World Series: Did You Know?

It seems like Johnny Podres would often be intertwined with Sandy Koufax in the Fall Classic.

In Koufax's rookie year, 1955, Podres was putting together a very good second season. After going 9-4 in 1953, Johnny Podres was making steady progress. The Brooklyn Dodgers lost a close World Series to the New York Yankkes in '53, and seemed poised to return. A second-place finish the next season could not be blamed on their ace lefty. Podres had no sophomore jinx, going 11-7 on the Dodgers.

So 1955 would be Brooklyn's big breakthrough year. Podres himself was having a great year. He shutout Cincinnati on June 7th. A week later, the same team, same result. Another shutout. Podres record was 7-3 at this point. His 3.11 earned run average swelled the obvious: He would be the Dodgers' star pitcher for years to come!

However, Brooklyn had signed a bonus baby named Sandy Koufax, who was just 19. The Dodgers were determined to give him at least a chance to prove himself. Two scoreless appearances in June saw plenty of promise. His first start saw him allow eight walks in just four and two-thirds inning of work. Still, Koufax allowed just one run.

There should have been little notice of Koufax at this point. But it seemed, from that season, this lefty had something. It did not take anything away from Podres, but that first big league was awesome. It was a shutout of his own. And he fanned fourteen Reds. Was Sandy better than Johnny Podres already? His performance on August 27th was a fitting first MLB win.

Johnny Podres had gotten through a so-so July. A win, two losses and two holds. But when he beat St. Louis on the 30th, things were looking up. The Cardinals scored not one run off Podres in 6 2/3 innings.

But that 3.14 ERA climbed to 3.79 at the end of August. It was just a 1-3 month for the third year lefty. Two bad starts in September were followed by a very good relief outing. But for 1955, Podres had faded badly down the stretch. From August 5th to September 11th (First game of a doubleheader), the numbers were ugly: 1-4, 6.11 earned run average! Only a two scoreless inning appearance on September 25th brought the ERA below four (3.95). So it ended up looking like a so-so year despite a great first four months.

Koufax could sort of relate to Podres. His first September start was another shutout, over Pittsburgh. This time, he fanned only six. But now, through nine games, Sandy was 2-0, had two shutouts, and had a microscopic earned run average, 2.05.

But the rookie was brought down to earth in his last three outings. A so-so start against Cincinnati resulted in his first MLB loss on the 11th of September. This was the second game of a twin-bill, in which Johnny Podres lost the opener, 9-0. The two big lefties were fading at the wrong time!

The new kid was then rocked for four earned runs in only four and a third innings his last two appearances of 1955. But the good news was both Koufax and Podres would be on the Brooklyn Dodgers postseason roster.

Didn't seemed to matter, alas. Their hated opposition, the New York Yankees, won the first two games at home. The ball was in Johnny Podres' court for the third contest, played at Ebbets Field. It was, needless to say, a "must win" situation for Brooklyn.

The game, played on September 30th, looked like a tough one for the Dodgers. Mickey Mantle, who'd gotten hurt late in the season, returned to the Yankees' lineup. Podres got a first-hand look at him.

Podres' battery mate, Roy Campanella, gave his pitcher a two-run lead with a big home run in the first. But Mantle led off the second inning with a home run of his own. The inning ended, but only after the Yankees tied it via Phil Rizzuto single.

But in the Brooklyn half of the second, a couple of key events turned the 1955 Fall Classic in the Dodgers' favour!

Mickey Mantle still wasn't feeling 100%, so manager Casey Stengel moved him from centre field to right. The Yankee outfield was now Elston Howard in left, Bob Cerv in centre, and The Mick in right.

So with one away, Jackie Robinson singled to centre. Could a healthy Mantle have gotten it? Gil Hodges had started the inning by flying out to Cerv. But Brooklyn would be testing the outfield and infield from here on in.

Two singles, two walks and a hit by pitch got the home team the lead back. Brooklyn was doubling up the Yankees when the second ended. Podres contributed a hit and a run scored. In the third, he had a chance with two on, but Johnny fanned.

The Dodgers tacked on two more, and now were tripling the Yankees by the end of the fourth. Podres settled down, and his defence behind him was great. The ageless Jackie Robinson, who'd had a tough 1955, robbed Billy Martin of a hit in the fifth. Mickey Mantle, his thighs giving him some trouble, hit into a rare double play in the sixth.

Elston Howard gave the ball quite a ride, but was retired on a deep fly in the seventh. The Yankees managed to score their third and last run that frame, but it was the Dodgers that ended up on top, 8-3.

It all came down to a game seven. The home team had won the previous six contests. But for Brooklyn, they'd have to win it at Yankee Stadium if they wanted to sip champagne for the first time.

So, Johnny Podres was given the ball. It would be a tough afternoon for him. For Sandy Koufax, it was the seventh straight game of being a spectator. A bit cruel for a kid with a 3.08 earned run average in the reglular season.

But this was for all the marbles, and while Koufax had two shutouts in the regular season, he was not the man to get one here, in enemy territory. As it turns out, Johnny Podres was the man for that job.

He caught some breaks, of course. Mickey Mantle wasn't healthy enough to play for the Yankees. But oddly enough, Jackie Robinson didn't start the contest for the Dodgers. Two big sparkplugs.

After a pretty good first two innings, Podres seemed to come apart. New York put two men on with two away in the third. Gil McDougald then singled, which could have been huge had the ball not hit Phil Rizzuto, resulting in an automatic out.

The offence for the visiting Brooklyn Dodgers was provided by Gil Hodges in the fourth and six. First, Gil singled home a man. Then, he hit a sacrifice fly. It was 2-0 for the Dodgers.

And of course, the big moment came in the bottom of the sixth. Johnny Podres walked Billy Martin to start it. Gil McDougald laid a bunt down that no could make a putout on. Two on, nobody out. Yogi Berra sent one to left. A double?

Another Sandy on Brooklyn saved it.

Samdy Amorós, a Cuban who spoke little to no English, took off after it. Nearly at the foul line, the Dodgers' left fielder somehow got to it. Better still, McDougald was doubled off first. Martin was still at second, but Podres took over from there. Hank Bauer grounded out.

But the Yankees had another try. With one on, one out in the last of the eighth, Gil McDougald singled again. Yogi Berra was back up, and could Podres deal with him again. Phil Rizzuto, playing in his last World Series game, was at third. So even a fly ball would break the shutout, and give the home team a huge boost.

Berra connected again, and this time it was sent to right. But not deep enough to get Rizzuto home. Carl Furillo caught it. Hank Bauer would be dealt with again. But this time, it was more Podres doing. He fanned Bauer.

And, in the last moments of the game, the Dodgers' lefty was magnificent. 1-2-3 went three Yankee(s) in the ninth. Brooklyn had their championship!

So, one career had been launched into orbit. Another, sort of swept under the rug. But both would be back four years later for the Dodgers. In the meantime, someone on Brooklyn was everywhere.

World Series MVP. Check!

Babe Ruth Award (Outstanding performance in Fall Classic): Check!

Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year Award: Check!

Only now, they were in Los Angeles. The Dodgers abandoned Brooklyn after 1957, and headed out west. Podres had served in the army in 1956, so he missed out on the last New York / Brooklyn Fall Classic, which the Yankees won in seven. Koufax was again named to the postseason roster, and again did not appear.

But that was not the case three years later.

Podres, for his part, was only 13-15 in 1958. But he rebounded to go 14-9 the following season. Koufax was a not-so-bad 11-11 in his first full season, and Sandy's first season in LA. 1959 saw him improved, too. That 4.47 earned run average from '58 dropped to 4.06, but Koufax seemed a bit better than that.

A sixteen strikeout game was one of Sandy's gems that year. On August 31st, he fanned eighteen Giants in a 5-2 win by the Dodgers. Soon, his record was 8-4. But that's where he started to look like Johnny Podres a few years earlier. He couldn't get that next win, and actually dropped his last two decisions of 1959. So all Koufax had for '59 was an 8-6 record.

And all LA had was a 11-0 shellacking in the first game of the Fall Classic that year against Chicago. By the time Koufax got into the game, it was too late.

Nonetheless, it was a great first-ever postseason appearance by young Sandy. Still only 23 years old, the kid went in and delivered. In the bottom of the fifth inning at Comiskey Park, the lefty tried to salvage a little pride for Los Angeles. Chicago had routed both starter Roger Craig and reliever Chuck Churn (Clem Labine had held the White Sox scoreless in the bottom of the fourth, but was lifted for a pinch hitter the next inning).

So there was Sandy Koufax. Jim Rivera was retired to start the White Sox half of the fifth. Early Wynn fanned. Luis Aparicio lined to left. Two straight Hall of Famers retired. The kid made it three in a row Cooperstown members set down when he retired Nellie Fox in the sixth. All told, Koufax faced six batters. And retired all six. Still, Sandy didn't seem to give his great performance much thought. Or did he?

"The only trouble was they [two perfect innings] didn't mean a thing. The White Sox were beating us 11-0." But still, Koufax noted the importance of his performance. "I was important from my point of view only because it did give me a good workout, just the kind of tightener I needed if I did get to start one of the game [in the World Series]."

Johnny Podres showed the Los Angeles Dodgers the way in the second contest. It was time to sent this thing to Memorial Coliseum all tied. All Podres did was hurl one awesome game. Not quite up to par with his last postseason start, mind you, but good enough.

Podres went six strong innings, allowed five hits and two (earned) runs. But all throughout the 1959 Fall Classic, if the starter faltered, in came ace reliever Norm Sherry. Sherry took over in this contest, throwing the last three innings. Chicago scored one run off him, but it was Los Angeles that took game two, 4-3.

Truth be told, the veteran lefty had just one bad inning, and it came early. The White Sox scored twice in the first frame. Ted Kluszewski, who'd have one awesome series, grounded out, cashing in Luis Aparicio. The next batter was Sherman Lollar, who singled home Jim Landis.

Podres was lifted for pinch hitter Chuck Essegian in the top of the seventh. Essegian hit the first of two pinch-hit home runs, which tied the game. Before the top of the seventh inning ended, Charlie Neal his second four-bagger of the game (Which resulted in a fan accidentally dousing White Sox outfielder Al Smith with beer when he spilled his cup). The home run was a two-run shot, putting the Dodgers ahead for good.

So, it seemed like the Larry Sherry show from there. With a win and another save in games three and four, the LA reliever really shut the door (On the White Sox). Game five would bring good news for Sandy Koufax and Los Angeles.

"I got the call in the fifth game," Koufax would say a few years later, "after we had come back from the opening-day trouncing to win three straight."

Sandy seemed to pitch better than Johnny Podres had in the second contest. The problem was, Koufax waited in vain for run support. After getting Chicago 1-2-3 in the first, and not missing the strike zone, it seemed like the kid was locked in. Down when the Pale Hose in order in the second.

Koufax got into some trouble in the third, as Chicago got two hits. Still, the pitcher put up a "0" on the scoreboard, needing just eleven pitches to do so.

The White Sox finally pried a run loose in the fourth, but it came on a double play.  "We went for a double play in the fourth inning and gave them the run," the lefty legend remembered, "thinking we would be able to score in the game."

Koufax resumed his domination over the next three innings. Four strikeouts. One hit allowed. One bases on balls given out. No runs.

Duke Snider batted for the pitcher in the bottom of the seventh. It seemed like LA would score. Snider hit into a force play, which resulted in an interesting appearance by Johnny Podres. Who else, eh?

But only as a pinch runner. However, as you can see, one left-hander hurler for the Dodgers was joined at the hip to another in so many memorable moments. This could result in LA clinching!

Anyways, Jim Gilliam stroked a two-out single, moving Podres into scoring position. Norm Sherry had preserved a win for Johnny Podres in the second contest. Would Podres here, score a run to take Koufax off the hook?

But it was Charlie Neal that had hit two home runs to really help Johnny Podres, right? Guess who the batter was here? Neal. Bob Shaw, the Chicago pitcher, was pitching one awesome game. But a wild pitch on ball two advanced both runners.

Neal would need but a single to make it 2-1 for the home team. Just think: Charlie Neal could win both games two and five for LA! And he could give Sandy Koufax his very first World Series win!

Well, Charlie gave it a ride to right on the payoff pitch. It was Jim Rivera that made a fine play, denying Neal and the Dodgers of two runs.

"We had a chance in the seventh, but [Chicago manager Al] Lopez put [Jim] Rivera in right field and he made an amazing over-the-shoulder catch with runners on," recalled Sandy Koufax in 2005.

Los Angeles had another chance an inning later. The Dodgers loaded the bases with just one out. A fly ball would tie it. However, new pitcher Dick Donovan (The losing pitcher in the third contest) Carl Furillo to pop out to Bubba Phillips at third. Don Zimmer followed by flying out to Al Smith in left.

So Chicago stayed alive with a 1-0 win. A tough break for Koufax. It was back to Comiskey Park. But history had a chance to repeat. Johnny Podres was given the ball.

It seemed as if LA decided it early. The old pro, Duke Snider, belted a two-run home run in the top of the third. Podres helped out his own cause with a double the next inning. By the time Duke Snider grabbed some lumber and came up to the dish that inning, his team was up, 8-0.

Nellie Fox was retired to start the bottom of the fourth. Then the wheels came off the chariot for Johnny Podres. He hit Jim Landis. He walked Sherman Lollar. Ted Kluszewski was back up. He hit a three-run home run.

It was still a five-run lead for Los Angeles, but manager Walter Alston had faith in reliever Larry Sherry. When Podres walked the next batter, Al Smith, Alston made his move. Sherry came in.

The Pale Hose actually loaded the bases, so they had a chance to make it a ballgame. But Larry Sherry got Luis Aparicio to pop out to shortstop Maury Wills.

And while Chicago got some hits off Sherry (Four in five and two-thirds innings), they were stopped cold by the Los Angeles reliever. The Dodgers won 9-3, and had their first championship since leaving Brooklyn. "It was," Koufax said, "a very, very nice party." It was also a memorable World Series. While Larry Sherry had two wins to go along with two saves, Podres and Koufax had certainly helped.

Flash-forward two years later, and both the lefties helped LA. Each won 18 games. For Johnny Podres and Sandy Koufax, it was their first time getting that high a win total. But Koufax had yet to do what Podres had done in the Dodgers last year in Brooklyn: Win an earned run average crown!

That came the next year, but Los Angeles fell just short of the pennant. Sandy then repeated his ERA title in 1963, but what numbers! 25 wins, just 5 losses and a 1.88 earned run average. Wow! And don't overlook the other lefty that year on the Dodgers. Johnny Podres was 14-12 with a 3.54 ERA of his own.

And the poor Yankees don't need to be reminded of how the World Series went that Fall. First, Koufax beat New York, 5-2 in the opener at Yankee Stadium. He beat Whitey Ford, who'd won two games himself at this stage eight years earlier. It was up to Johnny Podres to keep the ball rolling in the second contest.

The turning point in that contest came early. Maury Willis had singled off Al Downing to start the game. But then, Wills got himself picked off base by Downing. Joe Pepitone's throw to second pulled Bobby Richardson to the left of second (Towards the pitcher). So Wills was safe. Jim Gilliam singled, and took second on the throw home. Willie Davis was next. He sent one to right. Roger Maris fell trying to get to it. "Willie had a double and we had two runs. That was all Johnny Podres needed," noted Koufax, who had fanned fifteen batters in game one.

Mickey Mantle hit the ball hard against Podres, but the ghosts of 1955 were back. The Dodgers were hauling them in. In the bottom of the second, the Bronx Bombers put two on with just one away, but then Podres reached into his bag of Koufax tricks. Clete Boyer fanned. So did Al Downing.

The LA pitcher fanned two more in the bottom of the fifth. Harry Bright, who'd been the fifteenth K of game one by Koufax, batted for the pitcher here, too. And Podres fanned him. Four strikeouts in five innings by Podres. That meant a total of nineteen in just fourteen frames so far in the 1963 World Series. The lefties of Los Angeles were doing a number on the New York Yankees!

Well, let's give some credit to the fielders, too. Tom Tresh had hit a two-run home run off Sandy Koufax in game one, and like what he saw from Johhny Podres in the second bout. His single in the bottom of the sixth was Tresh's second hit of the ballgame. Mickey Mantle was back up. Before delivering a pitch to The Mick, Johnny Podres picked Tom off. However a bad throw from the pitcher resulted in Tresh to second base.

Mantle got a hold of one. He got the count in his favour. The 2-1 pitch was blasted to the gap in left-centre. Was this 3-0 lead going to dwindle to just one run?  But Willie Davis got to it, retiring the side.

The Dodgers tacked on a fourth run in the eighth, and it looked like Podres would have another shutout at Yankee Stadium to his name.

But, as had been in the sixth, the timeless number seven got ahead in the count on the pitcher in the ninth. 2-0. Unlike last time, Mantle didn't wait. The next pitch was to his liking. He drilled it to left. But Mickey knew Yankee Stadium well. He tossed his bat aside, knowing he'd gotten to much underneath it. Tommy Davis, whose triple had made it 4-0 the previous inning, got to it, and there was one out.

That was the last batter Johnny Podres retired. Hector Lopez hit his second double of the contest, and New York was back in business. Ron Perranoski, the closer on Los Angeles, hopped in the from the bullpen. Sixteen wins, three losses, thirty-seven saves. And like Koufax and Podres, he was a portsider.

Elston Howard greeted him with a single on a 2-2 pitch. Bye-bye shutout. But then Joe Pepitone forced Howard at second and Clete Boyer fanned. Los Angeles was heading home up 2-0 thanks to Koufax and Podres.

Well, Koufax's win in the fourth contest completed the sweep. However, Johnny Podres now had a 4-1 record in the World Series compared to Sandy Koufax's 2-1 showing. Don't forget, the Dodgers had still won the sixth contest in 1959 which Podres started. So the team was 5-1 overall in games Johnny started in October. His only loss had been a decade ago (1953).

Things didn't quite go the Dodger was in 1964. Koufax and Podres got hurt. Koufax still won nineteen games and the earned run average title again, but look at the stats of the one-time star of LA: 0-2, 16.88 ERA! Podres needed to bounce back the next season.

Certainly it appeared as though Podres was back in 1965. Good thing, too. Koufax won 26 games, Don Drysdale 23. Claude Osteen, still another great left-hander on LA, went only 15-15 despite a 2.79 earned run average of his own. Koufax led the league in ERA again, for the fourth straight season.

So Podres made a bid to give Sandy Koufax a run for his money that season. By the end of May, he was 3-0, with a 1.55 earned run average. But he lost all four decisions in June. Podres was bound and determined to bounce back from an arm injury. He'd been through this before, back in 1955. Here, his hard work paid off.

After a tough August, in which Podres posted a 7.02 earned run average, Johnny picked up where he'd left in July. He'd only pitched three times that month. And only three more times in September. The veteran lefty took over from Jim Brewer in a game against Houston on the fourth. Four shutout innings later, the Dodger lefty had himself a fine performance. He picked up the win as LA easily triumphed, 5-0. Two more good starts saw Johnny finish September 2-0 with a 1.29 earned run average (Albeit in just three appearances). All this led to the veteran portsider finishing '65 with a 7-6 record and a 3.43 earned run average. The timing could not have been better. And don't think those three big performances down the stretch didn't catch any attention.

"The game [On September 27th] the Dodgers figured to lose because their three-man starting pitching staff was exhausted," wrote Hank Hollingworth in Independent, "was the one the won by more ease [6-1] than the man on the flying trapeze.

"That would be Monday night's encounter with Cincinnati when manager Walter Alston tossed in his forgotten man, Johnny Podres, and prayed the that the 32-year old "ancient" would last five innings. The guy who has come through so many times for the Dodgers when the chips were down responded magnificently for the hoped-for five frames, then left the rest of the driving to the league's hottest fireman, Ron Perranoski."

Later as the scribe closed his column, Hollingworth noted, "...[I]f the Dodgers bag this '65 pennant, they must give a measure of gratitude to their oldest, and almost forgotten pitcher, Johnny Podres. The old man plugged the gap in a game the Dodgers never figured to win."

It was on to another World Series for Los Angeles. But there was something missing from the seven-game Fall Classic win over the Minnesota Twins. Sure, Koufax was his usual awesome self. Shutouts in games five and seven. Don Drysdale, like Koufax, lost his first start, but beat Minny 7-2 in game four. Another big win was provided via a Claude Osteen shutout in the third contest.

But Johnny Podres did not appear, despite Walter Alston adding him to the postseason roster. The Dodgers were off and running to another pennant in 1966, but Podres was not a part of the equation. Los Angeles traded him to Detroit, marking an end of a fabulous Dodger career of their clutch lefty. Sandy Koufax was also not a LA Dodger for much longer, calling it a career following the 1966 season, due to arthritis. It seemed only fitting that they would both leave Los Angeles together, having done so much for the the Dodgers, even back in Brooklyn.



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