World Series 1965

Lore & Background

The series is best remembered for the heroics of Sandy Koufax, who was named the World Series Most Valuable Player. Koufax did not pitch in Game 1, as it fell on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur. He pitched well but lost Game 2 before going on to toss shutouts in Games 5 and 7 (with only two days of rest in between) to win the championship. The Twins had won their first pennant in Minnesota and the franchise’s first since 1933 when the team was known as the Washington Senators. The Dodgers won their second title in three years, and their third since moving to Los Angeles in 1958. During the 1965 season, the Dodgers relied heavily on the arms of Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, and would rely on them even more in the World Series, as the Dodgers only used seven pitchers. Koufax, surviving on a steady diet of cortisone and pain killers for his arthritic left elbow, pitched five times in 15 days down the stretch, winning four (three shutouts), including 13 strikeouts in the pennant winner against Milwaukee. The Twins, managed by Sam Mele, had a more balanced attack, equally strong in pitching and hitting, although their defense committed 173 errors including 39 by shortstop Zoilo Versalles.

In Their Own Story

The air in Dodger Stadium hung heavy with October humidity and a tension that seemed to suck the oxygen from the stands on that historic night. Sandy Koufax stood atop the rubber, his gaze piercing through the haze of anticipation, ignoring the deafening roar that swelled with every strikeout. He wiped a sheen of sweat from his brow, the familiar leather of the baseball feeling like an extension of his own hand. The Twins' lineup was a gauntlet of power hitters, yet Koufax felt no fear—only a cold, surgical focus. He wound up and unleashed a fastball that cracked through the air like a whip, sending Harmon Killebrew stumbling back into the batter's box. One strike. Two strikes. The stadium held its collective breath as Koufax delivered his third pitch of the at-bat: a curveball that seemed to defy gravity before diving sharply past the plate. The umpire's arm slashed down for the strikeout, and the resulting eruption from the crowd was instantaneous. Yet, Koufax remained statue-still on the mound; he knew the job wasn't done until the final out. He walked off the field, the championship finally within his reach.

Reader's Guide

The Twins won the first two games of the series against Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax, but once Claude Osteen shut out the Twins in Game 3, things turned around. Willie Davis of the Dodgers tied a World Series record stealing 3 bases in one game, game 5; the record was set by Honus Wagner in 1909. The Dodgers proceeded to win the three middle games at Dodger Stadium and Koufax would pitch two shutouts including a three-hitter with ten strikeouts to clinch. Ron Fairly hit two home runs for the Dodgers, both in losing efforts. NL Los Angeles Dodgers (4) vs. AL Minnesota Twins (3).

Did You Know?

• This was only the second World Series where both teams were located west of the Mississippi River. The first occurred in 1944, when the St. Louis Browns faced their Sportsman's Park tenants, the St. Louis Cardinals.
• This was the first of 11 consecutive World Series that did not have the New York Yankees playing in it.
• It was also the first series in which both teams had had losing records the previous year. This has since been repeated two other times, both times also involving the Twins—in their championship seasons of 1987 and 1991.
• This World Series was the first in which all games were played in cities that did not have National League or American League teams in 1903, the year of the first modern World Series.
• It is the earliest World Series whose telecasts are known to survive in their entirety; the CBC has complete kinescopes of all seven games in its archives.