The 1962 National League tie-breaker series was a best-of-three playoff series that extended Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1962 regular season to determine the winner of the National League (NL) pennant. The games were played from October 1 to 3, 1962, between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants. The Giants won the series, two games to one. The first game took place at Candlestick Park and the second and third were played at Dodger Stadium. The tie-breaker series was necessary after both teams finished the season with identical win–loss records of 101–61. The Dodgers won a coin flip late in the season, which gave them home field advantage. The series was broadcast nationally by NBC television, with Bob Wolff, George Kell (Game 2), and Joe Garagiola (Game 3) announcing, and NBC Radio, with Al Helfer and George Kell (Game 3) announcing.
The Giants won the first game in an 8–0 shutout by starting pitcher Billy Pierce over Sandy Koufax. The Dodgers evened the series with an 8–7 victory in Game 2, breaking their 35-inning scoreless streak in what was then the longest nine-inning game in MLB history. However, the Giants closed out the series in Game 3 with a 6–4 victory to clinch the NL pennant. This victory advanced the Giants to the 1962 World Series in which the defending champion New York Yankees defeated them in seven games. In baseball statistics, the tie-breaker series counted as the 163rd, 164th, and 165th regular season games for both teams, with all events in the series added to regular season statistics.
The 1962 series was the fourth tie-breaker playoff in the National League's 87 years of operation, with the previous ones having taken place in 1946, 1951 and 1959. Moreover, all four involved the Dodgers' franchise, which won one of those series (1959) and lost the other three. This was also the last MLB tie-breaker to use a best-of-three games format, as the NL subsequently adopted the single-game format used in the American League (AL).
Background
The Dodgers and Giants finished the 1961 season second and third respectively in the NL, with records of 89–65 and 85–69. In an offseason trade with the Chicago White Sox the Giants acquired Billy Pierce and Don Larsen for Bob Farley, Eddie Fisher, Dom Zanni, and Verle Tiefenthaler. The Dodgers moved to a new home field, Dodger Stadium, for the 1962 season.
The Giants opened the 1962 season by establishing an early lead and, though they fell back by mid-April, held at least a share of that lead continuously from April 28 to June 7. At that point the Dodgers overtook the Giants, and for the next month the lead was traded between the two sides five times. The Giants held the lead for the last time on July 7. The Dodgers went 20–6 in July while the Giants went 16–11, allowing the Dodgers to take the league lead on July 8 and hold it until season's last regular game. The Los Angeles Times described the Dodgers' season as a "gamut of sublime" and "ridiculous", noting their successes—such as Maury Wills' 100 stolen bases breaking Ty Cobb's single-season record, Don Drysdale's 25 wins, and Sandy Koufax's no-hitter on June 30—together with problems such as the 18 unearned runs the defense had allowed for the season behind Drysdale, and other fielding issues.
The Dodgers lost 10 of their final 13 games from September 16 to 30, while the Giants lost just 6 over the same span. However, with seven games remaining the Dodgers were still ahead in the league by four games, and held a two-game lead with three left to play. They entered their final game with a one-game lead over the Giants, but fell 1–0 to the St. Louis Cardinals. Meanwhile, the Giants defeated the Houston Colt .45s 2–1 after an eighth-inning home run by Willie Mays. These results left the Dodgers and Giants tied in the league at 101–61, necessitating a tie-breaker to decide the NL pennant. The two teams had also played closely against one another during the regular season to this point, with each winning 9 of their 18 match-ups prior to the tie-breaker. Dodgers' manager Walt Alston and Giants' manager Alvin Dark could not agree on dates and sites for the tie-breaker, so they flipped a coin to decide home field advantage. Alston won the flip, opting to play the first game in San Francisco and the remaining two games in Los Angeles. The Dodgers had been more successful at home in the season, holding a 53–28 (.654 winning percentage) record there while going 47–34 (.580) on the road. Alston had also won the flip for the 1959 tie-breaker, which the Dodgers had gone on to win, and had chosen the same format.
Game 1 summary
Sandy Koufax had missed two months of the season, not starting from July 17 until September 21. He started three games in his return prior to the tie-breaker, losing all three and pitching just seven-and-two-thirds innings across the three starts. The night before the first game of the tiebreaker, Walt Alston asked Koufax to start the game, as Don Drysdale and Johnny Podres, the Dodgers' two front line starting pitchers, had pitched the prior two days; Koufax agreed. In the game the Giants were the first to score, on a double by Felipe Alou in the bottom of the first inning, followed by a home run by Willie Mays to make the score 2–0. Billy Pierce quickly retired three Dodgers in order for the second consecutive inning and the Giants continued to hit in the bottom of the second inning. Jim Davenport led off the inning with a home run to make the score 3–0 and Ed Bailey followed with a single. Koufax was then relieved by Ed Roebuck, having allowed three runs in the game without recording an out in the second inning.
Roebuck recorded three straight outs to end the inning without further scoring. The Dodgers and the Giants each managed a single in their halves of the third inning. Neither Pierce nor Roebuck allowed a baserunner in the fourth or fifth innings, though the Giants further added to their lead in the sixth. The Dodgers pinch hit for Roebuck to lead off the top of the inning with Ken McMullen and although he singled he did not score. Larry Sherry entered to pitch for the Dodgers in the bottom of the inning and after recording the first out he allowed back-to-back home runs to Mays and Orlando Cepeda to give the Giants a 5–0 lead. Davenport then singled and Sherry was relieved by Jack Smith who finished the inning without further damage.
The game continued without scoring until the eighth inning. The Dodgers managed to get their second runner in scoring position as Doug Camilli pinch hit for Smith, but they did not score. Phil Ortega entered to pitch for the Dodgers in the bottom of the eighth and the Giants continued their offensive performance. Willie Mays walked to open the inning and then stole second base with one out. Davenport and Bailey both walked to load the bases and José Pagán doubled to empty the bases and make the game 8–0. Pierce remained in the game to pitch the ninth, finishing his complete game shutout. Koufax later said of his Game 1 performance, "I had nothing at all."
Game 2 summary
The Giants scored first for the second consecutive game, as Orlando Cepeda singled with one out in the second inning and scored on a double by Felipe Alou against Dodgers' starter Don Drysdale. The Giants then extended their lead in the top of the sixth inning. Alou struck out to open the inning but Tom Haller then walked and advanced to third base on a double by José Pagán. Giants' starter Jack Sanford then reached base on a throwing error by Drysdale, which also allowed Haller to score and advanced Pagán to third base. Chuck Hiller and Jim Davenport followed this with successive singles which scored Pagán and Sanford respectively. This made the score 4–0 in favor of the Giants with Hiller on second and Sanford on first, still with only one out in the inning. Ed Roebuck entered in relief of Drysdale, inducing an out at second base on a groundball by Willie Mays, to leave runners at the corners with two outs. Willie McCovey singled, allowing Hiller to score and make the game 5–0; Cepeda was then retired to end the inning.
Jack Sanford had allowed just four baserunners through his first five innings, only one of whom reached scoring position. However, after he walked Jim Gilliam to open the bottom of the sixth inning, Giants' manager Alvin Dark double switched to bring Stu Miller in to relieve Sanford, and replaced McCovey in left field with Matty Alou. After the game Dark explained his decision to remove his thus far successful pitcher: "Sanford was suffering from a cold and he was pooped." Duke Snider doubled, advancing Gilliam to third. Tommy Davis then hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Gilliam and advancing Snider. This run made the game 5–1 and ended what had been a 35 consecutive scoreless inning stretch by the Dodgers. The Dodgers increased their score as Wally Moon walked and Frank Howard singled, to bring Snider home and make the game 5–2. Billy O'Dell relieved Miller and Doug Camilli, who was pinch hitting for John Roseboro, singled to load the bases. Andy Carey then pinch hit for Willie Davis and was hit by a pitch to score Moon. The Dodgers continued substituting players, pinch hitting Lee Walls for Roebuck and bringing in Larry Burright to pinch run for Carey. Walls then hit a double which emptied the bases, giving the Dodgers a 6–5 lead in the game, and advanced to third base on the throw.
Walls' double continued his success as a pinch hitter, making him 13-for-26 with 12 runs batted in in such situations for the season. Don Larsen entered to relieve O'Dell, who had not recorded an out but had earned a blown save for his performance. Maury Wills hit a ground ball to the first baseman, who threw home in an attempt to put out Walls who slid hard into the Giants' catcher Haller. The slide, which cut Haller's arm deep enough to later require six stitches, caused him to drop the ball, leaving Walls safe on Haller's error and extending the Dodgers' lead to 7–5. John Orsino entered as the new catcher to replace the injured Haller. Wills then stole second, his 101st stolen base of the season, before the batter Gilliam saw a single pitch. Orsino's throw to try to catch Wills went past second base and into center field. Wills attempted to advance to third, but was thrown out by Willie Mays. Larsen then induced a flyball out by Gilliam and the inning was over. Between the two halves of the sixth the two teams had scored a combined 11 runs and used six pitchers, three pinch hitters, two defensive replacements, and a pinch runner.