1965 in 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

• 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

• 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)

	American League		National 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

Summarize Timeline Top Qs Fact Check

Central League	G	W	L	T	Pct.	GB
Yomiuri Giants	140	91	47	2	.659	—
Chunichi Dragons	140	77	59	4	.566	13.0
Hanshin Tigers	140	71	66	3	.518	19.5
Taiyo Whales	140	68	70	2	.493	23.0
Hiroshima Carp	140	59	77	4	.434	31.0
Sankei Swallows	140	44	91	5	.326	45.5

Pacific League	G	W	L	T	Pct.	GB
Nankai Hawks	140	88	49	3	.642	—
Toei Flyers	140	76	61	3	.555	12.0
Nishitetsu Lions	140	72	64	4	.529	15.5
Hankyu Braves	140	67	71	2	.486	21.5
Tokyo Orions	140	62	74	4	.456	25.5
Kintetsu Buffaloes	140	46	92	2	.333	42.5

• January 3 – As he enters his 14th and final year as Commissioner of Baseball, 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 growing corporate ownership of MLB teams. Frick, 70, became Commissioner in September 1951 and has presided over six franchise relocations, expansion from 16 to 20 teams, and MLB's evolution from a "relatively simple operation" to "big business."^[1]
• 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.^[2] 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 1964, 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 1960.^[3]
    • 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 two American League 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.^[4]
  • The newly-renamed Houston Astros sign future All-Star first baseman and front-office executive Bob Watson, 18, as an amateur free-agent.

• 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."^[5] 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 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.^[6]
• 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.^[7]
• 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 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."^[8]
  • 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.^[9] He goes on to start 40 more games—going 26–8 (2.04), hurling a personal-best 3352⁄3 innings pitched and 27 total complete games (including a perfect game), and setting a new MLB strikeout record (382).^[10]
• 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 1960, but has struggled with shoulder problems since 1962. Given a new chance in Washington, he will reinvent himself during 1965 and 1966; 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 1967 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.
• April 17 – ABC Television debuts its Saturday-afternoon "Game of the Week" broadcast, the first to beam regular-season games into all U.S. markets, MLB and minor-league. The one-year, $5.7 million national package—shared by 18 of the 20 teams when the Philadelphia Phillies and CBS-owned New York Yankees opt out—features play-by-play announcers Merle Harmon, Keith Jackson and Chris Schenkel, analysts Leo Durocher, Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson, and pregame host Howard Cosell.
• April 19 – Hard-throwing Jim Maloney of the Cincinnati Reds shuts out the host Milwaukee Braves, 2–0, for the first of 19 one-hitters thrown in MLB in 1965. Denis Menke's eighth-inning single is Milwaukee's lone safety. Maloney will also throw 1965's first no-hitter on August 19.^[11]
• April 24
  • Pitcher Don Larsen, now 35, returns to the Baltimore Orioles in a trade from the Houston Astros in exchange for infielder Bob Saverine and cash. In 1954, two years before Larsen's famous perfect game during the 1956 World Series, he had posted an abysmal 3–21 record as a member of the first edition of the modern Orioles franchise.
  • The New York Mets score three runs in the top of the ninth inning en route to defeating the San Francisco Giants, to give Casey Stengel his 1,900th career win—including 37 victories in the World Series—as a big-league manager.

• April 27 – Minnesota Twins pitcher Camilo Pascual, in addition to winning the game against the Cleveland Indians, helps his own cause by stroking a first-inning grand slam home run, the second of his career. He joins Detroit Tiger Dizzy Trout as the only American League pitchers to have hit a pair of slams. Next season, on July 3, 1966, National Leaguer Tony Cloninger will slug two "grannies" in the same game.
• April 28 – Lindsey Nelson, lead broadcaster for the New York Mets, calls his team's game today against Astros from a gondola suspended above second base in the Astrodome.

• May 1
  • Yogi Berra, the New York Yankees' Hall-of-Famer now a 39-year-old catcher-coach for the New York Mets, plays in his first MLB game since Game 3 of the 1963 World Series, grounding out as a pinch hitter at Crosley Field, Cincinnati. Three days later, he will start behind the plate at Shea Stadium, go two for three (both singles), and guide pitcher Al Jackson to a 2–1 complete game victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. But those two hits will be his only safeties in a Mets' uniform. After two more appearances, including one final game started May 9, Berra will be released May 17. He remains a coach with the Mets until becoming their fourth-ever full-time manager on April 7, 1972.
  • Tommy Davis, two-time National League batting champion and the Los Angeles Dodgers' All-Star, 26-year-old left fielder, breaks his ankle sliding into second base at Dodger Stadium. He will miss five months of action before making a pinch-hitting appearance October 1, and will not appear in the 1965 World Series.
• May 3 – The New York Yankees send utilityman and pinch-hitter Johnny Blanchard and pitcher Rollie Sheldon to the Kansas City Athletics for catcher Doc Edwards.
• May 4 – The San Francisco Giants acquire veteran left-handed reliever Bill Henry, a two-time former National League All-Star, from the Cincinnati Reds for righty Jim Duffalo.
• May 12 – The Houston Astros activate coach Nellie Fox, future Baseball Hall of Fame second baseman. Fox, 37, will appear in 21 games for Houston through July 25, mostly as a pinch hitter, and collect the last 11 safeties of his 2,663-hit career, before returning full-time to the coaching ranks.
• May 14 – It takes one extra inning, but Carl Yastrzemski hits for the cycle and goes five-for-five with a base on balls in the Boston Red Sox' ten-inning, 12–8 defeat at the hands of the Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park. Yastrzemski's is the only "cycle" in MLB in 1965.^[11]
• May 16 – With the Kansas City Athletics off to a miserable, 5–21 start, owner Charles O. Finley replaces manager Mel McGaha with former catcher Haywood Sullivan, who had been piloting Triple-A Vancouver. At 34, Sullivan becomes the youngest skipper in the majors for 1965.
• May 20 – Warren Spahn, the winningest southpaw of all time—now a pitcher-coach for the New York Mets—faces his old team, the Milwaukee Braves, for the first time after winning 356 games in a Brave uniform. But his return to Milwaukee County Stadium is spoiled by a 7–1 defeat in which he lasts only five innings on the mound. Eddie Mathews, Spahn's fellow Hall-of-Fame teammate for 13 years and still the Braves' third baseman, seals Spahn's fate with a grand slam homer during Milwaukee's seven-run fifth inning. With the Atlanta-bound Braves playing out their final season in Wisconsin, only 17,433 fans attend Spahn's homecoming game.
• May 22 – The San Francisco Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates trade shortstops, with José Pagán going to Pittsburgh for Ducky Schofield.
• May 23 – The Braves send veteran outfielder Lee Maye — also an accomplished rhythm & blues recording artist — to the Houston Astros for starting pitcher Ken Johnson and outfielder Jim Beauchamp.
• May 25 – Jerry Hoffberger, president of the National Brewing Company and a minority partner in the Baltimore Orioles since the franchise moved from St. Louis in 1954, acquires ownership control from investment banker Joseph Iglehart, forced to sell because he is a major shareholder in the Columbia Broadcasting System, new operators of the rival New York Yankees. Hoffberger, 46, will own the Orioles until August 2, 1979, a period during which they win four American League pennants and the 1966 and 1970 World Series.^[12]
• May 27 – Dave Morehead of the Boston Red Sox, with help from closer Dick Radatz, defeats future Hall-of-Famer Jim Kaat of the Minnesota Twins at Fenway Park 2–0, tossing a three-hitter (although he walks six). It is the only game — of 18 — that Boston will win from the pennant-bound Twins all season.
• May 29 – The San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs make a five-player trade in which the Giants send pitcher Bob Hendley, catcher Ed Bailey and outfielder Harvey Kuenn to Chicago for catcher Dick Bertell and outfielder Len Gabrielson.

• June 4 – The Houston Astros obtain former six-time American League All-Star first baseman Jim Gentile from the Kansas City Athletics for pitcher Jesse Hickman and infielder Ernie Fazio ("PTBNL").
• June 8 – The first Major League Baseball draft is held for high school and collegiate players. The Athletics use the first overall pick to draft Rick Monday from Arizona State University. After Bernie Carbo is selected as their first-round pick, the Cincinnati Reds take catcher Johnny Bench in the second round. In the 12th round, the New York Mets pick up Nolan Ryan.
• June 14 – The 24–32 Chicago Cubs replace "head coach" Bob Kennedy with Lou Klein. Kennedy had held the post since February 1963 and brought continuity to what had been a chaotic "College of Coaches" rotation of field leaders. Klein will serve through the end of the 1965 campaign as the experiment's last head coach.
• June 15
  • Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers, called on to relieve starting pitcher Dave Wickersham in the first inning against the Boston Red Sox at Tiger Stadium, strikes out the first seven Boston hitters he faces, and registers 14 Ks in 62⁄3 innings of relief, a Tigers' record. McLain, 21, is removed for a pinch hitter in the Detroit half of the seventh, but the Tigers rally to win, 6–5.
  • The Houston Astros acquire left-handed pitcher Mike Cuellar and right-hander Ron Taylor from the St. Louis Cardinals for southpaw reliever Hal Woodeshick and righty Chuck Taylor. Cuellar, 28, establishes himself as a starter in Houston's rotation; he'll become a star after his December 1968 trade to the Baltimore Orioles.
• June 20 – Jay Dahl, who on September 27, 1963, was the starting pitcher for the Houston Colt .45s when they fielded an all-rookie line-up, dies in a car crash the day after pitching for the Salisbury Astros, a Houston farm club in the Western Carolinas League. At 19 years old, Dahl becomes the youngest former major league player to die.^[13]

• July 1 – Hal Smith, former three-time National League All-Star catcher who was forced to retire from the St. Louis Cardinals in June 1961 because of a heart condition, briefly returns to the playing ranks on an emergency basis. Smith, 34, now the Pittsburgh Pirates' bullpen coach, is activated when the Bucs' three top catchers are injured; he appears in four games, logs three plate appearances, and catches 12 innings before returning to the full-time coaching ranks. He suffers no health-related consequences.
• July 3
  • The Minnesota Twins defeat the Kansas City Athletics 3–2. Coupled with a Cleveland Indians loss, the Twins move into a flat-footed tie for first place in the American League, with both teams at 45–28. The Twins gain sole possession on July 5, and are in first by four games by the time they complete a nine-game winning streak on July 10. They do not relinquish their lead for the remainder of the season.
  • National League standings after action concludes on this Saturday of the Fourth of July weekend show the Los Angeles Dodgers (47–33) two games ahead of the Cincinnati Reds (44–34).

• July 13 – At Minnesota's Metropolitan Stadium, Willie Mays hits a home run with two walks and two runs to pace the National League to a 6–5 All-Star Game victory over the American League. Juan Marichal pitches three scoreless innings to earn Game MVP.
• July 17 – After going only 4–12 (4.36) in 20 games for the last-place New York Mets, Hall-of-Fame pitcher Warren Spahn draws his unconditional release. Two days later, the 44-year-old is signed as a free agent by the contending San Francisco Giants, where he's more effective but wins only three of seven decisions. He retires from pitching at season's end with 363 career victories, most ever by a left-hander.
• July 18 – Sam Mele, normally mild-mannered skipper of the AL-leading Minnesota Twins (now 55–33), gets into a physical altercation with umpire Bill Valentine over a call at first base and Mele's subsequent ejection, only his fourth in all or parts of five seasons as the Twins' pilot.^[14] The two men jostle each other, and still photos appear to show Mele "punching" the umpire—a charge Valentine promptly refutes later that day. Mele is suspended for six games by AL president Joe Cronin and fined $500.^[15] His emergency replacement, bullpen coach Hal Naragon, leads the Twins to a 5–1 record in his manager's absence.
• July 24 – Casey Stengel, legendary manager of the New York Mets, breaks his left hip, reportedly while stepping out of a car. Hospitalized, he misses a planned celebration of his 75th birthday at Shea Stadium, undergoes surgery, and is unable to return to the team's helm.^[16] Former New York Giants catcher Wes Westrum, the Mets' pitching coach, becomes acting skipper.

• August 3
  • In an attempt to block the franchise's imminent move to Atlanta, Milwaukee County files suit in federal court against the Braves, the team's board of directors, the National League, and the nine other NL clubs, charging a violation of U.S. and Wisconsin antitrust laws and seeking triple damages from the defendants.^[17]
  • The normally lead-footed Boston Red Sox leg out four triples in a nine-inning, 10–5 victory over the Kansas City Athletics at Municipal Stadium.^[18]
• August 18 – Following a protest by St. Louis Cardinals catcher Tim McCarver, home plate umpire Chris Pelekoudas declares Milwaukee Braves hitter Hank Aaron out and nullifies a home run that the slugger had just hit off Cardinal pitcher Curt Simmons. Aaron is called out because he had stepped out of the batter's box as hit the long ball.
• August 19 – Jim Maloney of the Cincinnati Reds throws the first of his two career no hitters. Hurling against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, Maloney goes ten innings, walks ten men—none of whom score—and issues an intentional walk. The right-hander also fans a dozen. Leo Cárdenas' home run is the game's only run.^[19]
• August 22 – During a tense game between the contending Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants at Candlestick Park, San Francisco's starting pitcher, Juan Marichal, batting against Sandy Koufax in the third inning, attacks Dodger catcher John Roseboro with his bat. Both benches clear and a 14-minute brawl ensues before peacemakers restore order. A shaken Koufax then gives up a three-run homer to Willie Mays, and the Giants win 4–3 to retake first place. National League president Warren Giles suspends Marichal for eight games, fines him $1,750, and forbids him to travel with his team to Dodger Stadium for the final series of the season.^[20]

• August 26 – Tug McGraw, then a starting pitcher, allows two runs in 72⁄3 innings and the visiting New York Mets beat the host Dodgers and Koufax, 5–2. It is the first time since their 1962 founding that the Mets defeat the future Hall of Famer; Koufax had been 13–0 against them.
• August 30 – The Mets' Casey Stengel announces his retirement, effectively ending a 55-year professional baseball career as a player, manager or coach. He retires with a career managerial record of 1,899–1,835 over 25 MLB seasons dating to 1934; he won ten American League pennants and seven World Series during his 12 seasons (1949–1960) as manager of the New York Yankees.^[21] He is the only person to have played for or managed all four of New York's 20th century major league clubs.

• September 2
  • Ernie Banks hits his 400th career home run helping the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5–3.
  • In anticipation of their move the following season to Anaheim, the Los Angeles Angels change their name to the California Angels.
• September 8 – Against the California Angels at Municipal Stadium, Bert Campaneris of the Kansas City Athletics becomes the first player to play all nine positions in the same game, as part of a special promotion. He begins the game at shortstop and plays, in order for the next eight innings, second base, third base, left field, center field, right field, first base, pitcher (he gives up a run on a hit and two walks) and catcher. With the game tied at 3–3 after nine innings, Rene Lachemann replaces Campaneris, who was injured in a collision at the plate with Ed Kirkpatrick to end the top of the ninth. California scores two runs in the 13th inning and defeats Kansas City 5–3.

• September 9 – At Dodger Stadium, a duel between the Los Angeles Dodgers' Sandy Koufax and Bob Hendley of the Chicago Cubs is perfect until Dodger left fielder Lou Johnson walks in the fifth inning. Following a sacrifice bunt, Johnson steals third base and scores on a throwing error by Cubs catcher Chris Krug. Johnson later has the game's only hit, a 7th-inning double. Koufax's fourth no-hitter in four years is a perfect game, the first in Dodgers history. One hit by two clubs in a completed nine-inning game is also a major league record, as is the one runner left on base. The two base runners in a game is an ML record. For Chicago pitchers, it is the second one-hitter they've thrown against the Dodgers this year and lost. A week later in the rematch in Chicago's Wrigley Field, Hendley beats Koufax and the Dodgers, 2–1. The Cubs won't be no-hit again until July 25, 2015, by Philadelphia Phillie Cole Hamels—a span of 7,920 games.
• September 13 – The San Francisco Giants' Willie Mays' hits his 500th career home run and Juan Marichal earns his 22nd victory of 1965 as the Giants beat the Houston Astros 5–1 at the Astrodome. The win is the Giants' 11th straight and gives them a 2+1⁄2-game lead in the NL pennant race.
• September 16
  • Before only 1,247 fans at Fenway Park, Dave Morehead of the Boston Red Sox no-hits the Cleveland Indians 2–0. Not until Hideo Nomo in 2001 will another Red Sox pitcher hurl a no-hitter, and the next Fenway Park no-hitter won't come until 2002 (Derek Lowe). The lone Indian baserunner comes on Rocky Colavito's second-inning walk. The home plate umpire is Ed Runge, whose grandson Brian would call balls and strikes for Jonathan Sánchez's 2009 no-hitter.
  • On the same day, Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey fires general manager Pinky Higgins and assigns his former responsibilities to executive vice president Dick O'Connell. The front-office change happens before Morehead's no-hitter, but it's not announced until after the game.
• September 18 – "Mickey Mantle Day" is celebrated at Yankee Stadium on the occasion of Mantle's 2,000th career game (all with the Yankees).
• September 22
  • The Milwaukee Braves play their final game in Milwaukee, losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers 7–6 in 11 innings.
  • Jim Bunning of the Philadelphia Phillies strikes out nine batters in a 11–5 victory over the Chicago Cubs in Game 1 of a doubleheader to break the single-season Phillies' strikeout record (241), set by Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1915. Bunning goes on to post 268 strikeouts.
• September 25
  • Though he has not pitched in the Major Leagues since 1953, the Kansas City Athletics send Satchel Paige to the mound. At (approximately) 59 years old, he is the oldest pitcher in Major League history. In three innings, he strikes out one, and gives up one hit, a single to Carl Yastrzemski. Paige does not earn a decision in the loss to Boston, 5–2.
  • Mudcat Grant, pitching for the Minnesota Twins, wins his 20th game, becoming the first black 20-game winner in the American League. Next month, he'll be the first black AL hurler to win a World Series game, and only the seventh pitcher to homer in one.
• September 26
  • The Minnesota Twins gain their first American League pennant since moving from Washington in 1961 by defeating the expansion Senators team that replaced them, 2–1, at Washington's D.C. Stadium. Minnesota's Jim Kaat (17–11), a member of the last "original" Senators team of 1960, wins the clincher.
  • Don Drysdale holds the St. Louis Cardinals to five hits, and the Los Angeles Dodgers win their ninth in a row to move back into a tie for first place. The streak reaches thirteen.

• October 2
  • Sandy Koufax wins his 26th game as the Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Braves 2–1, for their 14th win in their last 15 games as they clinch the franchise's 15th National League pennant and third since moving to California in 1958.
  • At Shea Stadium, the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies play to a 0–0 tie, ended by a curfew, after 18 innings—the majors' longest game, by innings, of the soon-to-end season.^[18] Starters Rob Gardner and Chris Short each throw 15 shutout innings before the bullpens take over. Although individual statistics will count, the game must be replayed from scratch on closing day tomorrow.^[22]
• October 4 – In the first major trade of the off-season, the Detroit Tigers obtain starting pitcher Bill Monbouquette, 29, a former 20-game winner and four-time American League All-Star, from the Boston Red Sox for catcher Jackie Moore ("PTBNL"), second baseman George Smith and outfielder George Thomas.
• October 7 – Jim Kaat gives Minnesota a 2–0 World Series lead by driving in two runs, defeating Sandy Koufax and the Los Angeles Dodgers 5–1 at Minnesota's Metropolitan Stadium. The game is remembered for Minnesota's Bob Allison making a remarkable sliding catch of a Jim Lefebvre line drive in the wet grass of the outfield.
• October 14 – Working on two days rest, Sandy Koufax strikes out ten and throws a three-hit, 2–0 shutout against the Minnesota Twins in Game 7 of the World Series, giving the Los Angeles Dodgers a second World Championship in three years. Lou Johnson's fourth inning leadoff home run off the left field foul pole gives Koufax the only run he'll need. A Ron Fairly double and Wes Parker single in the same inning add an insurance run to account for the 2–0 final. Koufax, who threw complete game shutouts in games 5 and 7, is named Series MVP.
• October 19
  • NBC Television, which already has the TV rights to the World Series and the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, takes over the Saturday-afternoon and holiday Game of the Week when ABC declines to renew its option. NBC and MLB agree to a three-year $30.6 million contract that will include all 20 teams, and the "Peacock network" will retain the "GotW" for the next 24 years. Its inaugural 1966 season will feature lead announcer Curt Gowdy and analyst Pee Wee Reese on primary games, and Jim Simpson and newly retired New York Yankees shortstop Tony Kubek on "backup" games.
  • The Houston Astros trade catcher Jerry Grote to the New York Mets for a player to be named later and cash. On November 24, the Mets will send pitcher Tom Parsons to the Astros to complete the trade.
• October 20 – The Mets obtain eleven-time All-Star, 5× Gold Glove-winning third baseman, and 1964 NL Most Valuable Player Ken Boyer, 34, from the St. Louis Cardinals for pitcher Al Jackson and third baseman Charley Smith.
• October 25 – After a decade's hiatus, Leo Durocher, 60, resumes his managerial career when he is appointed to lead the 1966 Chicago Cubs. At his press conference with owner Philip K. Wrigley, Durocher emphatically ends the Cubs' "College of Coaches" experiment when he declares, "I'm not a 'head coach.' I'm the manager."^[23]
• October 27
  • A week after dealing Ken Boyer, the St. Louis Cardinals trade away two more veteran starting infielders, sending first baseman Bill White and shortstop Dick Groat, along with backup catcher Bob Uecker, to the Philadelphia Phillies for pitcher Art Mahaffey, catcher Pat Corrales and outfielder Alex Johnson. Between them, White (age 31) and Groat (34) have been selected to 16 All-Star teams. White also has won six straight Gold Glove Awards.
  • The Cincinnati Reds hire former Mets' third-base coach Don Heffner, 54, as their manager for 1966. He succeeds Dick Sisler, who was fired October 4.

• November 3 – By a unanimous vote, Sandy Koufax wins his second all-MLB Cy Young Award, the first pitcher to win more than one "Cy" since the award's inauguration in 1956. Koufax posted a 26–8 record and 2.04 ERA and 382 strikeouts, allowing just 5.79 hits per nine innings in 1965.^[24] Next year, Koufax' final season on the mound, he'll win his third.
• November 5 – Al López retires after nine seasons as manager of the Chicago White Sox, during which he led them to the 1959 American League championship and averaged 90 wins per season.
• November 10 – San Francisco Giants outfielder Willie Mays, who hit .312 with 52 home runs and 112 RBI, is named 1965 National League MVP. Mays (nine first-place votes, 224 points) edges two Los Angeles Dodgers: Sandy Koufax (six, 177) and Maury Wills (five, 164).^[24]
• November 17
  • William Eckert is the 20 MLB owners' unanimous choice to succeed the retiring Ford Frick as Commissioner of Baseball. Eckert, 56, is a former United States Air Force general and holder of an MBA from Harvard. Nevertheless, he is so obscure a choice that he is uncharitably tagged "the unknown soldier" by baseball writers. He will serve three years and three weeks as baseball's fourth "czar" before his firing in December 1968.
  • Lee MacPhail, president and general manager of the Baltimore Orioles since 1959, departs to become the chief assistant to the new Commissioner. One of his final acts with Baltimore is to open serious negotiations with the Cincinnati Reds to acquire superstar outfielder Frank Robinson. MacPhail's successor, Harry Dalton, will put the finishing touches on the blockbuster Robinson trade, which is consummated December 9.

• November 18 – Minnesota Twins' All-Star shortstop Zoilo Versalles, 25, wins the American League Most Valuable Player Award for 1965. Versalles, a native Cuban who led the Junior Circuit in seven offensive categories and sparked his team to the AL pennant, secures 19 of 20 first-place votes (275 points) to outdistance teammate and fellow Cuban Tony Oliva (one vote, 174 points)^[24] to become the first Latin American to be elected MVP by the BBWAA. The following year, 1966, will see Roberto Clemente, an eventual Hall of Famer from Puerto Rico, claim National League MVP honors.
• November 22 – Outfielder Curt Blefary of the Baltimore Orioles edges California Angels pitcher Marcelino López for American League Rookie of the Year honors.
• November 26 – Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Jim Lefebvre, who hit .250 with 12 home runs and 69 RBI, is voted National League Rookie of the Year over Houston Astros second baseman Joe Morgan (.271, 14, 40) and San Francisco Giants pitcher Frank Linzy (9–3, 43 strikeouts, 1.43 ERA).
• November 28 – Former San Francisco Giants skipper Alvin Dark is named manager of the Kansas City Athletics, replacing Haywood Sullivan, who becomes vice president, player personnel, of the Boston Red Sox. Dark will lead the A's out of the American League basement in 1966, while Sullivan begins an executive career that will culminate in a 15-year stint as the Bosox' co-owner.
• November 29 – The Baltimore Orioles take 30-year-old pitcher Moe Drabowsky in the 1965 Rule 5 draft. The former "bonus baby" turned journeyman—he's only 48–81 (4.19) over his nine-year career so far—will become an effective relief pitcher for next year's Orioles, and his dominant performance in Game 1 of the 1966 World Series will set the tone for Baltimore's shocking sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

• December 1
  • The Pittsburgh Pirates acquire outfielder Matty Alou from the San Francisco Giants for left-hander Joe Gibbon and utilityman Ozzie Virgil Sr. With the tutelage of Pirate manager Harry Walker, an astute batting coach, Alou—previously a .260 lifetime hitter—will win the 1966 National League batting crown (.342), lead the NL in hits (231) and doubles (42) in 1969, and hit .327 in 743 games in a Pirate uniform.
  • The Kansas City Athletics reacquire 19-year-old outfield prospect Joe Rudi when they trade veteran outfielder Jim Landis and minor-league pitcher Jim Rittwage, 21, to the Cleveland Indians for Rudi and rookie catcher Phil Roof. Kansas City had lost Rudi on "first-year waivers" May 3 and he had played 1965 at Class A Dubuque in the Indians' organization. The first-year waivers rule is phased out during this season with the implementation of the MLB amateur draft. Rudi is a future three-time All-Star, Gold Glove Award winner, and World Series champion as a member of the Oakland Athletics.
• December 2
  • The Giants continue to deal during the hot-stove season. They send right-hander Bill Hands and catcher Randy Hundley to the Chicago Cubs for veteran relief pitcher Lindy McDaniel and outfielder Don Landrum. Hands and Hundley will become key players when the Cubs break a two-decade-long streak of futility to become a first-division team and pennant contender starting in 1967.
  • The Baltimore Orioles send veteran first baseman Norm Siebern to the California Angels for young outfielder Dick Simpson. Four days later, they trade left-hander Darold Knowles and outfielder Jackie Brandt to the Philadelphia Phillies for veteran relief pitcher Jack Baldschun. The two deals give Baltimore key pieces for the blockbuster trade they will finalize on December 9.
• December 9 – In a franchise-altering transaction, the Orioles acquire slugging outfielder Frank Robinson, 30, from the Cincinnati Reds for pitchers Baldschun and Milt Pappas and outfielder Simpson. Future Hall-of-Famer Robinson will win the "Triple Crown" and the MVP Award in the American League in 1966, and lead the Orioles to their first-ever World Series title. Moreover, he will help drive them to three more pennants and an additional Fall Classic championship from 1969 through 1971.
• December 12 – The Houston Astros fire general manager Paul Richards and field manager Lum Harris. Richards, the expansion team's chief front-office architect since September 1961, will be replaced by a three-man committee composed of executives Spec Richardson and Tal Smith, as well as Harris' successor as manager, Grady Hatton, who is also named a club vice president.
• December 14 – Eddie Stanky, most recently farm director of the New York Mets, is named to succeed the retired Al López as manager of the Chicago White Sox. "The Brat" hasn't managed in the majors since he was fired as skipper of the St. Louis Cardinals on May 27, 1955.
• December 15
  • The Los Angeles Dodgers deal utility infielder Dick Tracewski to the Detroit Tigers for pitcher Phil Regan. Known as "The Vulture," Regan will go 14–1 (1.62) with a league-best 25 saves coming out of the Dodger bullpen in 1966, helping them repeat as NL champions.
  • The Atlanta Braves trade pitchers Dan Osinski and Bob Sadowski to the Boston Red Sox for pitchers Arnold Earley and Jay Ritchie ("PTBNL") and first baseman Lee Thomas.

• January 2 – Greg Swindell
• January 3
  • Mark Dewey
  • Luis Sojo
• January 4 – Kevin Wickander
• January 5 – Juan Nieves
• January 6 – José DeJesús
• January 10 – Wally Bell
• January 11 – Tony Randazzo
• January 19 – Kevin Coffman
• January 20
  • Brad Brink
  • Kevin Maas
• January 21 – Matt Stark
• January 25 – Brian Holman
• January 26 – Lou Frazier
• January 27 – Rusty Richards
• January 30 – Joel Davis

• February 3 – Rich Scheid
• February 9 – Doug Linton
• February 10 – Lenny Webster
• February 12
  • Rubén Amaro
  • Stan Fansler
  • Dennis Springer
• February 13 – Craig Colbert
• February 16 – Frank DiMichele
• February 17 – Jim Bowie
• February 18 – Masaki Saito
• February 19 – Wayne Rosenthal
• February 20
  • Paul Faries
  • Tony Menéndez
• February 21 – Oscar Azócar
• February 22 – Eric Yelding

• March 2 – Ron Gant
• March 3
  • Bert Heffernan
  • A. J. Sager
• March 7 – Jack Armstrong
• March 9 – Benito Santiago
• March 11 – Steve Reed
• March 12
  • Steve Finley
  • Shawn Gilbert
• March 14 – Kevin Brown
• March 16 – José Mota
• March 17 – John Smiley
• March 18 – Gerónimo Berroa
• March 20 – Chris Hoiles
• March 21 – Tim McIntosh
• March 22 – Glenallen Hill
• March 25 – Jerry Kutzler

• April 5 – Cris Carpenter
• April 9 – Hal Morris
• April 10 – Bruce Egloff
• April 11 – Turner Ward
• April 13 – Jeff DeWillis
• April 17 – Craig Worthington
• April 20 – Masato Yoshii
• April 24 – Mike Blowers
• April 27
  • Bob MacDonald
  • Paul Miller

• May 2 – Félix José
• May 10 – Mike Butcher
• May 12 – Ángel Escobar
• May 13 – José Rijo
• May 14 – Joey Cora
• May 15 – Isidro Márquez
• May 18 – Erik Hanson
• May 20
  • Wayne Housie
  • Todd Stottlemyre
• May 22 – Larry Carter
• May 24
  • Greg Briley
  • Rob Ducey
• May 26 – Ricky Jordan
• May 27
  • Jacob Brumfield
  • Jim Vatcher
• May 29 – Charlie Hayes

• June 1 – Jeff Nelson
• June 4
  • Beau Allred
  • Kurt Stillwell
• June 8 – Kevin Ritz
• June 10 – Jim McNamara
• June 17
  • Manuel Lee
  • Mike Magnante
• June 23 – Mike Walker

• July 2 – Steve Sparks
• July 3 – Greg Vaughn
• July 7 – Sam Holbrook
• July 8
  • Chuck Malone
  • Jerome Walton
• July 10 – Buddy Groom
• July 12
  • Mike Munoz
  • Wally Ritchie
• July 15
  • Scott Livingstone
  • Kirt Manwaring
• July 21 – Mike Bordick
• July 22 – Gary Buckels
• July 24 – Joe Oliver
• July 25 – Torey Lovullo
• July 29 – Luis Alicea
• July 30 – Todd Haney
• July 31 – Ted Barrett

• August 2 – Paul Marak
• August 4
  • Domingo Martínez
  • Matt Merullo
• August 6
  • Atsuya Furuta
  • John Ramos
• August 9 – Dale Polley
• August 10 – Al Osuna
• August 11
  • George Canale
  • Carlos Martínez
  • John Mitchell
• August 12
  • Barry Manuel
  • Joe Millette
• August 13 – Mark Lemke
• August 16 – Xavier Hernandez
• August 17 – Alex Cole
• August 18 – Marcus Lawton
• August 21 – Jim Bullinger
• August 22 – Milt Hill
• August 24 – Webster Garrison
• August 26
  • Carlos Quintana
  • Jeff Richardson

• September 2 – José Meléndez
• September 5
  • Jeff Baldwin
  • Rob Richie
• September 9 – Todd Zeile
• September 10 – Tim Sherrill
• September 11 – Quinn Mack
• September 13 – Steve Curry
• September 14 – Troy Neel
• September 15 – Satoru Komiyama
• September 18 – Jeff Bronkey
• September 21 – D. J. Dozier
• September 22 – Mark Guthrie
• September 24 – Scott Leius
• September 25 – Steve Wapnick
• September 26 – Doug Piatt
• September 27 – Dan Rohrmeier

• October 4 – Steve Olin
• October 6 – Rubén Sierra
• October 7 – Enrique Burgos
• October 8 – Jimmy Kremers
• October 11
  • Orlando Hernández
  • Erik Johnson
• October 16 – Darren Reed
• October 17 – Charlie Montoyo
• October 19
  • Mike Gardiner
  • Dave Haas
  • Wade Taylor
• October 23 – Al Leiter
• October 25 – Steve Decker
• October 26
  • Zach Crouch
  • Gil Heredia
• October 27 – Bobby Moore
• October 28 – Larry Casian

• November 6
  • Brian Givens
  • Ever Magallanes
• November 7 – Kevin Bearse
• November 8 – Jeff Blauser
• November 13 – Bob Natal
• November 16 – Drew Denson
• November 17 – Paul Sorrento
• November 18
  • Scott Hemond
  • Chris Howard
  • Mark Petkovsek
• November 22 – Mike Benjamin
• November 24 – Jeff Plympton
• November 25 – Randy Veres
• November 28 – Matt Williams

• December 1
  • Julio Machado
  • Jeff Tackett
• December 5 – Scott Lewis
• December 8
  • Jeff Grotewold
  • John Orton
• December 9 – Joe Ausanio
• December 11
  • Jay Bell
  • Dave Joppie
  • Adam Peterson
• December 14
  • Craig Biggio
  • Ken Hill
• December 16
  • Randy Hennis
  • Chris Jones
• December 18 – Willie Blair
• December 19 – Chito Martínez
• December 20 – Fernando Ramsey
• December 27 – Tom Marsh
• December 31 – Sil Campusano