It Was a Nice Start for His Gem Collection

In Dodger Stadium’s first four seasons, if you missed any Sandy Koufax-pitched games, you might have missed a no-hitter.

Koufax pitched three no-hitters and a perfect game between 1962 and 1965. Three of those gems took place at Dodger Stadium.

The first one was 37 years ago tonight, against the New York Mets.

Koufax, who hadn’t won any of his three Cy Young Awards yet, started out as if that’s what was on his mind. He struck out the side in the first inning--on nine pitches.

He wobbled in the ninth but didn’t break. In between, there were 13 strikeouts, five walks and some brilliant infield work by shortstop Maury Wills. None of the five walked hitters reached second base.

As the game wore on and the zeros crept across the scoreboard, his teammates sat farther away from him in the dugout. By the eighth inning, no one was within 20 feet of him.

And no one, of course, mentioned “no-hitter�--except Met third-base coach Solly Hemus.

“He said something to me about it after every inning,� Koufax said afterward.

The defensive dazzler of the night was a backhanded stab by Wills of a ground ball by Frank Thomas in the second inning.

In the ninth, the 29,797 on hand were standing.

Koufax walked pinch-hitter Gene Woodling on four pitches. Richie Ashburn, hitting .333, hit a drive to left that fell foul by three feet. Then he grounded the next pitch to Wills, who made a force at second.

Rod Kanehl, hitting .339, then forced Ashburn at second with a grounder. Felix Mantilla grounded into another force play and Koufax was mobbed by his teammates.

Also on this date: In 1934, New York Yankee Lou Gehrig hit three triples in the first five innings at Washington but the game was rained out. The previous day, in an exhibition game at Norfolk, Va., Gehrig had been knocked unconscious when hit in the head by a pitch. . . . In 1908, Boston’s Cy Young, 41, pitched a no-hit, 8-0 win at New York. Young walked the leadoff hitter, who was caught stealing, then retired the next 26 batters.

In 1909, $2-million Forbes Field in Pittsburgh was opened. . . . In 1970, Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium was opened. . . . In 1978, San Francisco’s Willie McCovey hit his 500th home run. . . . In 1929, Bobby Jones won his third U.S. Open golf title at Winged Foot in Mamaronek, N.Y.