Kiners Korner Chronicles, No. 1: Koufax Blanks Mets, 5-0

Welcome to the Kiners Korner Chronicles.

This site is dedicated to Ralph Kiner and the legacy of the greatest sports postgame show ever, Kiner’s Korner.

While researching our book, Down on the Korner, my co-author Howie Karpin and I tracked down as many surviving episodes of Kiner’s Korner as we could find. Now, you can watch those treasured broadcasts right here on this site and relive the conversations, the characters, and the unforgettable moments that made Ralph’s show so special.

But our search also taught us something heartbreaking: for every conversation we recovered, dozens more were lost — taped over, thrown out, or gone forever.

So we're doing the next best thing. Through the power of AI and deep research into the old games, we hope to recreate a little bit of that magic. The game recaps are real, built from the box score. The interviews that follow are our best imagining of the conversations that were lost — what Ralph would have asked, and what his guest might have answered.

The Game

Flushing, N.Y. — On a Saturday afternoon at Shea Stadium, 38,915 fans watched Sandy Koufax do what Sandy Koufax always did to the Mets. The Dodgers' left-hander fired a complete-game shutout — five hits, one walk, eight strikeouts — in a 5-0 Los Angeles win on June 12, 1965.

The Mets didn't go quietly, but they helped. In the fourth inning, three New York errors opened the floodgates for three Dodger runs. Two more crossed in the sixth, driven in by Jeff Torborg, Maury Wills, and Willie Davis.

Al Jackson deserved a better fate. The Mets' starter struck out seven over seven-plus innings and was betrayed by his defense. Rookie Tug McGraw finished up for New York — and Koufax, never one to waste an at-bat, singled off McGraw in the eighth for his eighth hit of the season, a career high.

The victory ran Koufax's record against the Mets to 11-0. He would finish his career 17-2 against New York with a 1.44 ERA. Afterward, Koufax told writers he didn't even have his curveball that day.

Ralph's Guest

The Brooklyn kid who became the most feared pitcher of his generation. By June of 1965, Koufax was in the middle of a three-year run that remains the gold standard for starting pitching — and no team suffered through it quite like the Mets.

The Interview (imagined)

What follows is a dramatic recreation. The game was real. The conversation is our imagining of the Kiner's Korner segment that likely aired that night — the tapes of those early shows were erased long ago.

Ralph: Sandy, thanks for sitting down. Eleven wins, no losses against the Mets, and you tell the writers you didn't have your curveball today. What does Sandy Koufax do on a day he doesn't have his best pitch?

Sandy: Well Ralph, you just try to make the fastball look like the curveball, and the curveball look like the fastball. Today the curve wasn't cooperating, so I threw the fastball where I wanted and hoped they'd get themselves out. A couple of them did me favors.

Ralph: Five hits, one walk, eight strikeouts. Some pitchers would call that their best day of the year. Take me through the second inning. Two on, nobody out, and you strike out Hickman and Klaus back to back. What's going through your mind out there?

Sandy: Honestly? Don't let the inning get big. With men on, I'm not trying to strike everybody out. I'm trying to keep the ball down and get a ground ball. But when you get to two strikes on a young hitter, the fastball up looks pretty good. Those two chased it.

Ralph: You're a Brooklyn kid. Ebbets Field, the old neighborhood, and here you are dealing at Shea Stadium in front of nearly thirty-nine thousand New Yorkers. Does pitching in this town still feel different?

Sandy: It does. I grew up watching games in this borough. My mother still lives here. You walk out there and half the crowd remembers when you were a bonus baby who couldn't find the plate. It keeps you honest.

Ralph: Ha! I remember those days. Let me ask you about the eighth. You lead off with a base hit off McGraw. The writers tell me that's your eighth hit of the season, a career high. Are we looking at a two-way player?

Sandy: Ralph, if I could hit, I'd have won thirty by now. Tug's a kid with a good arm. I just got the bat on one. Don't put me in the lineup.

Ralph: Fair enough. Last one. The fourth inning. You're the batter when Smith boots your grounder to third — that loads the bases, and three runs come across, only one of them earned. And Al Jackson's on the other side, striking out the side in that same nine-batter inning but watching his defense hand the Dodgers three runs. Did you feel for him out there?

Sandy: Sure. Al pitched a much better game than the score says. Three errors behind you in one inning, that's a long afternoon. I've been on that end of it. You tip your cap and try not to give him anything to work with. Today, I didn't.

Ralph: Sandy Koufax. Eleven and oh against the Mets, and gracious in victory. We'll be right back.