Sandy Koufax no hits the Mets 5-0
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Sandy Koufax no hits the Mets 5-0

With the aid of 13 strikeouts and a Frank Howard home run, Sandy Koufax no-hits Bob Miller and the Mets, 5 – 0 in Los Angeles. Sandy starts off the game by fanning the side on nine pitches in the 1st inning, the first National League pitcher to strike out the side on nine pitches since Brooklyn’s Dazzy Vance, in 1924. It will be the first of four career no-hitters thrown by Koufax.

Sandy Koufax

Sandy Koufax sets a National League record for strikeouts in a season: 269

1961 – Sandy Koufax (18-13) fans seven Phils in the course of a 2 – 1 loss to set a National League record for strikeouts in a season: 269. This surpasses Christy Mathewson’s 267 in 1963, which was accomplished in 367 innings pitched, as opposed to Koufax’s remarkable 255. Both runs off Sandy are unearned.

Sandy Koufax beats the Cubs, 3-2, in the last regular season game played at the LA Memorial Coliseum
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Sandy Koufax beats the Cubs, 3-2, in the last regular season game played at the LA Memorial Coliseum

In a 13-inning contest, Sandy Koufax goes the distance, beating the Cubs, 3-2, in the last regular season game played at the LA Memorial Coliseum, a venue originally built for the 1932 Olympics. The Dodgers are leaving the only home they have known since moving from Brooklyn four seasons ago to play in a brand new stadium in Chavez Ravine, located a few miles from downtown Los Angeles.

1961 – Roberto Clemente’s second career home run off Sandy Koufax comes, like the first, at the Los Angeles Coliseum, a 1st-inning, bases-empty blast which gets Pittsburgh off to a quick 1 – 0 lead. Unlike the earlier Coliseum clout (his opposite-field moon shot of August 30, 1960), this one is pulled over the Coliseum’s notoriously surmountable left-field barrier. However, unlike Dodger left fielder – and left-handed hitter – Wally Moon’s stock in trade, the strategically-served pop flies derisively dubbed ‘Moon Shots’, this moon shot needs no air quotes, landing some 35 rows beyond the screen.

1961 – Roberto Clemente’s second career home run off Sandy Koufax comes, like the first, at the Los Angeles Coliseum, a 1st-inning, bases-empty blast which gets Pittsburgh off to a quick 1 – 0 lead. Unlike the earlier Coliseum clout (his opposite-field moon shot of August 30, 1960), this one is pulled over the Coliseum’s notoriously surmountable left-field barrier. However, unlike Dodger left fielder – and left-handed hitter – Wally Moon’s stock in trade, the strategically-served pop flies derisively dubbed ‘Moon Shots’, this moon shot needs no air quotes, landing some 35 rows beyond the screen.

The largest crowd ever to attend a major league game, 92,706 fans, watches a nail-biter as White Sox hurler Bob Shaw beats Sandy Koufax and the Dodgers, 1-0, in Game 5 of the Fall Classic.
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The largest crowd ever to attend a major league game, 92,706 fans, watches a nail-biter as White Sox hurler Bob Shaw beats Sandy Koufax and the Dodgers, 1-0, in Game 5 of the Fall Classic.

The largest crowd ever to attend a major league game, 92,706 fans, watches a nail-biter as White Sox hurler Bob Shaw beats Sandy Koufax and the Dodgers, 1-0, in Game 5 of the Fall Classic.

The Dodgers set a record for a Coliseum doubleheader when 39‚432 fans show up for two games with the Cubs

The Dodgers set a record for a Coliseum doubleheader when 39‚432 fans show up for two games with the Cubs

1959 – The Dodgers set a record for a Coliseum doubleheader when 39‚432 fans show up for two games with the Cubs. Sandy Koufax runs his streak to 41 strikeouts in three games‚ for another major league record‚ but loses the opener, 3 – 0 on a 3-run homer by Ernie Banks in the 9th. The Dodgers lose the second game, 5 – 3‚ also on a 3-run 9th-inning homer‚ to drop 3 games behind the Giants.

Sandy Koufax Brookyn dodgers

Sandy Koufax fans 18 Giants to set a National League mark in a 5 – 2 Dodger win

1959 – Sandy Koufax fans 18 Giants to set a National League mark in a 5 – 2 Dodger win. The game is witnessed by a crowd of 82,974 spectators (60,194 of whom have paid admission), the largest ever for a regular-season game.