Koufax’s last great season

Sandy Koufax with the Dodgers (Neil Leifer photo)

After a season in which he goes 27-9 with 317 strikeouts and a ridiculously low 1.73 ERA while leading Los Angeles to the 1966 World Series, Sandy Koufax finishes a mere second in the National League MVP voting to Roberto Clemente 58 years ago today.

Koufax actually gets more first-place votes than Clemente – 9 to 8 – in the balloting, but Clemente scores better across the board to earn 218 points, compared to Koufax’s 208.

San Francisco center fielder Willie Mays is a distant third in the voting with 111 points with Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Dick Allen next at 107.

Roberto Clemente (Neil Leifer photo)

Clemente, Pittsburgh’s nonpareil right fielder, is coming off a fine 1966 season with a .317 batting average, 29 homers and 119 runs batted in for the third-place Pirates, but this season is far from his career best as he fails to lead the NL in a single category on offense.

The award seems as much for Clemente’s previous achievements as it is for his 1966 season after leading the National League in batting both in 1964 and ’65 but finishing well out of the MVP race in those years.

Clemente’s play in 1966, though, keeps the Pirates in the National League pennant race, where they eventually finish three games behind Koufax’s pennant-winning Dodgers.

As for Koufax, the Dodgers’ left-hander simply is baseball’s best pitcher in 1966 as he leads not just the National League but all of the majors in wins, strikeouts and ERA, as well as starts (41), complete games (27), innings (323) and shutouts (5).

Those numbers, of course, are good enough to make Koufax the unanimous winner of the Cy Young Award, which back then is given to only one pitcher from either the National or American League.

Turns out that 1966 is Koufax's last in the majors as he abruptly retires at the age of 30 with an arthritic left elbow.

For Koufax, another first, too, as no pitcher ever retires after winning the Cy Young Award.