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Bases Loaded, Part 14:
The History of the Los Angeles Kings
by Chris Oakley
Adapted from material previously posted at Othertimelines.com

Summary:

In the first 13 chapters of this series we reviewed William Randolph Hearst’s creation of the Continental League and the Los Angeles Kings; the 1935 CL-MLB merger and subsequent MLB reorganization; the Kings’ postseason triumphs and heartbreaks inthe late ‘30s and the firing of manager Al Bridwell after they lost the 1940 World Series; the Kings’ spectacular 1941 season; L.A.’s World War II doldrums on the diamond; the Los Angeles postwar resurgence which led to World Series victories against the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 and the Boston Braves in 1948; the heartbreak of their 1949 ALCS defeat; their collapse in the homestretch of the 1950 baseball season; Hearst’s death late in the1951 season; the retirement of “California Clipper” Joe DiMaggio;the return of Al Bridwell as Kings manager in 1952; the Kings’ epic playoff runs of the mid-1950s; the uproar among Kings fansover Dodger owner Walter O’Malley’s decision to move his teamfrom Brooklyn to southern California in 1957; O’Malley’s purchase of land in the San Fernando Valley for a new Dodgers home field; the Kings’ remarkable run to the 1958 World Series championship;the evolution of Purple & Gold right-hander Don Drysdale into one of the best starting pitchers in MLB history; the Purple & Gold’sheartbreaking collapse in the final weeks of the 1959 MLB season;the Kings’ return to the postseason in 1960 ; L.A. outfielder’soutfielder Mickey Mantle’s highly memorable 1961 home run racewith New York Yankees slugger Roger Maris; the Kings’ 1961 ALCSshowdown with the Yankees; their 1961 World Series triumph overthe Cincinnati Reds; L.A.’s disappointing 1962 season; and the Kings’ 1963 ALCS clash with the Yankees. In this segment, we’llrecap the Purple & Gold’s ’63 World Series showdown against the Dodgers..

“Who are you rooting for in the Series?” was the most common question asked by Los Angeles residents of one another in October of 1963, and the answer to it depended on who you talked to. But there was one thing baseball fans in the City of Angels unanimously agreed on: the lineup of starting pitchers for the World Series opener was a match made in hardball heaven. In one corner was Sandy Koufax, seen by fans and sportswriters(not to mention many of his peers) as perhaps the greatest National League pitcher since Christy Matthewson. In the other corner stood Don Drysdale, the most dominant starting pitcher of his generation in the American League. The hype surrounding the personal showdown between Koufax and Drysdale fed into the greater drama surrounding the Series itself; it would be the first time in fourteen years the Bums squared off against the Purple & Gold in the Fall Classic, and all of America was anxious to see who would prevail in this third Series matchup between the old postseason rivals.

The airwaves of the city’s top FM radio stations hummed with novelty songs in which fans of Koufax took shots at Drysdale and Drysdale fans ragged on Koufax. On the eve of Game 1 of the 1963 World Series two of the most popular 45” records among listeners in the Los Angeles area were “Sink The Koufax”, a parody of “Sink The Bismarck” written by a comedian who was also a Kings fan, and“We’re Gonna Clobber Drysdale”, a country-style single set to the tune of “Deep In The Heart Of Texas”. Both songs got so much radio play that the superintendent of the Los Angeles County public school system eventually banned them from the city’s secondary schools on account of they were supposedly interfering with his students’(and in some cases teachers’) concentration in the classroom.

Not surprisingly, a number of ex-Kings and ex-Dodgers turned out in the VIP section of Hearst Palladium to cheer on their old clubs in the Series opener. One of those alumni, Larry Doby, turned up to throw the ceremonial first pitch. Given the fluid ease with which he put the ball over the plate and the roar from the Hearst Palladium crowd when that ball thwacked into the catcher’s glove, it would have been hard to tell Doby had been retired from the majors three hours, let alone three years.

Then it was time to get down to business. First to step into Don Drysdale’s crosshairs was Dodger shortstop Maury Wills, whose talent with the bat was matched by a knack for stealing bases. Wills swung and missed at a bullet-like fastball by Drysdale, and Kings fans leaned forward in anticipation of seeing their ace strike Wills out on the next two pitches....

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...only to see those hopes sorely disappointed when Wills smashed an 0-2 changeup into center field for a standing double and the first hit of the Series. Drysdale made up for it, however, by fanning Dodger third baseman Jim Gilliam and tagging Wills out in a rundown play when the normally fleet-footed shortstop bungled an attempt to steal second base. The Kings ace then retired Dodger center fielder Willie Davis on a grounder to first base, and the Purple & Gold prepared to unleash the full weight of their offense on Sandy Koufax.

Unfortunately for Kings fans, Koufax had no intention of playing Sonny Liston to the Cassius Clay of Harry Hooper’s batting order; he struck out Orlando Cepeda, Mickey Mantle, and Felipe Alou in rapid succession. From that point on, everybody in attendance at Hearst Palladium knew that the Koufax-Drysdale smackdown would be going down to the wire, and nobody understood it better than Koufax and Drysdale themselves. In an interview with the New York Post just after the game ended, Koufax would openly confess to having what he called “a squadron of butterflies in my stomach” from the second inning onward until the final out. If the game had been dramatic to start with, now it was taking on elements of a great Shakespearean
saga.

For the next seven innings Koufax and Drysdale shut down each other’s respective lineups, reminding fans in attendance at Hearst Palladium and viewers watching the game on TV why these aces were the most dominant starting pitchers in their respective leagues. On the campuses of UCLA and USC, in the shopping boutiques of Beverly Hills, on the studio backlots of Hollywood, in the living rooms of Watts, everybody within range of a TV set or a radio was glued to the one-on- one duel between Drysdale and Koufax. Then-L.A. mayor Sam Yorty had three radios and two TVs set up in his office so that he wouldn’t miss a single moment of the action. Doctors at Mount Sinai Hospital had the radio broadcast of the game booming out over the hospital’s PA system.

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