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1963 World Series
Team / Wins Manager Season
Los Angeles Dodgers (4) Walter Alston 99–63, .611, GA: 6
New York Yankees (0) Ralph Houk 104–57, .646, GA: 10½
Dates: October 2October 6
MVP: Sandy Koufax (Los Angeles)
Television: NBC
TV announcers: Mel Allen, Vin Scully
Radio network: NBC
Radio announcers: Ernie Harwell, Joe Garagiola
Umpires: Joe Paparella (AL), Tom Gorman (NL), Larry Napp (AL), Shag Crawford (NL), Johnny Rice (AL: outfield only), Tony Venzon (NL: outfield only)
Future Hall of Famers: Dodgers: Walt Alston (mgr.), Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax.
Yankees: Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantle.
World Series
 < 1962 1964 > 

The 1963 World Series matched the two-time defending champion New York Yankees against the Los Angeles Dodgers, with the Dodgers sweeping the Series in four games to capture their second title in five years, and 3rd in 9 years.

This was the first time that the New York Yankees were swept in a World Series in four games (the 1922 had one tie).

Starting pitchers Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Johnny Podres and ace reliever Ron Perranoski combined to give up only four runs in four games.

Mel Allen and Vin Scully were the television announcers, and it turned out to be Mel Allen's last World Series as a TV or radio broadcaster. Allen had done the Series 18 consecutive years.

Summary

NL Los Angeles Dodgers (4) vs. AL New York Yankees (0)

Game Score Date Location Attendance
1 Los Angeles Dodgers – 5, New York Yankees – 2 October 2 Yankee Stadium 69,000[1]
2 Los Angeles Dodgers – 4, New York Yankees – 1 October 3 Yankee Stadium 66,455[2]
3 New York Yankees – 0, Los Angeles Dodgers – 1 October 5 Dodger Stadium 55,912[3]
4 New York Yankees – 1, Los Angeles Dodgers – 2 October 6 Dodger Stadium 55,912[4]

Matchups

Game 1

Wednesday, October 2, 1963 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Los Angeles 0 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 9 0
New York 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 6 0

WP: Sandy Koufax (1–0)  LP: Whitey Ford (0–1)  
HRs:  LAD – Johnny Roseboro (1)  NYY – Tom Tresh (1)

Sandy Koufax started it off with a then record fifteen-strikeout performance in Game 1. It bested fellow Dodgers pitcher Carl Erskine's mark in 1953 by one, and would be surpassed by Bob Gibson in 1968. Koufax also tied a World Series record when he fanned the first five (5) Yankees batters he faced in that game. Since "K" is the time-honored scoring symbol for "strikeout" (Vin Scully once remarked that "Koufax's name will always remind you of strikeouts"), some newspapers' headlines for the game coverage consisted simply of Koufax's surname prefixed by fifteen K's.

Clete Boyer was the only Yankee regular not to be struck out against Koufax. Mickey Mantle, Tom Tresh and Tony Kubek were struck out twice each, and Bobby Richardson was struck out three times—something he hadn't done in one game his entire career. (Just that regular season, Richardson had been struck out only 22 times in 630 at-bats, without even being striking out twice in one game.) Koufax also struck out three pinch-hitters, including Harry Bright to end the game.

Dodger catcher Johnny Roseboro's three-run homer in Game 1 was the only home run all year that Yankee pitcher Whitey Ford allowed to a left-handed batter.

Game 2

Thursday, October 3, 1963 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Los Angeles 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 4 10 1
New York 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 7 0

WP: Johnny Podres (1–0)  LP: Al Downing (0–1)  SV: Ron Perranoski (1)  
HRs:  LAD – Bill Skowron (1)

Game 3

Saturday, October 5, 1963 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
Los Angeles 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 1 4 1

WP: Don Drysdale (1–0)  LP: Jim Bouton (0–1)  

Game 4

Sunday, October 6, 1963 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 6 1
Los Angeles 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 X 2 2 1

WP: Sandy Koufax (2–0)  LP: Whitey Ford (0–2)  
HRs:  NYY – Mickey Mantle (1)  LAD – Frank Howard (1)

The World Series Most Valuable Player Award went to Sandy Koufax, who started two (2) of the four (4) games and had two (2) complete game victories.

Composite box

1963 World Series (4–0): Los Angeles Dodgers (N.L.) over New York Yankees (A.L.)

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Los Angeles Dodgers 3 4 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 12 25 3
New York Yankees 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 4 22 1
Total attendance: 247,279   Average attendance: 61,820
Winning player’s share: $12,794   Losing player’s share: $7,874[5]


Popular culture

  • This is the World Series that Jack Nicholson's character R.P. McMurphy lobbies unsuccessfully to watch on television (and subsequently "announces" by imagining the action) in Miloš Forman's 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. He imagines quite a different scene than what occurred, however, as he describes Bobby Richardson, Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle and the Yankees knocking Koufax out of the box. In reality, the Yankees never led at any time in the Series, and only once in the entire Series (and that only for a half-inning) were the Yankees and Dodgers tied at a score other than 0–0. Later in the film, a brief clip of Ernie Harwell's NBC Radio broadcast of Game 2 can be heard.
  • The MVP award was made to Koufax in New York City. He was presented with a new car. As soon as they handed Koufax the keys to his new car, a New York City police officer stepped forward and handed Koufax a ticket for parking on the sidewalk.

Low scoring

World Series Teams With Less Than Ten (10) Runs Scored (Through 1963):

Year Team League Runs
1954 Cleveland Indians A.L. 9
1943 St. Louis Cardinals N.L. 9
1938 Chicago Cubs N.L. 9
1918 Boston Red Sox A.L. 9
1939 Cincinnati Reds N.L. 8
1920 Brooklyn Dodgers N.L. 8
1914 Philadelphia Athletics A.L. 6
1907 Detroit Tigers A.L. 6
1950 Philadelphia Phillies N.L. 5
1963 New York Yankees A.L. 4
1905 Philadelphia Athletics A.L. 3

Series quotes

The Dodgers win two to one and sweep the series in four straight. Never before in all of their wonderful years had the Yankees lost four in a row in the World Series.

Vin Scully narrated the final out of the World Series from the 1963 World Series highlight film.

I waited seventeen years to bat in a World Series and when it finally happened, everyone was rooting for me to strike out!

Harry Bright, Yankees' pinch-hitter and fifteenth strikeout victim of Koufax in the first game. Bright had played in his first professional game when Sandy was 10 years old.

Notes

References

  • Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen. The World Series. 1st ed. New York: St Martins, 1990. (Neft and Cohen 298–301)
  • Reichler, Joseph, ed. (1982). The Baseball Encyclopedia (5th ed.), p. 2171. MacMillian Publishing. ISBN 0-02-579010-2.
  • Forman, Sean L.. 1963 World Series. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information.. Retrieved on 2007-12-09.

External links

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