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  Sandy Koufax Photo Gallery

What Do Sandy Koufax and Chris Sale Have In Common?

Sixty-two years ago yesterday, April 18, 1964, was an important date in the great career of Sandy Koufax. In the third inning of a game against the Cincinnati Reds, Sandy struck out the side on nine pitches, completing what’s called an “Immaculate Inning.” In doing so, he became the first pitcher in major league history to achieve the feat twice. In spite of this dominance, Sandy lost the game, 3 – 0.

It’s always fun to look at the box score from old games. In doing so, I found that the game was played at Dodger Stadium before a crowd of 41,247 fans. It was played in a snappy 2:10. The Reds’ runs all came on a three-run homer by Daron Johnson in the fourth inning. There were three future Hall of Famers on the field that day: Pete Rose, Frank Robinson, and Sandy Koufax. Jim Maloney was the winning pitcher for the Reds, while Sandy took the loss. Some of our “senior” readers will remember this umpiring crew: Jocko Conlan, Tony Venzon, Doug Harvey, and Lee Weyer. 

So what do Sandy Koufax and Chris Sale have in common? 

Sandy and Chris Sale are the only pitchers in baseball history to have thrown three immaculate innings. That’s quite an achievement. Let’s face it…whenever your name is mentioned in the same sentence with Sandy Koufax, you must have done something extremely noteworthy!

In case you’re not familiar with the term, an “immaculate inning” is one in which a pitcher in his half-inning on the mound throws only nine pitches, each of which is a strike and thus strikes out three consecutive batters. It’s rarer than hitting for a cycle, triple plays, no-hitters, and many other baseball rarities.

Just How Rare Is An Immaculate Inning?

In all of baseball history, only 95 different pitchers have accomplished the feat, for a total of 104 innings. In doing a little research, I found that there have been approximately two million innings played in major league history.  So an immaculate inning occurs approximately at a rate of five thousandths (.005) of one percent. Only seven players in all of baseball history have thrown more than one:

Lefty Grove (2), Nolan Ryan (2), Randy Johnson (2), Max Scherzer (2), Kevin Gausman (2), Sandy Koufax (3), and Chris Sale (3).

Come to think of it, with only seven pitchers having done it for a total of 16 innings, multiple immaculate innings may be one of the rarest of all baseball feats.

A Couple Tidbits About Immaculate Innings:

• A record eight immaculate innings were thrown in 2017.
• Of the 95 pitchers, 73 are right-handed and 22 left-handed.
• Five pitchers – Roger Clemens, Bob Gibson, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martínez and Nolan Ryan – are also members of the 3,000 strikeout club.
• Sloppy Thurston, Wade Miley and Ryan are the only rookies to have accomplished the feat.
• Nolan Ryan and Kevin Gausman are the only pitchers to have thrown one in both the American League and National League.
• Danny Jackson is the only pitcher to throw one in the World Series.
• Twelve of the players who threw one have been elected to the Hall of Fame.
• The first one was thrown by Hall-of-Famer John Clarkson of the Boston Beaneaters on June 4, 1889 against the Philadelphia Quakers.

Sandy Koufax’s Career

So all this gives me a chance to say a little about the career of the great Dodger lefty, Sandy Koufax. In his 12-season career, the seven-time All-Star had a 165–87 record (.654) with a 2.76 ERA, 2,396 strikeouts, 137 complete games, and 40 shutouts. Koufax’s 2,396 career strikeouts ranked seventh in history at the time of his retirement. He and Nolan Ryan are the only two pitchers inducted into the Hall of Fame who had more strikeouts than innings pitched.

Sandy was the first pitcher to average fewer than seven hits allowed per nine innings pitched (6.79). He also became the second pitcher in history to have two games with 18 or more strikeouts, and the first to have eight games with 15 or more strikeouts. Over his last ten seasons, from 1957 to 1966, batters hit an anemic .203 against him, with an incredibly low .271 on-base percentage, and a .315 slugging average.

 Koufax’s amazing run from 1961 to 1966 remains a period of brilliance almost unmatched in baseball history. During this time Koufax won five straight ERA titles, four strikeout crowns, three Cy Young awards, a National League MVP award, three seasons with 25-plus wins, and four no-hitters. The last came in 1965 and was a perfect game against the Cubs.

If you’d like to see a list of the 95 pitchers who have thrown Immaculate Innings, here’s a link:

Gary Livacari

Photo Credits: All from Google search.

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