January • January 3 – As he enters his 14th and final year as
Commissioner of Baseball,
Ford Frick warns that "
Organized Baseball" must confront four serious issues: the "problem of television," the disparity in revenues between rich and poor clubs, orderly
expansion, and the growing corporate ownership of MLB teams. Frick, 70, became Commissioner in
September 1951 and has presided over six franchise relocations, expansion from 16 to 20 teams, and MLB's evolution from a "relatively simple operation" to "big business." • January 8 – Two feuding executives,
Kansas City Athletics owner
Charles O. Finley and his long-ago-ousted
general manager (GM),
"Frantic Frank" Lane, reach a $113,000 settlement in Lane's breach-of-contract lawsuit against Finley. Lane had been summarily fired in
August 1961, seven months after Finley, in his first month as owner of the Athletics, signed him to an eight-year contract to head the club's baseball operations. His legal victory also enables Lane, 69, to return to baseball; he becomes a "
superscout" for the
Baltimore Orioles. • January 15 – The
Chicago Cubs reacquire former
National League All-Star outfielder
George Altman from the
New York Mets for outfielder
Billy Cowan. • January 16 –
Willie Mays remains baseball's highest-paid player when the
San Francisco Giants sign the 33-year-old, future
Hall of Famer to a $105,000 contract for the coming season. In , Mays led the
National League in
home runs (47), was named an
All-Star for the 11th consecutive season, and won his eighth straight
Gold Glove Award. • January 20 •
Rocky Colavito, the slugging outfielder whose April 1960 trade from the
Cleveland Indians was decried by fans and media in that city, returns to the Tribe as the centerpiece of a three-team, eight-player trade also involving the
Kansas City Athletics and
Chicago White Sox. He will put up strong numbers for Cleveland in 1965 (.287, 26 HR, and an
American League-best 108 RBI in 162 games played); the Indians improve by eight games to an 87–75 record, and home attendance (934,786) is their largest since . • In the complicated, multi-player transaction, Kansas City trades Colavito to Cleveland and receives pitcher
Fred Talbot (as a
"player to be named later" or PTBNL) and outfielders
Mike Hershberger and
Jim Landis from the White Sox; and Chicago gains pitcher
Tommy John, catcher
John Romano and outfielder
Tommie Agee from Cleveland in exchange for catcher
Cam Carreon. • In Chicago, both John, 21, and Agee, 22, will blossom into MLB stars. John, only 2–11 (3.61) in 31 games with the Indians, becomes a top-of-the-rotation starting pitcher en route to a 26-year, 288-win MLB career, and the namesake for
groundbreaking elbow surgery performed by
Dr. Frank Jobe in 1974. Agee wins the 1966
American League Rookie of the Year Award and etches his name in
New York Mets history for his brilliant defense in the
1969 World Series. • January 26 – Demolition begins on
Griffith Stadium, which had been the home to the two
American League Washington Senators franchises from 1911 through 1961. • January 31 • Pitcher
Pud Galvin is chosen for
Hall of Fame induction by the Special Veterans Committee. Galvin (1856–1902) won 365 games in four different "major" leagues between 1875 and 1892. • The newly-renamed
Houston Astros sign future All-Star first baseman and front-office executive
Bob Watson, 18, as an amateur free-agent.
February • February 1 – The
San Francisco Giants reacquire catcher
Ed Bailey from the
Milwaukee Braves for left-hander
Billy O'Dell. The left-handed-hitting Bailey is a six-time former NL All-Star. • February 10 – The government of
Colombia touches off an international incident when it excludes defending champion
Cuba from the
1965 Amateur World Series to be held in
Cartagena and
Barranquilla. The government of
Fidel Castro denounces Colombia's denial of visas to Cuban players as a "counter-revolutionary plot." Colombia will win the competition February 27 by defeating
Mexico, two games to one, in the championship round. • February 11 – The
San Francisco Giants send another veteran catcher, right-handed-hitting
Del Crandall, an 11× All-Star and 4×
Gold Glove Award winner, to the
Pittsburgh Pirates for pitcher
Bob Priddy and first baseman
Bob Burda.
March • March 1 – The 1965 season marks a new era in Major League Baseball's relationship with television, with income from local and network broadcasts exceeding $25 million, a 39% increase compared to 1964. Eighty percent of the new revenue comes from a new, national
"Game of the Week" contract with
ABC Sports, with the broadcasts set to debut in April. • March 9 •
Detroit Tigers manager
Chuck Dressen, 70, suffers a heart attack at the Tigers' spring training camp in
Lakeland, Florida; third-base coach
Bob Swift takes the reins as interim pilot until Dressen is able to return to the dugout May 31. • Legendary
Mel Allen, fired as the "Voice of the
New York Yankees" last December, is named lead announcer for a special radio and television team that will broadcast 73
Milwaukee Braves games to
Atlanta fans during the upcoming season. The Braves are entering what appears to be their lame-duck campaign in
Wisconsin before moving to
Georgia—pending the outcome of a legal battle. • March 16 – The commissioners of "
Organized Baseball" and
Nippon Professional Baseball resolve a dispute over the services of
Masanori Murakami when it's agreed that the 20-year-old southpaw, the first Japanese player to appear in the major leagues, will pitch for the
San Francisco Giants in 1965, but rejoin the
Nankai Hawks for 1966. Murakami will go
4–1 (
3.75) with eight
saves in 45 games for the
1965 Giants before returning to Japan for the remainder of his active career. It will be 29 years before
Hideo Nomo becomes the next Japanese pitcher to hurl in the North American majors. • March 21 – At
spring training,
New York Mets pitchers
Gary Kroll and
Gordie Richardson combine for a nine-inning
no-hitter during a 6–0 win over the
Pittsburgh Pirates in St. Petersburg. • March 30 – In need of a centerfielder, the
Boston Red Sox purchase the contract of nine-year AL veteran
Lenny Green from the
Baltimore Orioles.
April • April 2 – Dr.
Robert Kerlan,
orthopaedic surgeon and team physician of the
Los Angeles Dodgers, reveals that
Sandy Koufax suffers from a "traumatic
arthritic condition of his left [pitching] elbow". The news stirs speculation that the
Hall-of-Fame-bound superstar won't be ready to start the Dodgers' Opening Day game, April 12 at
Shea Stadium against the
New York Mets. Noting the "incurable" nature of arthritis, Kerlan says: "We will try to get him to the point where he can play with this condition." • Koufax, 29, indeed misses the Dodgers' opener—
Don Drysdale starts and gets the win—but he makes his first 1965 appearance at
Connie Mack Stadium on April 18 in his club's fourth game, and throws a complete-game, 6–2 victory over the
Philadelphia Phillies. He goes on to start 40 more games—going
26–8 (
2.04), hurling a personal-best 335
innings pitched and 27 total complete games (including a
perfect game), and setting a new MLB strikeout record (382). • April 4 – The
Washington Senators acquire left-hander
Mike McCormick from the
Baltimore Orioles for a minor-league pitcher and $20,000. Former
bonus baby McCormick, 26, led the
National League in
ERA in , but has struggled with shoulder problems since . Given a new chance in Washington, he will reinvent himself during 1965 and ; then, he'll be traded back to the NL and his original team, the
San Francisco Giants, for whom he'll win 22 games in and his circuit's
Cy Young Award. • April 9 – U. S. President
Lyndon Johnson is on hand for an exhibition game between the
New York Yankees and recently renamed
Houston Astros. It is the first game to be played indoors at the new Harris County Domed Stadium, which will soon be called the
Astrodome. • April 11 – The
Cleveland Indians sell the contract of veteran
relief pitcher Ted Abernathy to the
Chicago Cubs. In his debut National League season,
"submariner" Abernathy, 32, will lead the NL in
games pitched (84),
games finished (62) and
saves (32). • April 12 • The first official game at the Astrodome is played in front of over 43,000 fans, as they watch the
Philadelphia Phillies defeat the host Astros, 2–0. • At light-less
Wrigley Field's Opening Day, the
St. Louis Cardinals and
Chicago Cubs play to an eleven-inning, 10–10 tie when the game is called because of darkness. It goes into the books as a tie game, and all individual and team statistics stay on the books as official. The game includes
Steve Carlton's debut MLB appearance; the St. Louis rookie, 20, walks
George Altman, the only batter he faces. • April 15 – In the 13th and last home opener of the
Milwaukee Braves, they defeat the
Cubs, 5–1, behind
Bob Sadowski's complete game before 33,874 at
County Stadium. Milwaukee hero
Eddie Mathews doubles off ex-Brave pitching star
Lew Burdette, now a Cub, in the fifth inning. A fan boycott, driven by bitterness over the Braves' imminent move to
Atlanta, will limit their season attendance to 555,584. • April 17 –
ABC Television debuts its Saturday-afternoon
"Game of the Week" broadcast, the first to beam regular-season games into all U.S. markets, MLB and minor-league. The one-year, $5.7 million national package—shared by 18 of the 20 teams when the
Philadelphia Phillies and
CBS-owned
New York Yankees opt out—features
play-by-play announcers
Merle Harmon,
Keith Jackson and
Chris Schenkel, analysts
Leo Durocher,
Pee Wee Reese and
Jackie Robinson, and pregame host
Howard Cosell. • April 19 – Hard-throwing
Jim Maloney of the
Cincinnati Reds shuts out the host
Milwaukee Braves, 2–0, for the first of 19 one-hitters thrown in MLB in 1965.
Denis Menke's eighth-inning single is Milwaukee's lone safety. Maloney will also throw 1965's first
no-hitter on August 19. • April 24 • Pitcher
Don Larsen, now 35, returns to the
Baltimore Orioles in a trade from the
Houston Astros in exchange for infielder
Bob Saverine and cash. In , two years before Larsen's famous
perfect game during the
1956 World Series, he had posted an abysmal 3–21
record as a member of the first edition of the modern Orioles franchise. • The
New York Mets score three runs in the top of the ninth inning en route to defeating the
San Francisco Giants, to give
Casey Stengel his 1,900th career win—including 37 victories in the
World Series—as a big-league manager. • April 27 –
Minnesota Twins pitcher
Camilo Pascual, in addition to winning the game against the
Cleveland Indians, helps his own cause by stroking a first-inning
grand slam home run, the second of his career. He joins
Detroit Tiger Dizzy Trout as the only American League pitchers to have hit a pair of slams. Next season, on July 3, 1966, National Leaguer
Tony Cloninger will slug two "grannies"
in the same game. • April 28 –
Lindsey Nelson, lead broadcaster for the
New York Mets, calls his team's game today against
Astros from a gondola suspended above second base in the
Astrodome.
May • May 1 •
Yogi Berra, the
New York Yankees' Hall-of-Famer now a 39-year-old catcher-coach for the
New York Mets, plays in his first MLB game since Game 3 of the
1963 World Series, grounding out as a pinch hitter at
Crosley Field,
Cincinnati. Three days later, he will start behind the plate at
Shea Stadium, go two for three (both singles), and guide pitcher
Al Jackson to a 2–1
complete game victory over the
Philadelphia Phillies. But those two hits will be his only safeties in a Mets' uniform. After two more appearances, including one final game started May 9, Berra will be released May 17. He remains a coach with the Mets until becoming their fourth-ever full-time manager on April 7, 1972. •
Tommy Davis, two-time
National League batting champion and the
Los Angeles Dodgers' All-Star, 26-year-old left fielder, breaks his ankle sliding into second base at
Dodger Stadium. He will miss five months of action before making a pinch-hitting appearance October 1, and will not appear in the
1965 World Series. • May 3 – The
New York Yankees send utilityman and pinch-hitter
Johnny Blanchard and pitcher
Rollie Sheldon to the
Kansas City Athletics for catcher
Doc Edwards. • May 4 – The
San Francisco Giants acquire veteran left-handed reliever
Bill Henry, a two-time former
National League All-Star, from the
Cincinnati Reds for righty
Jim Duffalo. • May 12 – The
Houston Astros activate coach
Nellie Fox, future
Baseball Hall of Fame second baseman. Fox, 37, will appear in 21 games for Houston through July 25, mostly as a pinch hitter, and collect the last 11 safeties of his 2,663-
hit career, before returning full-time to the coaching ranks. • May 14 – It takes one extra inning, but
Carl Yastrzemski hits for the cycle and goes five-for-five with a base on balls in the
Boston Red Sox' ten-inning, 12–8 defeat at the hands of the
Detroit Tigers at
Fenway Park. Yastrzemski's is the only "cycle" in MLB in 1965. • May 27 –
Dave Morehead of the
Boston Red Sox, with help from closer
Dick Radatz, defeats future Hall-of-Famer
Jim Kaat of the
Minnesota Twins at
Fenway Park 2–0, tossing a three-hitter (although he walks six). It is the only game — of 18 — that Boston will win from the pennant-bound Twins all season. • May 29 – The
San Francisco Giants and
Chicago Cubs make a five-player trade in which the Giants send pitcher
Bob Hendley, catcher
Ed Bailey and outfielder
Harvey Kuenn to Chicago for catcher
Dick Bertell and outfielder
Len Gabrielson.
June • June 4 – The
Houston Astros obtain former six-time
American League All-Star first baseman
Jim Gentile from the
Kansas City Athletics for pitcher
Jesse Hickman and infielder
Ernie Fazio ("
PTBNL"). • June 8 – The
first Major League Baseball draft is held for high school and collegiate players. The
Athletics use the first overall pick to draft
Rick Monday from
Arizona State University. After
Bernie Carbo is selected as their first-round pick, the
Cincinnati Reds take catcher
Johnny Bench in the second round. In the 12th round, the
New York Mets pick up
Nolan Ryan. • June 14 – The 24–32
Chicago Cubs replace "head coach"
Bob Kennedy with
Lou Klein. Kennedy had held the post since February 1963 and brought continuity to what had been a chaotic "
College of Coaches" rotation of field leaders. Klein will serve through the end of the 1965 campaign as the experiment's last head coach. • June 15 •
Denny McLain of the
Detroit Tigers, called on to relieve starting pitcher
Dave Wickersham in the first inning against the
Boston Red Sox at
Tiger Stadium, strikes out the first seven Boston hitters he faces, and registers 14 Ks in 6 innings of relief, a Tigers' record. McLain, 21, is removed for a pinch hitter in the Detroit half of the seventh, but the Tigers rally to win, 6–5. • The
Houston Astros acquire left-handed pitcher
Mike Cuellar and right-hander
Ron Taylor from the
St. Louis Cardinals for southpaw reliever
Hal Woodeshick and righty
Chuck Taylor. Cuellar, 28, establishes himself as a starter in Houston's rotation; he'll become a star after his December 1968 trade to the
Baltimore Orioles. • June 20 –
Jay Dahl, who on September 27, 1963, was the starting pitcher for the
Houston Colt .45s when they fielded an all-rookie line-up, dies in a car crash the day after pitching for the
Salisbury Astros, a Houston farm club in the
Western Carolinas League. At 19 years old, Dahl becomes the youngest former major league player to die.
July • July 1 –
Hal Smith, former three-time
National League All-Star catcher who was forced to retire from the
St. Louis Cardinals in June 1961 because of a heart condition, briefly returns to the playing ranks on an emergency basis. Smith, 34, now the
Pittsburgh Pirates'
bullpen coach, is activated when the Bucs' three top catchers are injured; he appears in four games, logs three
plate appearances, and catches 12 innings before returning to the full-time coaching ranks. He suffers no health-related consequences. • July 3 • The
Minnesota Twins defeat the
Kansas City Athletics 3–2. Coupled with a
Cleveland Indians loss, the Twins move into a flat-footed tie for first place in the
American League, with both teams at 45–28. The Twins gain sole possession on July 5, and are in first by four games by the time they complete a nine-game winning streak on July 10. They do not relinquish their lead for the remainder of the season. •
National League standings after action concludes on this Saturday of the
Fourth of July weekend show the
Los Angeles Dodgers (47–33) two games ahead of the
Cincinnati Reds (44–34). • July 13 – At
Minnesota's
Metropolitan Stadium,
Willie Mays hits a home run with two walks and two runs to pace the National League to a 6–5
All-Star Game victory over the American League.
Juan Marichal pitches three scoreless innings to earn Game MVP. • July 17 – After going only 4–12 (4.36) in 20 games for the last-place
New York Mets, Hall-of-Fame pitcher
Warren Spahn draws his unconditional release. Two days later, the 44-year-old is signed as a free agent by the contending
San Francisco Giants, where he's more effective but wins only three of seven decisions. He retires from pitching at season's end with 363 career victories, most ever by a left-hander. • July 18 –
Sam Mele, normally mild-mannered skipper of the AL-leading
Minnesota Twins (now 55–33), gets into a physical altercation with umpire
Bill Valentine over a call at first base and Mele's subsequent ejection, only his fourth in all or parts of five seasons as the Twins' pilot. The two men jostle each other, and still photos appear to show Mele "punching" the umpire—a charge Valentine promptly refutes later that day. Mele is suspended for six games by AL president
Joe Cronin and fined $500. His emergency replacement, bullpen coach
Hal Naragon, leads the Twins to a 5–1 record in his manager's absence. • July 24 –
Casey Stengel, legendary manager of the
New York Mets, breaks his left hip, reportedly while stepping out of a car. Hospitalized, he misses a planned celebration of his 75th birthday at
Shea Stadium, undergoes surgery, and is unable to return to the team's helm. Former
New York Giants catcher
Wes Westrum, the Mets' pitching coach, becomes acting skipper.
August • August 3 • In an attempt to block the franchise's imminent move to
Atlanta,
Milwaukee County files suit in federal court against the
Braves, the team's board of directors, the
National League, and the nine other NL clubs, charging a violation of U.S. and
Wisconsin antitrust laws and seeking triple damages from the defendants. • The normally lead-footed
Boston Red Sox leg out four
triples in a nine-inning, 10–5 victory over the
Kansas City Athletics at
Municipal Stadium. • August 18 – Following a protest by
St. Louis Cardinals catcher
Tim McCarver, home plate umpire
Chris Pelekoudas declares
Milwaukee Braves hitter
Hank Aaron out and nullifies a home run that the slugger had just hit off Cardinal pitcher
Curt Simmons. Aaron is called out because he had stepped out of the batter's box as hit the long ball. • August 19 –
Jim Maloney of the
Cincinnati Reds throws the first of his two career
no hitters. Hurling against the
Chicago Cubs at
Wrigley Field, Maloney goes ten innings, walks ten men—none of whom score—and issues an
intentional walk. The right-hander also fans a dozen.
Leo Cárdenas'
home run is the game's only run. • August 22 – During a tense game between the contending
Los Angeles Dodgers and
San Francisco Giants at
Candlestick Park, San Francisco's starting pitcher,
Juan Marichal, batting against
Sandy Koufax in the third inning, attacks Dodger catcher
John Roseboro with his bat. Both benches clear and a 14-minute brawl ensues before peacemakers restore order. A shaken Koufax then gives up a three-run homer to
Willie Mays, and the Giants win 4–3 to retake first place. National League president
Warren Giles suspends Marichal for eight games, fines him $1,750, and forbids him to travel with his team to
Dodger Stadium for the final series of the season. • August 26 –
Tug McGraw, then a starting pitcher, allows two runs in 7 innings and the visiting
New York Mets beat the host
Dodgers and
Koufax, 5–2. It is the first time since their 1962 founding that the Mets defeat the future Hall of Famer; Koufax had been 13–0 against them. • August 30 – The
Mets'
Casey Stengel announces his retirement, effectively ending a 55-year professional baseball career as a player, manager or coach. He retires with a career managerial record of 1,899–1,835 over 25 MLB seasons dating to 1934; he won ten
American League pennants and seven
World Series during his 12 seasons (1949–1960) as manager of the
New York Yankees. He is the only person to have played for or managed all four of New York's 20th century major league clubs.
September • September 2 •
Ernie Banks hits his 400th career home run helping the Chicago Cubs beat the
St. Louis Cardinals 5–3. • In anticipation of their move the following season to
Anaheim, the
Los Angeles Angels change their name to the
California Angels. • September 8 – Against the
California Angels at
Municipal Stadium,
Bert Campaneris of the
Kansas City Athletics becomes the first player to play all nine positions in the same game, as part of a special promotion. He begins the game at shortstop and plays, in order for the next eight innings, second base, third base, left field, center field, right field, first base, pitcher (he gives up a run on a hit and two walks) and catcher. With the game tied at 3–3 after nine innings,
Rene Lachemann replaces Campaneris, who was injured in a collision at the plate with
Ed Kirkpatrick to end the top of the ninth. California scores two runs in the 13th inning and defeats Kansas City 5–3. • September 9 – At
Dodger Stadium, a duel between the
Los Angeles Dodgers'
Sandy Koufax and
Bob Hendley of the
Chicago Cubs is
perfect until Dodger left fielder
Lou Johnson walks in the fifth inning. Following a sacrifice bunt, Johnson steals third base and scores on a throwing error by Cubs catcher
Chris Krug. Johnson later has the game's only hit, a 7th-inning double. Koufax's fourth no-hitter in four years is a perfect game, the first in Dodgers history. One hit by two clubs in a completed nine-inning game is also a major league record, as is the one runner left on base. The two base runners in a game is an ML record. For Chicago pitchers, it is the second one-hitter they've thrown against the Dodgers this year and lost. A week later in the rematch in Chicago's
Wrigley Field, Hendley beats Koufax and the Dodgers, 2–1. The Cubs won't be no-hit again until July 25, , by
Philadelphia Phillie Cole Hamels—a span of 7,920 games. • September 13 – The
San Francisco Giants'
Willie Mays' hits his 500th career home run and
Juan Marichal earns his 22nd victory of 1965 as the Giants beat the
Houston Astros 5–1 at the
Astrodome. The win is the Giants' 11th straight and gives them a -game lead in the NL pennant race. • September 16 • Before only 1,247 fans at
Fenway Park,
Dave Morehead of the
Boston Red Sox no-hits the
Cleveland Indians 2–0. Not until
Hideo Nomo in will another Red Sox pitcher hurl a no-hitter, and the next Fenway Park no-hitter won't come until (
Derek Lowe). The lone Indian baserunner comes on
Rocky Colavito's second-inning walk. The home plate umpire is
Ed Runge, whose grandson
Brian would call balls and strikes for
Jonathan Sánchez's no-hitter. • On the same day, Red Sox owner
Tom Yawkey fires general manager
Pinky Higgins and assigns his former responsibilities to executive vice president
Dick O'Connell. The front-office change happens before Morehead's no-hitter, but it's not announced until after the game. • September 18 – "
Mickey Mantle Day" is celebrated at
Yankee Stadium on the occasion of Mantle's 2,000th career game (all with the Yankees). • September 22 • The
Milwaukee Braves play their final game in Milwaukee, losing to the
Los Angeles Dodgers 7–6 in 11 innings. •
Jim Bunning of the
Philadelphia Phillies strikes out nine batters in a 11–5 victory over the
Chicago Cubs in Game 1 of a doubleheader to break the single-season Phillies' strikeout record (241), set by
Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1915. Bunning goes on to post 268 strikeouts. • September 25 • Though he has not pitched in the Major Leagues since , the
Kansas City Athletics send
Satchel Paige to the mound. At (approximately) 59 years old, he is the oldest pitcher in Major League history. In three innings, he strikes out one, and gives up one hit, a single to
Carl Yastrzemski. Paige does not earn a decision in the loss to
Boston, 5–2. •
Mudcat Grant, pitching for the
Minnesota Twins, wins his 20th game, becoming the first black 20-game winner in the
American League. Next month, he'll be the first black AL hurler to win a
World Series game, and only the seventh pitcher to homer in one. • September 26 • The
Minnesota Twins gain their first American League pennant since moving from Washington in 1961 by defeating
the expansion Senators team that replaced them, 2–1, at Washington's
D.C. Stadium. Minnesota's Jim Kaat (17–11), a member of the
last "original" Senators team of 1960, wins the clincher. •
Don Drysdale holds the
St. Louis Cardinals to five hits, and the Los Angeles Dodgers win their ninth in a row to move back into a tie for first place. The streak reaches thirteen.
October • October 2 •
Sandy Koufax wins his 26th game as the
Dodgers beat the
Milwaukee Braves 2–1, for their 14th win in their last 15 games as they clinch the franchise's 15th
National League pennant and third since moving to
California in . • At
Shea Stadium, the
New York Mets and
Philadelphia Phillies play to a 0–0 tie, ended by a curfew, after 18 innings—the majors' longest game, by innings, of the soon-to-end season. • October 4 – In the first major trade of the off-season, the
Detroit Tigers obtain starting pitcher
Bill Monbouquette, 29, a former 20-game winner and four-time
American League All-Star, from the
Boston Red Sox for catcher
Jackie Moore ("
PTBNL"), second baseman
George Smith and outfielder
George Thomas. • October 7 –
Jim Kaat gives
Minnesota a 2–0
World Series lead by driving in two runs, defeating
Sandy Koufax and the Los Angeles Dodgers 5–1 at Minnesota's
Metropolitan Stadium. The game is remembered for Minnesota's
Bob Allison making a remarkable sliding catch of a
Jim Lefebvre line drive in the wet grass of the outfield. • October 14 – Working on two days rest,
Sandy Koufax strikes out ten and throws a three-hit, 2–0 shutout against the
Minnesota Twins in Game 7 of the
World Series, giving the
Los Angeles Dodgers a second World Championship in three years.
Lou Johnson's fourth inning leadoff home run off the left field foul pole gives Koufax the only run he'll need. A
Ron Fairly double and
Wes Parker single in the same inning add an insurance run to account for the 2–0 final. Koufax, who threw complete game shutouts in games 5 and 7, is named Series MVP. • October 19 •
NBC Television, which already has the TV rights to the
World Series and the
Major League Baseball All-Star Game, takes over the Saturday-afternoon and holiday
Game of the Week when
ABC declines to renew its option. NBC and MLB agree to a three-year $30.6 million contract that will include all 20 teams, and the "Peacock network" will retain the "GotW" for the next 24 years. Its inaugural 1966 season will feature lead announcer
Curt Gowdy and analyst
Pee Wee Reese on primary games, and
Jim Simpson and newly retired
New York Yankees shortstop
Tony Kubek on "backup" games. • The
Houston Astros trade
catcher Jerry Grote to the
New York Mets for a player to be named later and cash. On November 24, the Mets will send pitcher
Tom Parsons to the Astros to complete the trade. • October 20 – The
Mets obtain eleven-time
All-Star, 5×
Gold Glove-winning third baseman, and
NL Most Valuable Player Ken Boyer, 34, from the
St. Louis Cardinals for pitcher
Al Jackson and third baseman
Charley Smith. • October 25 – After a decade's hiatus,
Leo Durocher, 60, resumes his managerial career when he is appointed to lead the 1966
Chicago Cubs. At his press conference with owner
Philip K. Wrigley, Durocher emphatically ends the Cubs' "
College of Coaches" experiment when he declares, "I'm not a 'head coach.' I'm the manager." • October 27 • A week after dealing
Ken Boyer, the
St. Louis Cardinals trade away two more veteran starting infielders, sending first baseman
Bill White and shortstop
Dick Groat, along with backup catcher
Bob Uecker, to the
Philadelphia Phillies for pitcher
Art Mahaffey, catcher
Pat Corrales and outfielder
Alex Johnson. Between them, White (age 31) and Groat (34) have been selected to 16
All-Star teams. White also has won six straight
Gold Glove Awards. • The
Cincinnati Reds hire former Mets' third-base coach
Don Heffner, 54, as their manager for 1966. He succeeds
Dick Sisler, who was fired October 4.
November • November 3 – By a unanimous vote,
Sandy Koufax wins his second all-MLB
Cy Young Award, the first pitcher to win more than one "Cy" since the award's inauguration in 1956. Koufax posted a 26–8
record and 2.04
ERA and 382
strikeouts, allowing just 5.79
hits per nine innings in 1965. Next year, Koufax' final season on the mound, he'll win his third. • November 5 –
Al López retires after nine seasons as manager of the
Chicago White Sox, during which he led them to the
1959 American League championship and averaged 90 wins per season. • November 10 –
San Francisco Giants outfielder
Willie Mays, who hit .312 with 52
home runs and 112
RBI, is named
1965 National League MVP. Mays (nine first-place votes, 224 points) edges two
Los Angeles Dodgers:
Sandy Koufax (six, 177) and
Maury Wills (five, 164). • November 17 •
William Eckert is the 20 MLB owners' unanimous choice to succeed the retiring
Ford Frick as
Commissioner of Baseball. Eckert, 56, is a former
United States Air Force general and holder of an
MBA from
Harvard. Nevertheless, he is so obscure a choice that he is uncharitably tagged "the unknown soldier" by baseball writers. He will serve three years and three weeks as baseball's fourth "czar" before his firing in December 1968. •
Lee MacPhail, president and general manager of the
Baltimore Orioles since 1959, departs to become the chief assistant to the new Commissioner. One of his final acts with Baltimore is to open serious negotiations with the
Cincinnati Reds to acquire superstar outfielder
Frank Robinson. MacPhail's successor,
Harry Dalton, will put the finishing touches on the blockbuster Robinson trade, which is consummated December 9. • November 18 –
Minnesota Twins' All-Star
shortstop Zoilo Versalles, 25, wins the
American League Most Valuable Player Award for 1965. Versalles, a native
Cuban who led the Junior Circuit in seven offensive categories and sparked his team to the AL pennant, secures 19 of 20 first-place votes (275 points) to outdistance teammate and fellow Cuban
Tony Oliva (one vote, 174 points) to become the first
Latin American to be elected MVP by the
BBWAA. The following year, 1966, will see
Roberto Clemente, an eventual Hall of Famer from
Puerto Rico, claim National League MVP honors. • November 22 – Outfielder
Curt Blefary of the
Baltimore Orioles edges
California Angels pitcher
Marcelino López for American League Rookie of the Year honors. • November 26 –
Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman
Jim Lefebvre, who hit .250 with 12 home runs and 69 RBI, is voted
National League Rookie of the Year over
Houston Astros second baseman
Joe Morgan (.271, 14, 40) and San Francisco Giants pitcher
Frank Linzy (9–3, 43 strikeouts, 1.43 ERA). • November 28 – Former
San Francisco Giants skipper
Alvin Dark is named manager of the
Kansas City Athletics, replacing
Haywood Sullivan, who becomes vice president, player personnel, of the
Boston Red Sox. Dark will lead the A's out of the
American League basement in 1966, while Sullivan begins an executive career that will culminate in a 15-year stint as the Bosox' co-owner. • November 29 – The
Baltimore Orioles take 30-year-old pitcher
Moe Drabowsky in the 1965
Rule 5 draft. The former "
bonus baby" turned journeyman—he's only
48–81 (
4.19) over his nine-year career so far—will become an effective relief pitcher for
next year's Orioles, and his dominant performance in Game 1 of the
1966 World Series will set the tone for Baltimore's shocking sweep of the
Los Angeles Dodgers.
December • December 1 • The
Pittsburgh Pirates acquire outfielder
Matty Alou from the
San Francisco Giants for left-hander
Joe Gibbon and utilityman
Ozzie Virgil Sr. With the tutelage of Pirate manager
Harry Walker, an astute batting coach, Alou—previously a .260 lifetime hitter—will win the 1966
National League batting crown (.342), lead the NL in hits (231) and doubles (42) in 1969, and hit .327 in 743 games in a Pirate uniform. • The
Kansas City Athletics reacquire 19-year-old outfield prospect
Joe Rudi when they trade veteran outfielder
Jim Landis and minor-league pitcher
Jim Rittwage, 21, to the
Cleveland Indians for Rudi and rookie catcher
Phil Roof. Kansas City had lost Rudi on "first-year
waivers" May 3 and he had played 1965 at
Class A Dubuque in the Indians' organization. The first-year waivers rule is phased out during this season with the implementation of the
MLB amateur draft. Rudi is a future three-time
All-Star,
Gold Glove Award winner, and
World Series champion as a member of the
Oakland Athletics. • December 2 • The
Giants continue to deal during the hot-stove season. They send right-hander
Bill Hands and catcher
Randy Hundley to the
Chicago Cubs for veteran relief pitcher
Lindy McDaniel and outfielder
Don Landrum. Hands and Hundley will become key players when the Cubs break a two-decade-long streak of futility to become a
first-division team and pennant contender starting in 1967. • The
Baltimore Orioles send veteran first baseman
Norm Siebern to the
California Angels for young outfielder
Dick Simpson. Four days later, they trade left-hander
Darold Knowles and outfielder
Jackie Brandt to the
Philadelphia Phillies for veteran
relief pitcher Jack Baldschun. The two deals give Baltimore key pieces for the blockbuster trade they will finalize on December 9. • December 9 – In a franchise-altering transaction, the
Orioles acquire slugging outfielder
Frank Robinson, 30, from the
Cincinnati Reds for pitchers
Baldschun and
Milt Pappas and outfielder
Simpson. Future
Hall-of-Famer Robinson will win the
"Triple Crown" and the
MVP Award in the
American League in , and lead the Orioles to their first-ever
World Series title. Moreover, he will help drive them to three more
pennants and an additional
Fall Classic championship from through . • December 12 – The
Houston Astros fire general manager
Paul Richards and field manager
Lum Harris. Richards, the expansion team's chief front-office architect since September 1961, will be replaced by a three-man committee composed of executives
Spec Richardson and
Tal Smith, as well as Harris' successor as manager,
Grady Hatton, who is also named a club vice president. • December 14 –
Eddie Stanky, most recently farm director of the
New York Mets, is named to succeed the retired
Al López as manager of the
Chicago White Sox. "The Brat" hasn't managed in the majors since he was fired as skipper of the
St. Louis Cardinals on May 27, 1955. • December 15 • The
Los Angeles Dodgers deal utility infielder
Dick Tracewski to the
Detroit Tigers for pitcher
Phil Regan. Known as "The Vulture," Regan will go 14–1 (1.62) with a league-best 25 saves coming out of the Dodger bullpen in 1966, helping them repeat as NL champions. • The
Atlanta Braves trade pitchers
Dan Osinski and
Bob Sadowski to the
Boston Red Sox for pitchers
Arnold Earley and
Jay Ritchie ("
PTBNL") and first baseman
Lee Thomas. ==Births==