Ultimate Mets Database: Game of June 12, 1965

klem klimek
June 27, 2011
I was 13 years old and a zealous Dodger fan living in Connecticut. (How that came to be is another story.) I remember watching the Friday night game on tv. Hard to imagine what station would have been carrying the game in northern Connecticut. During that game, I seem to remember a pause in the action while the Dodger trainer had to come out to the mound to pop Don Drysdale's arm back into its socket after a pitch. Hard to believe that's accurate, but I remember it pretty strongly.

During the game the next day's starters were announced. Koufax going for the Dodgers! Well, my father, younger sister, and I were taking a bus trip to the 1965 New York World's Fair that Saturday with a Polish cultural organization (I still have the replica of the "Pieta" I bought at the Vatican pavilion that day after seeing the real thing bathed in a blue light.) On the way down to Flushing I told my father, "Koufax is pitching today." Well, being a loving father, while the rest of the group toured the fair, he walked my sister and I across the highway overpass from the fairgrounds to Shea.

When we got to a ticket window I asked the vendor for three seats behind the Dodger dugout. I believe it was Ladies Day as well.

Well we got three seats behind the dugout, in the last row of the upper deck behind third base. From up there I am not able to attest that Sandy was actually on the mound. Any ball hit in the air looked like it could be a home run or a foul back.

I would love to find the photos taken on my old Kodak Instamatic of the Dodgers and Sandy on the field. No zoom back then. You'd have to trust me that the picture has Koufax in it.

Sorry Met fans, but that Dodger lineup contained mythological figures to this young Dodger worshipper - Wills, Davis, Gilliam et al. and KOUFAX!!! The greatest. Can't remember many details from the game, but very thankful to this site for the box score which triggers very strong memories.

During this same time period, I sent separate letters to three Dodgers: Sandy, Drysdale, and Wills - c/o Dodger Stadium, Chavez Ravine, Los Angeles, CA.

"Dear Sandy (or Don or Maury). Would you please autograph the piece of paper enclosed and send it back in the self addressed stamped envelope. thank you, ______"

I didn't get anything for a while, but can you imagine how I felt upon opening an envelope with my handwriting on it with a postmark from the unimaginable land of California and finding the 3 by 5" piece of paper inside with simple "Sandy Koufax" written on it? (Never got anything back from Drysdale or Wills.) I really don't care if Sandy signed it himself, or a secretary or whomever, but forever - KOUFAX WAS/IS THE GREATEST!!!

That was my first visit to Shea. My father took me and my cousin to one other Dodger/Mets game a few later. A game the Mets won despite a Ron Fairly home run off the right field foul pole. That night, there was a sign on the scoreboard saying that Willie Mays and the Giants would be coming in for a visit. You don't know what you got till it's gone. I can also remember my father complaining about the preponderance of semi trucks on the highway on the way home to Connecticut while my cousin kept tormenting me by singing "Meet the Mets".

long live Shea and Mr. Met and Choo Choo and Koos and Swoboda and Cleon and Grote and Jane Jarvis.

klem klimek
June 3, 2013
Drysdale the stud!! I swear I remember watching Dodgers/Mets on tv in June 65 when his shoulder popped out during a pitch, my memory is that I could hear it pop over the tv speaker. The trainer came out, popped it back in, and Don was good to go. The next day, my dad, sister, and I took a bus trip to the New York World's Fair with a Polish group from Enfield. Well, I told my dad "Koufax is pitching today" so after some fair visiting we walked over the highway to Shea Stadium, my dad bought 3 tickets and we saw Sandy defeat the Mets. At least I think it was Sandy. At the ticket window I asked the man for seats behind the Dodger dugout. It was Ladies' Day so my sister got a discount. Well we got tix behind the Dodger dugout alright but they were in the top row of the stadium. From up there it could have been Alston pitching for all we knew, and he probably could have beat that Met lineup. I took a picture of the Dodgers and Sandy on the field with my Kodak instamatic. Wish I knew where that photo is.

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