Champions
Major League Baseball World Series: Los Angeles Dodgers over Minnesota Twins (4–3); Sandy Koufax, MVP All-Star Game, July 13 at Metropolitan Stadium: National League, 6–5; Juan Marichal, MVP
Other champions College World Series: Arizona State Japan Series: Yomiuri Giants over Nankai Hawks (4–1) Little League World Series: Windsor Locks, Connecticut Senior League World Series: Monterrey, Mexico
Awards and honors Baseball Hall of Fame Pud Galvin
Baseball Writers' Association of America Awards BBWAA Award National League American League Rookie of the Year Jim Lefebvre (LAD) Curt Blefary (BAL) Cy Young Award Sandy Koufax (LAD) — Most Valuable Player Willie Mays (SF) Zoilo Versalles (MIN)Gold Glove Awards Position National League American League Pitcher Bob Gibson (STL) Jim Kaat (MIN) Catcher Joe Torre (MIL) Bill Freehan (DET) 1st Base Bill White (STL) Joe Pepitone (NYY) 2nd Base Bill Mazeroski (PIT) Bobby Richardson (NYY) 3rd Base Ron Santo (CHC) Brooks Robinson (BAL) Shortstop Leo Cárdenas (CIN) Zoilo Versalles (MIN)Outfield Roberto Clemente (PIT) Al Kaline (DET) Curt Flood (STL) Tom Tresh (NYY) Willie Mays (SF) Carl Yastrzemski (BOS)
Statistical leaders
American LeagueNational League Stat Player Total Player Total AVG Tony Oliva (MIN) .321 Roberto Clemente (PIT) .329 HR Tony Conigliaro (BOS) 49 Willie Mays (SF) 52 RBI Rocky Colavito (CLE) 108 Deron Johnson (CIN) 130 W Mudcat Grant (MIN) 21 Sandy Koufax1 (LAD) 26 ERA Sam McDowell (CLE) 2.18 Sandy Koufax1 (LAD) 2.04 K Sam McDowell (CLE) 325 Sandy Koufax1 (LAD) 382 1Major league Triple Crown pitching winner
Major league baseball final standings American League final standings
National League final standings
Nippon Professional Baseball final standings Central League final standings Central League G W L T Pct. GBYomiuri Giants 140 91 47 2 .659 —Chunichi Dragons 140 77 59 4 .566 13.0Hanshin Tigers 140 71 66 3 .518 19.5Taiyo Whales 140 68 70 2 .493 23.0Hiroshima Carp 140 59 77 4 .434 31.0Sankei Swallows 140 44 91 5 .326 45.5
Pacific League final standings Pacific League G W L T Pct. GBNankai Hawks 140 88 49 3 .642 —Toei Flyers 140 76 61 3 .555 12.0Nishitetsu Lions 140 72 64 4 .529 15.5Hankyu Braves 140 67 71 2 .486 21.5Tokyo Orions 140 62 74 4 .456 25.5Kintetsu Buffaloes 140 46 92 2 .333 42.5
Events January
January 3 – As he enters his 14th and final year as Commissioner, Ford Frick warns that "Organized Baseball" must confront four serious issues: the "problem of television," the disparity in revenues between rich and poor clubs, orderly expansion, and the corporate ownership of MLB teams. Frick, 70, became Commissioner in September 1951 and has presided over seven franchise relocations, expansion from 16 to 20 teams, and MLB's evolution from a "relatively simple operation" to "big business." January 8 – Two feuding executives, Kansas City Athletics owner Charles O. Finley and his long-ago-ousted general manager (GM), "Frantic Frank" Lane, reach a $113,000 settlement in Lane's breach-of-contract lawsuit against Finley. Lane had been summarily fired in August 1961, seven months after Finley, in his first month as owner of the Athletics, signed him to an eight-year contract to head the club's baseball operations. His legal victory also enables Lane, 69, to return to baseball; he becomes a "superscout" for the Baltimore Orioles. January 15 – The Chicago Cubs reacquire former National League All-Star outfielder George Altman from the New York Mets for outfielder Billy Cowan. January 16 – Willie Mays remains baseball's highest-paid player when the San Francisco Giants sign the 33-year-old, future Hall of Famer to a $105,000 contract for the coming season. In , Mays led the National League in home runs (47), was named an All-Star for the 11th consecutive season, and won his eighth straight Gold Glove Award. January 20 Rocky Colavito, the slugging outfielder whose April 1960 trade from the Cleveland Indians was decried by fans and media in that city, returns to the Tribe as the centerpiece of a three-team, eight-player trade also involving the Kansas City Athletics and Chicago White Sox. He will put up strong numbers for Cleveland in 1965 (.287, 26 HR, and an American League-best 108 RBI in 162 games played); the Indians improve by eight games to an 87–75 record, and home attendance (934,786) is their largest since . In the complicated, multi-player transaction, Kansas City trades Colavito to Cleveland and receives pitcher Fred Talbot (as a "player to be named later" or PTBNL) and outfielders Mike Hershberger and Jim Landis from the White Sox; and Chicago gains pitcher Tommy John, catcher John Romano and outfielder Tommie Agee from Cleveland in exchange for catcher Cam Carreon. In Chicago, both John, 21, and Agee, 22, will blossom into MLB stars. John, only 2–11 (3.61) in 31 games with the Indians, becomes a top-of-the-rotation starting pitcher en route to a 26-year, 288-win MLB career, and the namesake for groundbreaking elbow surgery performed by Dr. Frank Jobe in 1974. Agee wins the 1966 American League Rookie of the Year Award and etches his name in New York Mets history for his brilliant defense in the 1969 World Series. January 26 – Demolition begins on Griffith Stadium, which had been the home to the American League's two Washington Senators franchises from 1911 through 1961. January 31 Pitcher Pud Galvin is chosen for Hall of Fame induction by the Special Veterans Committee. Galvin (1856–1902) won 365 games in four different "major" leagues between 1875 and 1892."Pud Galvin" in Baseball Reference. The newly-renamed Houston Astros sign future All-Star first baseman and front-office executive Bob Watson, 18, as an amateur free-agent.
February February 1 – The San Francisco Giants reacquire catcher Ed Bailey from the Milwaukee Braves for left-hander Billy O'Dell. The left-handed-hitting Bailey is a six-time former NL All-Star. February 10 – The government of Colombia touches off an international incident when it excludes defending champion Cuba from the 1965 Amateur World Series to be held in Cartagena and Barranquilla. The government of Fidel Castro denounces Colombia's denial of visas to Cuban players as a "counter-revolutionary plot." Colombia will win the competition February 27 by defeating Mexico, two games to one, in the championship round. February 11 – The San Francisco Giants send another veteran catcher, right-handed-hitting Del Crandall, an 11× All-Star and 4× Gold Glove Award winner, to the Pittsburgh Pirates for pitcher Bob Priddy and first baseman Bob Burda.
March
March 1 – The 1965 season marks a new era in Major League Baseball's relationship with television, with income from local and network broadcasts exceeding $25 million, a 39% increase compared to 1964. Eighty percent of the new revenue comes from a new, national "Game of the Week" contract with ABC Sports, with the broadcasts set to debut in April. March 9 Detroit Tigers manager Chuck Dressen, 70, suffers a heart attack at the Tigers' spring training camp in Lakeland, Florida; third-base coach Bob Swift takes the reins as interim pilot until Dressen is able to return to the dugout May 31. Legendary Mel Allen, fired as the "Voice of the New York Yankees" last December, is named lead announcer for a special radio and television team that will broadcast 73 Milwaukee Braves games to Atlanta fans during the upcoming season. The Braves are entering what appears to be their lame-duck campaign in Wisconsin before moving to Georgia—pending the outcome of a legal battle. March 16 – The commissioners of "Organized Baseball" and Nippon Professional Baseball resolve a dispute over the services of Masanori Murakami when it's agreed that the 20-year-old southpaw, the first Japanese player to appear in the major leagues, will pitch for the San Francisco Giants in 1965, but rejoin the Nankai Hawks for 1966. Murakami will go 4–1 (3.75) with eight saves in 45 games for the 1965 Giants before returning to Japan for the remainder of his active career. It will be 29 years before Hideo Nomo becomes the next Japanese pitcher to hurl in the North American majors. March 21 – At spring training, New York Mets pitchers Gary Kroll and Gordie Richardson combine for a nine-inning no-hitter during a 6–0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates in St. Petersburg. March 30 – In need of a centerfielder, the Boston Red Sox purchase the contract of nine-year AL veteran Lenny Green from the Baltimore Orioles.
April April 2 – Dr. Robert Kerlan, orthopaedic surgeon and team physician of the Los Angeles Dodgers, reveals that Sandy Koufax suffers from a "traumatic arthritic condition of his left [pitching] elbow". The news stirs speculation that the Hall-of-Fame-bound superstar won't be ready to start the Dodgers' Opening Day game, April 12 at Shea Stadium against the New York Mets. Noting the "incurable" nature of arthritis, Kerlan says: "We will try to get him to the point where he can play with this condition." Koufax, 29, indeed misses the Dodgers' opener—Don Drysdale starts and gets the win—but he makes his first 1965 appearance at Connie Mack Stadium on April 18 in his club's fourth game, and throws a complete-game, 6–2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies."Los Angeles Dodgers 6, Philadelphia Phillies 2." Retrosheet box score (April 18, 1965). He goes on to start 40 more games—going 26–8 (2.04), hurling a personal-best 335 innings pitched and 27 total complete games (including a perfect game), and setting a new MLB strikeout record (382)."Sandy Koufax" at Baseball Reference. April 4 – The Washington Senators acquire left-hander Mike McCormick from the Baltimore Orioles for a minor-league pitcher and $20,000. Former bonus baby McCormick, 26, led the National League in ERA in , but has struggled with shoulder problems since . Given a new chance in Washington, he will reinvent himself during 1965 and ; then, he'll be traded back to the NL and his original team, the San Francisco Giants, for whom he'll win 22 games in and his circuit's Cy Young Award. April 9 – U. S. President Lyndon Johnson is on hand for an exhibition game between the New York Yankees and recently renamed Houston Astros. It is the first game to be played indoors at the new Harris County Domed Stadium, which will soon be called the Astrodome. April 11 – The Cleveland Indians sell the contract of veteran relief pitcher Ted Abernathy to the Chicago Cubs. In his debut National League season, "submariner" Abernathy, 32, will lead the NL in games pitched (84), games finished (62) and saves (32). April 12 The first official game at the Astrodome is played in front of over 43,000 fans, as they watch the Philadelphia Phillies defeat the host Astros, 2–0. At light-less Wrigley Field's Opening Day, the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs play to an eleven-inning, 10–10 tie when the game is called because of darkness. It goes into the books as a tie game, and all individual and team statistics stay on the books as official. The game includes Steve Carlton's debut MLB appearance; the St. Louis rookie, 20, walks George Altman, the only batter he faces. April 15 – In the 13th and last home opener of the Milwaukee Braves, they defeat the Cubs, 5–1, behind Bob Sadowski's complete game before 33,874 at County Stadium. Milwaukee hero Eddie Mathews doubles off ex-Brave pitching star Lew Burdette, now a Cub, in the fifth inning. A fan boycott, driven by bitterness over the Braves' imminent move to Atlanta, will limit their season attendance to 555,584.