. Jim Bunning was second, with 2019 strikeouts in 2590.2 IP. Tied for third were Koufax and Drysdale with 1910 strikeouts. Drysdale recorded his in 2629.2 IP, and Sandy got his (1960-1966) in 1807.2 innings.
Happy birthday, Sandy. Wishing you much health in the year ahead. Thank you again for my present.
A POP-UP TO REMEMBER
September 28, 1968
On September 28, 1968, it was Mel Stottlemyre facing Jim Lonborg at Fenway Park. It was the penultimate game of the season, and neither team was going anywhere except home when the season came to a close. The Sox were a third-place team, and the Yanks were a fifth-place team (they were tied) in the ten-team American League. Each member of the third-place team would receive about $1,600 per player, fourth-place was worth $800 per player, and fifth-place was worth $300. Neither had clinched their spots in the first division, and in those days, that money meant something to those players.
Going to the 7th, the Sox were leading 3-0. In the top of that inning, Bill Robinson hit a sac fly to make it 3-1, and then Yankee third baseman Bobby Cox (I think you can manage to remember who he was) doubled home another run to make it 3-2. Andy Kosco tied the game with a homer in the top of the 8th, and Joe Pepitone homered off Lonborg in the top of the 9th to win it, 4-3.
September 29, 1968
The next day, the Yankees beat Boston again, 4-3. The organist played Auld Lang Syne after Carl Yastrzemski for the final out of the season. The Yankees’ 83-79 record clinched their first first-division season since their 1964 pennant. Yaz went 0-5, but still won his second straight AL batting title, hitting .301.
The standing-room-only crowd brought Sox attendance to 1,940,588 for the season, not bad for the smallest ballpark in baseball. That crowd can undoubtedly be attributed to the 1967 Impossible Dream Red Sox.
The Mets
On the other side of New York, the Mets finished 73-89. The Mets lost to the Phillies that day, 10-3, as Dick Allen (he was Richie Allen in those days) clobbered three homers. But they backed into ninth place when the Astros lost 11-1 to the Cardinals. The Mets, who were born in 1962, had never won a first game of the season or a last game of the season to that point. That streak continued in 1969, but besides that, nobody could have possibly imagined what was in store for those Miracle Mets the following season.
Rico
Let’s go back to the 1st inning of September 28. Mantle, batting left-handed against Lonborg, broke his bat and lofted a soft pop toward short left, where Sox shortstop Rico Petrocelli made the catch. Many years later, he told me that if he had known then what he probably knew the next inning and definitely the next afternoon, he would have stuck that ball in his back pocket.
Ken Coleman on the play-by-play.
You see, after Mickey hit that pop fly to Rico, Petrocelli tossed the ball back to Lonborg as he faced Roy White, who struck out looking after Horace Clarke had stolen second base. Then, in the bottom of the 1st, Andy Kosco came running out to play first base for the Yanks, replacing Mantle per a pre-arranged plan with manager Ralph Houk.
As Kosco replaced Mantle at first base, shaking his hand as Mantle left the field to a standing ovation, Kosco played the rest of the game at first and homered. Everyone expected another cameo appearance the next day in the final game of the season.
Except Mickey Mantle didn’t play in that last game. He flew home to Dallas instead. That meant that the ball used for Mantle’s final at bat ended up with the used balls for that game, or maybe as a foul ball, or maybe just tossed away. And Rico rues it to this day.
On March 1, 1969, Mickey Mantle announced his retirement. “I can’t hit anymore,” says Mantle, whose .245 and .237 averages the last two seasons dropped his career mark to .298. “I feel bad that I didn’t hit .300. But there’s no way I could go back and get it over .300 again.”
Andy Kosco
Andy Kosco played in 658 games for the Twins, Yankees, Dodgers, Brewers, Angels, Red Sox, and Reds from 1965-74. MLBTR.com says Andy was primarily a corner outfielder; he played all three outfield positions, as well as first and third base.
On December 19, Andy Kosco passed away at the age of 84. His death brought back all these memories, not really about him but about The Mick and my friendship with Rico.
Rest at first, Andy Kosco.
REVERSED TARIFFS
We have a new set of reduced rates for Billy-Ball. Since we have a president determined to raise all our prices across the board, I’m setting a precedent by lowering subscription rates for 2026. I’m just trying to do my share to combat the regime.
