50 Years Ago: September 25, 1966: Kenny Holtzman vs. Sandy Koufax.

Earlier this year, I wrote about going to a Cubs game with my dad fifty years ago, on May 28, 1966, and how I went with our son to the Cubs game on May 28 of this year.

Well, let me mention one more 50th anniversary, coming up on Sunday. Ed Sherman wrote about it in last Sunday’s Chicago Tribune.  It is the 50th anniversary of the day Kenny Holtzman, the Cubs’ left-handed Jewish rookie pitcher, started against Sandy Koufax, the Dodgers’ (and the world’s) greatest left-handed Jewish pitcher.  Koufax was famous around the world for not pitching on Yom Kippur during the 1965 World Series.  Koufax was famous around the baseball world for being just about the best pitcher in baseball in the early and middle 1960s.

In late September of 1966, the season was coming to a close.  The Dodgers were going to the World Series.  The Cubs were going to be the first non-expansion team to finish tenth in the National League.  But on Sunday, September 25, 1966, there was a big game in Wrigley Field because Kenny Holtzman was going up against Sandy Koufax.

But I am getting ahead of myself.  Let me back up.  I started college right after Labor Day in 1966.  To say the least, I was homesick.  My parents did not want me to come home right away, but I finally came home the last weekend in September.  Dad wasn’t there; I think he was on some trip for work.  But my mother was. 

And so, on Sunday, September 25, 1966, my mother and I sat in the living room, eating dinner on TV trays, so we could watch the Cubs game.  Eating in the living room wasn’t something we normally did, but that Sunday wasn’t normal, either.  Because, even though Sandy Koufax had thrown a no-hitter every year from 1962 to 1965, it wasn’t Sandy Koufax who almost threw a no-hitter that day.

The game started good for the Cubs.  In the first inning, Don Kessinger walked, and Glenn Beckert tripled him in.  Billy Williams struck out, and Ron Santo grounded back to the pitcher, but Ernie Banks hit a little pop up that the Dodgers second baseman fumbled, and Beckert scored.  Cubs 2, Dodgers 0!

While the Cubs would not score any more runs, the Dodgers weren’t even getting any hits.  Kenny Holtzman had a no-hitter through eight innings!  (Not that anybody would actually be dumb enough to say that out loud).  Unfortunately, the Dodgers’ leadoff batter in the ninth singled.  The next man walked, and after a strike out, another single drove in the Dodgers’ first run.  But Leo Durocher left Kenny in (things were different back then), and the next batter, Willie Davis, lined into a double play. The Cubs had won!  Kenny Holtzman had beaten Sandy Koufax!  I wasn’t at the park that day.  But sitting there in our living room, watching on WGN, eating dinner with my mother on TV trays, was just as good.¹
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¹ I previously mentioned the commercials that Old Style ran in 1988, with different Cubs’ greats talking about something in their past.  Kenny Holtzman was one of those.  Here is a transcript of his commercial:

“When I was learning to play ball, I used to dream of pitching against Sandy Koufax.  He was my idol.  My brother’s idol.  My parents’ idol.  He was most of the world’s idol.  Well, in 1966, the Dodgers came to town in September in the hunt for the pennant, and my parents came, too.  They sat directly behind home plate and watched me take a no-hitter into the ninth inning.  Koufax had a good game, too.  I lost the no-hitter, but won the game, 2 to 1.  It was the last regular season game Sandy Koufax ever lost, and after the season, he retired.  I suppose, after facing me, he knew it was time to hang it up.  At least, that’s what my mom always tells people.”