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Big bouncer over the mound, over second base. Up with it is Mantia, throws low and wild.
Hodges scores, we go to Chicago!
The date, September 29, 1959. At precisely 5 minutes and 55 seconds after 5 o'clock Pacific Standard Time,
Gil Hodges touched home plate and the fabulous Los Angeles Dodgers had won the National League pennant.
Never in the history of baseball had a team finished seventh one year and come back to win the championship the following season.
To trace the story of the Cinderella Dodgers, the starting point would be April 18, 1958.
Good afternoon everybody, this is Ben Scully speaking to you from the Los Angeles Coliseum
as opening day has finally come to Southern California.
After spending more than half a century in Brooklyn, the Dodgers came west to settle in Los Angeles.
Over 78,000 fans were on hand to see history in the making.
The first major league game ever played in Southern California.
Carl Erskine threw the first official pitch and the Los Angeles Dodgers began what proved to be a dismal season.
The team finished in seventh place, although the novelty of Major League Baseball drew over 1,800,000 fans into the huge Coliseum.
You know when the Dodgers started the 1959 season, most of the experts figured they'd wind up about fifth, at least no better than fourth.
Well, the 59 team contained practically the same personnel as the 1958 squad,
with the exception of Wally Moon, an in and out left handed batting outfielder.
Wally was obtained from the St. Louis Cardinals in an off-season trade.
But what a difference Mr. Moon made, as you will hear later on.
The Dodgers got off to a good start in 1959, staying in contention right from the opening gun.
Shortly after the season began, May the 3rd, 1959, President Walter O'Malley staged Roy Campanella Night at the Coliseum.
The world champion New York Yankees came to town to play the Dodgers in an exhibition game,
with all proceeds going to help Roy in his fight to recover from a serious automobile accident, which had left him paralyzed.
Los Angeles fans responded to this great cause in such fantastic numbers that 93,103 paid their way into the Coliseum,
making this the largest crowd in history to watch a professional baseball game.
It was one of the most dramatic moments in sports when Roy was wheeled out on the field and surrounded by civic and baseball dignitaries
and Yankee and Dodger ballplayers spoke to the huge gathering.
I want to thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart.
This is something that I'll never forget as long as I live.
I'd like to thank the Yankees, the players, Mr. Delwed, Mr. Dan Topping, for having their ball club participate in this game.
I'd like to thank Mr. O'Malley and all of my Dodger teammates.
It's a wonderful tribute, and I thank God that I'm here living to be able to see.
Thanks a million.
Before the first pitch, the 93,000-plus Coliseum fans gave Roy Campanella their personal salute.
This is the way Vince Gulley described it.
Friends, right now the Yankees have been asked to leave the field and the Dodgers are not out on the field.
For right now, the Coliseum, all of the lights will be turned out as Pee Wee Reese wheels the chair that holds Roy Campanella
across the first base foul line and heads him towards the pitcher's mound.
The lights are going out.
As a final tribute to Roy Campanella, the lights will be lowered and everyone at the ballpark, 93,000 people,
are asked in silent tribute to light a match to Roy Campanella.
And we would like to think that as 93,000 people light the match, that would be 93,000 prayers for a great man.
The lights now are starting to come out like thousands and thousands of fireflies, starting deep in center field,
glittering around to the left and slowly the entire ballpark, lighting up with individual lights.
And Roy Campanella, as the years go back, standing off to the right is Pee Wee Reese.
Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three. Three.
Sea of Lights at the Coliseum, perhaps the most beautiful and dramatic moment in the history of sport.
Let there be a prayer for every light.
And wherever you are, maybe you, in silent tribute to Campanella can also say a prayer for his well-being.
Roy Campanella for thousands of times made a trip to the mound to help somebody out.
A tired pitcher, a disgusted youngster, a boy who's perhaps had his heart broken in
a game of baseball.
And tonight, on his last trip to the mound, the city of Los Angeles says hello to him.
Listen.
Few will remember the final score of that Yankee Dodger exhibition.
But the thousands who were there and the many thousands who heard it on radio will remember.
When the Dodgers moved west, so did the Giants.
And if anyone thought this great baseball rivalry would suffer from the change, they
couldn't have been more wrong.
The date is May the 30th, 1959.
Los Angeles and San Francisco met at the Coliseum in their first important series of the season.
It's the top of the sixth inning.
Orchards to Vin Scully for a magnificent description of one of the wildest rhubarbs
baseball has ever known.
Drysdale ready on the 1-1 pitch.
Curveball cut on is a high fly ball right down the left field line.
Right on the line hits the foul pole and kicks foul.
That's just about as foul as you can get without being fair.
Willie Mays hit the foul pole and it kicked off in foul ground.
Rigney is telling Mays to trot all the way around.
Soly Parker and Bill Rigney appealing to third base umpire Dusty Boggess.
And now they're going to wave Mays around and here come the Dodgers after Boggess.
If you know the Coliseum at all and you know the girder that supports the screen right
down the left field line Willie Mays hit a fly ball that actually hit that girder and
then kicked off into foul territory.
At first Dusty Boggess called it foul but Rigney told Mays to go around anyway and after
Rigney and Soly Parker got into the discussion Boggess suddenly rolled home run.
The Dodgers came racing out of the dugout.
A firecracker goes off back a home plate like to scare everybody out of 10 years growth.
And the argument continues directly back of third base along the line.
All four umpires along with a heated group of Dodgers and the rhubarb continues about
30 feet down the line.
So Willie Mays who is normally causing a lot of noise either at the Coliseum or SEAL Stadium
has now really set off a bomb here at the Coliseum.
When you look at that girder down the left field line there are many cables and wires
that make it a very tough spot to look at.
No doubt the Dodger contention is that the ball hit one of the wires to make it foul.
But Boggess is now sticking to his guns.
Drysdale is so mad he almost kicked 20 feet of the Coliseum out of the park.
Gil Hodges right now is jaw to jaw with Dusty Boggess.
Gil pointing first with his left hand then with his right hand.
Drysdale appealing to the gods right now he just wants to holler at anybody who'll listen.
Don Zimmer is arguing with Tommy Gorman.
The other three umpires now leave Boggess alone and he is in the midst of lions.
Don Zimmer, Don Drysdale, Walter Alston, Gil Hodges and Wally Moon are blistering Boggess
and Dusty every now and then seems to punctuate a Dodger sentence by pointing with his left
hand to that left field foul pole.
At the very top of the foul pole there are two slanting guide wires.
One goes from the top of the pole to the right down to the screen and the other one goes
from the top to the left down to the floor of the stand.
The Dodger contention is that the ball hit the guide wire going to the left and would
be fouled.
Alston and Hodges and Zimmer and Moon continue to appeal.
Gorman now tells Hodges to walk away but Hodges goes right after Gorman.
Zimmer will be hoarse in another two minutes.
The veins on each side of his neck bulging out like the cable that actually holds up
the left field screen.
Boggess sticking to his guns the Dodgers continue to appeal but Mays has touched all the bases
and will come in with a home run.
Gorman who is the captain of this umpiring quartet has now summoned Bill Rigney out of
the giant dugout and both Gorman and Sawley Parker are flanking Bill Rigney and of course
Gorman doing all the talking.
Meanwhile the Dodgers are still around Boggess at third but watching Rigney's reaction it
looks like Gorman is going to call it foul and Rigney is about ready to eat his glasses.
Alston has walked away like a Philadelphia lawyer who has just won his case.
Rigney slams his hat down and the gray hair is glistening under the lights.
Bill is now going jar to jar with Boggess now he kicks at the dirt hands on his hip
left hand thrown high in the air Ed Sudol comes in to quiet the giant manager down.
Rigney's left hand then his right hand up in the air now his hat is back on.
So first the Dodgers appeal and walk away and now it's Rigney's turn to be on the griddle.
All four umpires appear to be trying to placate Rigney presenting their case the giant manager
now starting to walk around slamming his hands together pointing with the right hand then
with the left now a big sweeping gesture with the left hand.
Gorman comes after him now as if Rigney must have touched a nerve and Gorman goes chewing
right back after the giant manager.
Rigney now goes after Gorman points with his left hand to that girder.
Gorman answers with a right handed gesture.
Rigney bows at the waist with a sweeping right hand and Gorman and Rigney are really going
at it.
Bodges comes over and Rigney like a mad traffic cop now with a right hand indicating that
all the umpires are mad.
Rigney kicks at the dirt walks away with a hopeless gesture of bow hand.
Willie Mays comes out Rigney drapes his left arm around Mays's shoulder and sounds him
to go to second base.
I'll meet you halfway and what a riot.
First it was ruled foul then it was ruled fair then the Dodgers won half a case and
got Mays to go to second base.
As soon as we get the ground rules on this particular play off the back of a batting
card we can pass them along.
Willie Mays hits the loudest double ever heard in Southern California or in the United States
for that matter.
Rigney now comes to argue with the plate umpire Ed Soudal.
Soudal pointing with his right hand towards the screen Rigney pointing with his right
hand let's say towards the Dodger dugout.
Now Sully Parker comes down and it's Rigney with his head just jerking a mile a minute
and now Soudal wants to talk to third base umpire Dusty Bodges.
It's a fight a blow by blow verbal battle.
Rigney has Bodges on his left and Soudal on his right and right now Rigney is laying down
the law and the umpires come right back with words and gestures.
Sully Parker third base coach with his arms folded across his chest just listening right
now.
Rigney is concentrating his verbal fire on third base umpire Dusty Bodges.
Soudal is now trying to draw some of the wrath of the giant manager but Bill wants to stay
with Bodges.
Now plate umpire Ed Soudal has hollered up to the press box that the Giants will play
the ball game under protest and it must be announced to the crowd.
Listen here comes the announcement.
San Francisco manager Bill Rigney quickly forgot his protest because sad Sam Jones pitched
a one hit two nothing shutout.
On August 31st 82,794 fans came to the Coliseum to see the Giants in their final appearance
of the year in Los Angeles.
Little did they realize that baseball history was to be made that night and a young left
hander named Sandy Koufax would attain baseball immortality.
Koufax has struck out 15 San Francisco batters through eight innings.
He had to strike out the side in the top of the ninth to set a new National League record
and tie the all-time major league record.
It'll be Eddie Bressoux the shortstop then Danny O'Connell and we'll see about Sanford
spot.
No one throwing in the giant bullpen.
Bressoux this evening has popped a short fouled out and struck out batting 255.
It's a 2-2 tie and Sandy Koufax who came within a whisker I believe of coming out of the ball
game is now in it again.
Sandy checking signs with Roseboro.
Now nods in agreement goes to his windup and delivers curved ball for a strike.
Sandy has struck out 15.
He has numbered every giant in his strikeouts.
The strike one pitch to Bressoux fastball fouled away 0 and 2.
We'll repeat that note on Koufax we gave you earlier in the eighth inning.
Sandy his last time out struck out 13 fills.
Tonight he has struck out 15 giants a total of 28 strikeouts in two games.
That sets a new National League record and ties Bob Feller's all-time record.
Curved ball cut on and missed he's all by himself.
Sandy Koufax has now established a major league record and boy that's something to go above
the name Bob Feller in strikeouts.
He has struck out 29 men in his last two games 16 tonight.
One out here is Danny O'Connell walks struck out and doubled.
Danny batting 244.
Koufax's first pitch a fastball for a strike.
Fess looks in to get his sign from Roseboro.
The strike one pitch curved ball cut on and missed 0 and 2.
This crowd is screaming to the skies.
The strike two pitch fastball got him looking.
Sandy Koufax strikes out Eddie Brassou and Danny O'Connell on six pitches and now has
established another all-time record this one for at night games.
He has struck out 17 men and here comes pitcher Jack Sanford.
With his 17 strikeouts tonight he has tied a National League record established by a
pretty good pitcher by the name of Dizzy Dean.
Fastball cut on and missed.
Koufax is shooting for all the marbles.
Just to add spice if he should strike out Sanford he will tie the all-time record for the most
strikeouts in one game.
Curved ball inside one ball and one strike.
So have you got it?
Koufax with 17 strikeouts tonight establishes a night game record ties a National League
record held by Dizzy Dean.
The 1-1 pitch to Sanford cut on and missed strike two.
Sandy now is one strike away from tying Bob Feller's record.
This crowd just ready to lift the Coliseum.
The 1-2 pitch.
Fastball got him swinging.
Boy I never thought he'd make it this far with a hit on Mr. And the Ball is competitive.
Boy, I never thought I'd see it. I never thought I'd see a man strike out 18 major league players in a game.
And Sandy Koufax did it. The end of 8 1⁄2 innings of play, it's a 2-2 tie.
Koufax had set the record, but he had not won the ballgame.
In the bottom of the ninth, Sandy got a single and moved to second on a sacrifice.
Jim Gilliam was given an intentional walk.
And with two on and one out, the amazing Wally Moon came to bat against relief pitcher Alan Worthington.
Wally Moon, hitting 3-0-1, has struck out twice, bounced out and walked.
Comes up with the ballgame on the line. Sandy Koufax, as Reese told him, took his lead and scratched the line in the dirt.
Now looks over at the bag. Gilliam away from first. One out, ninth inning a 2-2 tie.
The 1-1 pitch to Moon. Cut on is a high fly ball. The deep left field, it is done!
The crowd goes wild.
Wally Moon just hit a home run over the left field screen.
82,000 people have gone wild. And wasn't it a wonderful touch that technically the winning run was brought over by Sandy Koufax.
Oh, what a night. And by the way, the Dodgers are now one game out of first place.
No doubt for a time, Dodger players missed those wacky, wonderful, delirious Brooklynites.
But it didn't take long for them to discover a pretty fantastic species of Dodger fan in Los Angeles.
The mad mobs who gathered at the Coliseum weren't content to just watch the game.
They had a lesson too. And they came to the ballpark in droves with portables and transistor radios.
On the night of September the 11th, the Dodgers were playing the Pirates at Twineye Doubleheader.
The Giants were in San Francisco for a single game with the Phillies.
By the way, we have direct control to SEAL Stadium now in San Francisco.
Jackie Brandt was the first man up in the bottom of the ninth inning as a pinch hitter for the Giants.
And Brandt popped up. So there's one out in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Willie Mays is up in the bottom of the ninth inning. He has just popped up.
So there are two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning at SEAL Stadium. Philadelphia leading 1-0.
Willie McCovey is up at the plate at SEAL Stadium with two out in the ninth inning.
And Philadelphia leading 1-0.
So Robin Roberts has already disposed of Jackie Brandt, the pinch hitter, and the always dangerous Willie Mays.
Soon as we get a report about Willie McCovey up at the plate, you shall have it.
So the Giants have one out left to them.
Strike one on Willie McCovey up there at San Francisco.
We'll try and follow that one for you.
Ron Fairley is in center field.
Wally Moon is now in left.
And Carl Frillo is in right.
We have direct wire now to San Francisco to count to Willie McCovey one ball and one strike.
Two out, bottom of the ninth, 1-0 Philadelphia.
We're in the sixth inning, 3-0 Dodgers.
Green fouls it away, 0-1.
Well, we're doing two ball games almost simultaneously.
Next pitch missed to McCovey and they count two balls and one strike to Willie McCovey.
Chery getting a sign from Fred Green.
The right-hander delivers 2-1.
The pitch fouled away, 2-2.
Well, if somebody tunes in late feeling good, they're really going to get confused.
Ball three to Willie McCovey.
Three and one to count to McCovey.
Two out, bottom of the ninth, 1-0 Philadelphia.
Chery's pitch, a curve outside to Fred Green.
Ball three.
Well, it's confusing, but if you're a baseball fan, you ask for it.
Ball four to Willie McCovey.
Well, the Giants have a tying run at first base
with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning, Philadelphia leads 1-0.
Here's the pitch to Fred Green, cut on and missed.
Strike three.
Larry Chery has reached a career high of nine strikeouts.
One out, here's Bob Skinner.
The batter for the Giants with two out on the ninth inning is Orlando Cepeda.
Willie McCovey is at first, and the crowd here at the Coliseum,
many of them with transistors and the U's and the R's, really whirling around the saucer.
We'll try and keep you right up to every pitch.
Bob Skinner the batter, Chery's curve, a strike on one.
Thanks to the ingenuity of our producer, engineer Clay Sanders,
we're giving you every pitch in both ballparks.
Curve ball to Skinner, a bouncer to Charlie Neal.
He's up with it, throws him out.
Orlando Cepeda has just hit a fly ball to the outfield,
and it is caught. Philadelphia won it.
Boy, don't we have fun.
And understatement, Vinnie, Pittsburgh captain and shortstop Dick Groat was the on-deck hitter that night,
and he almost jumped out of his uniform when that roar from the crowd went up.
As the 1959 season came down to the wire, the Dodgers were faced with an eight-game road trip.
When Walt Alston's warriors swept three straight from the Giants,
the pennant fever reached a maddening pitch.
After a two-game split in St. Louis, the Dodgers moved to Wrigley Field, Chicago,
for the final three games of the season.
There loomed the possibility of a three-way tie for the pennant among Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and San Francisco.
The closing day of this pulsating pennant race saw the Giants fade away by losing a doubleheader to the Cardinals.
The Braves and the Dodgers won their final games and wound up in a flat-footed tie.
For the third time in National League history, the pennant was to be decided by a best two-out-of-three-game playoff.
On September the 28th, on a gray overcast day at County Stadium in Milwaukee,
the Dodgers shaded the defending champs 3-2 on Larry Sherry's brilliant relief pitching
and Johnny Roseboro's sixth inning home run.
Tuesday, September 29th, the playoff moved to Memorial Coliseum.
The Braves behind Lou Burdette were leading 5-2 in the bottom of the ninth.
The Los Angeles Dodgers come roaring back in the bottom of the ninth,
and 36,000 people are roaring with them.
Here in the ninth, Moon single, Snyder single, Hodges single, and Larkins single off the screen to drive in two.
Runners at first and third, nobody out in the ninth, 5-4 Milwaukee.
And the Dodgers ask Perillo to at least get Hodges over.
High fly ball into deep right field, Aaron Goerner way back.
He one-hands it. Hodges scores. It's a brand new ballgame.
The Dodgers are one base hit away from Chicago.
But the hit was not to come until the twelfth inning.
The old pros were at it again. Hodges on second, Perillo at bat.
Braves pitcher Bob Rush delivers.
Big bouncer over the mound, over second base. Up with it is Mantia. Throws low and wild.
Hodges scores. We go to Chicago.
The Cinderella team of the National League.
For the first time in history, a seventh-place club has come back to win the pennant the following year.
And it had to be the Dodgers.
In their third playoff, they finally win one and go into the series.
It went as a base hit for Perillo and an error.
And the crowd going wild as the fairy tale has come true.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have won the National League pennant for 1959.
One of the more unbelievable stories in the wild and wacky world of baseball.
Perillo hit a bouncer to Mantia, who threw late to first.
It was a base hit, but his throw was in the dirt and got away from Torrey.
Mantia got the error and the Dodgers got the National League pennant.
So our suitcases that are down in the clubhouse are not there to idle out the night.
They'll go on the plane and the Dodgers will meet head-on with the Chicago White Sox on Thursday.
Well, one of the truly great stories, and I am sure the oldest member of the Dodger family as far as playing is concerned is Pee Wee Reese.
And I would bet you that for Pee Wee, this would be the most satisfying pennant of them all.
That's the ballgame. It took four hours and ten minutes and seemed like an eternity, but the Dodgers win it 6-5.