Don Drysdale’s place in the pantheon of pitching greatness is, like Koufax’s, marred by several factors. Simply being considered the number two man behind Koufax, and not the ace of the staff, hurts him, although he was the staff ace from 1957 to 1962, and again from 1967-68. In ’62, Koufax got off to an incredible start, but when he was injured it was Drysdale’s 25-win, Cy Young-award performance that propelled the team to a 102-63 record. While Koufax was superb in his 1963 and 1965 World Series performances, Drysdale beat the Yankees, 1-0 in ’63, and stopped Minnesota’s momentum flat in ’65.
Another factor was his lack of run support. While Koufax often had to pitch with only a run or two behind him, the Dodgers seemed to give Drysdale even less. Finally, there is the longevity factor. Had he maintained his health and pitched another seven or eight years, Drysdale may well have gotten to 300 career wins, maybe more Cy Young awards, and of course he would have been a part of some great Dodger teams. L.A. may well have won the 1969, 1971 and even 1973 National League West titles. What a treat it would have been to see Koufax vs. the Mets’ Tom Seaver and Drysdale vs. Jerry Koosman in the ’73 play-offs! With Drysdale pitching, even the ’74 World Series may have gone a different direction.
Drysdale was “one of the finest competitors I have ever known,” according to Duke Snider. “Don hated to lose – at anything. He didn’t even like to hear the word lose.”
Drysdale’s on-field persona was as different from his actual personality as any athlete. He was a tiger on the mound; mean and surly. Off the field, he was a sweetheart, loved by all who knew him. He was extremely intelligent, too, a top student at Van Nuys High School whose teammate was Robert Redford and whose classmate was Natalie Wood. He turned down an academic scholarship to Stanford to take a bonus contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers, and ascended to Ebbets Field in short order. While remembered for his Los Angeles exploits – he was literally born to be a Los Angeles Dodger – he was Brooklyn’s best pitcher at the end.
He was a true fan favorite, the absolute epitome of what a Major League pitcher looks like at 6’, 6” inches tall, steely-eyed, never giving an inch. Dysdale worked inside without fear of repercussion, and in those days beanball wars between hard-throwers in the National League – Gibson, Seaver, Jim Maloney, et al – were legendary. Drysdale never had a designated hitter to protect him, and in fact was one of the game’s greatest hitting pitchers. He easily could have forged a big league career playing first base. He was cat-quick, fielded his position beautifully, had a great pick-off move, and was probably the best athlete in the Dodgers’ Los Angeles history. Whether Drysdale hit batters on purposes has been disputed.
“Drysdale had the reputation of being a headhunter, which is an exaggeration,” was Snider’s assessment. “Well, maybe only a slight exaggeration. Don wasn’t always trying to hit batters, but he didn’t hesitate to throw inside, which a pitcher has to do to be successful, and he didn’t mind capitalizing on his reputation to get an edge.”
Drysdale approached Mickey Mantle before a 1963 World Series game at Dodger Stadium and asked him, “Well, Mick, where would you like one today?”
When Alston told him to walk Frank Robinson, who was just as competitive and crowded the plate like a subway masher, Drysdale figured it was the perfect chance to gain a psychological edge. After hitting F. Robby, Drysdale said, “I figured, why waste three pitches?”
Drysdale led the senior circuit in hit batsmen five times, and he was accused of doctoring the baseball. After his retirement he just said to the L.A. Times, “Sure I hit guys,” and smiled when the subject of Vaseline balls came up. He wanted every edge he could get, and considering he usually had a run or two to work with, he needed it.
But Drysdale was talent personified. He threw well over 90 miles and hour, not as fast as Koufax, but harder. Catcher John Roseboro said that Koufax, who could bring it around 100 miles an hour, threw a “light” fast ball; a rise that had more speed but because of trajectory landed perfectly in his glove.
Drysdale, on the other hand, threw a hard, naturally sinking fast ball, which burned Roseboro’s hand as it exploded into his glove. This also made for broken bats, double-play grounders, jammed thumbs, stinging hands . . . or worse. While he made use of the Brillcream on his well-coifed hair, making the baseball go dipsy-doodle, his natural sinking action could easily be mistaken for an illegally-enhanced pitch. Drysdale was a workhouse who always pitched over 300 innings, had to be removed from games at the point of a gun (despite having Perranoski and Phil Regan in the bullpen), and tossed incredible 49 career shutouts. He never missed a start, which makes his early retirement so maddening because he looked indestructible.
Drysdale also had a lot to do with Koufax’s popularity. Drysdale befriended the shy Koufax. He showed the young New Yorker the sights when the team came out West, and they became connected to each other both on and off the field. In 1966, they teamed up in a “joint hold-out,” looking for three-year contracts totaling $1.05 million, to be divided equally. The Dodgers held the line, and Drysdale ended up signing a one-year deal for $110,000 (Sandy got a little more). Whether that holdout caused him to go 13-16 in 1966 is up for debate. His ERA was over 3.00 for the first time in years, but he was also hindered by more notoriously poor offensive support.
In the 1966 World Series, Drysdale pitched well but the Oriole staff stopped L.A.’s bats cold. Jim Palmer beat Koufax, and in game four at Memorial Stadium, Dave McNally bested Big D, 1-0.
Drysdale became an announcer, and was part of the California Angels’ broadcast team when Nolan Ryan broke Koufax’s single-season strikeout record, garnering 383 in 1973. Later he teamed with Vin Scully and Ross Porter on Dodger broadcasts, but suffered an untimely heart attack in 1993, passing away at an early age.
DID YOU KNOW . . .
That in 1966 spring holdouts caused great angst with the Dodgers? Buzzie Bavasi threatened to “blackball” Maury Wills if he did not sign a $75,000 contract, but he later was banished to Pittsburgh anyway. When Koufax and Drysdale held out, they told Bavasi they were “independently wealthy” and did not need baseball, to which the GM wished them “good luck.” They made a movie, Warning Shot, with David Janssen. Koufax took a $110,000 advance to write his autobiography. Big D seriously considered an acting career or an offer from a Japanese clubs. They both signed, but the events were a pre-cursor to labor troubles of the next decades.
BY THE NUMBERS
15 – The number of runs scored by the Dodgers in Don Drysdale’s 16 losses of 1966.
