1963 World Series

The 1963 World Series matched the two-time defending champion New York Yankees against the Los Angeles Dodgers, with the Dodgers sweeping the Series in four games to capture their second title in five years, and their third in franchise history.

This was the first time that the New York Yankees were swept in a World Series in four games (the 1922 World Series had one tie).

Of the Los Angeles Dodgers four World Series championships since the opening of Dodger Stadium, this was the only one won at Dodger Stadium. Also, of the six championships from the Dodgers franchise, it remains the only one won at home.

Starting pitchers Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Johnny Podres and ace reliever Ron Perranoski combined to give up only four runs in four games.

Game 1
Wednesday, October 2, 1963 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York

Sandy Koufax started it off with a then record fifteen-strikeout performance in Game 1. It bested fellow Dodgers pitcher Carl Erskine's mark in 1953 by one, and would be surpassed by Bob Gibson in 1968. Koufax also tied a World Series record when he fanned the first five Yankee batters he faced in that game. Since "K" is the time-honored scoring symbol for "strikeout" (Vin Scully once remarked that "Koufax's name will always remind you of strikeouts"), some newspapers' headlines for the game coverage consisted simply of Koufax's surname prefixed by fifteen K's.

Clete Boyer was the only Yankee regular not to be struck out against Koufax. Mickey Mantle, Tom Tresh and Tony Kubek were struck out twice each, and Bobby Richardson was struck out three times—his only three-strikeout game in 1448 regular season/World Series games. (Just that regular season, Richardson had been struck out only 22 times in 630 at-bats, without even being struck out twice in one game.) Koufax also struck out three pinch-hitters, including Harry Bright to end the game.

Dodger catcher Johnny Roseboro's three-run homer in Game 1 was the only home run all year that Yankee pitcher Whitey Ford allowed to a left-handed batter.

Game 2
Thursday, October 3, 1963 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York

Willie Davis doubled in two runs in the first inning, former Yankee Bill Skowron homered, and Tommy Davis had two triples to lead the Dodger offense. Dodger manager Walt Alston went with #3 starter Johnny Podres over #2 starter Don Drysdale because he was left-handed and the Yankee Stadium was favorable to left hand pitchers. Podres delivered a six-hitter through $8 1/3$ innings; ace reliever Ron Perranoski got the last two outs, and the Dodgers headed home with 2–0 Series lead.

Game 3
Saturday, October 5, 1963 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California

Don Drysdale pitched a masterful three-hitter in his complete game win, Walter Alston said of Drysdale's performance "One of the greatest pitched games I ever saw". The lone Dodger run in the game occurred in the bottom of the first on a Jim Gilliam walk, a wild pitch and a single by Tommy Davis. The final out of the game came on Joe Pepitone's long drive that backed Dodger right fielder Ron Fairly up against the bull pen gate to make the catch of a ball that would have been a home run in Yankee Stadium.

Game 4
Sunday, October 6, 1963 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California

The Dodgers scored first in the bottom of the fifth on a monumental Frank Howard home run into the second deck at the Dodger Stadium. The Yankees tied it on a Mickey Mantle home run in the top of the seventh. But in the bottom of the inning, Gilliam hit a high hopper to Yankee third baseman Clete Boyer; Boyer leaped to make the grab, and fired to first base. But first baseman Joe Pepitone lost Boyer's peg in the white-shirted crowd background; the ball struck Pepitone in the arm and rolled down the right field line, allowing Gilliam to scamper all the way to third base. He then scored a moment later on Willie Davis' sacrifice fly. Sandy Koufax went on to hold the Yankees for the final two innings for a 2–1 victory and the Dodgers' third world championship.

The World Series Most Valuable Player Award went to Sandy Koufax, who started two of the four games and had two complete game victories. To date, Game 4 is the only time the Dodgers have won the deciding game of a World Series at home.

Composite box
1963 World Series (4–0): Los Angeles Dodgers (N.L.) over New York Yankees (A.L.)

Popular culture

 * This is the World Series that Jack Nicholson's character R.P. McMurphy lobbies unsuccessfully to watch on television (and subsequently "announces" by imagining the action) in Miloš Forman's 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. He imagines quite a different scene than what occurred, however, as he describes Bobby Richardson, Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle and the Yankees knocking Koufax out of the box. In reality, the Yankees never led at any time in the Series, and only once in the entire Series (and that only for a half-inning) were the Yankees and Dodgers tied at a score other than 0–0. A brief clip of Ernie Harwell's NBC Radio broadcast of Game 2 can be heard in the film.
 * This was Yankees announcer Mel Allen's final World Series broadcast. Allen was suffering from severe laryngitis at the time of the Series, and while doing play-by-play in the second half of Game 4 his voice gave out completely in the bottom of the eighth inning, requiring Vin Scully to take over for the remainder of the game. Allen was fired by the Yankees the following season.
 * Yankee pinch hitter Harry Bright was Koufax's record setting 15th strikeout for the final out in Game 1. Bright remarked "I've been trying to get to a World Series for 10 years and now that I finally did, 60,000 people were rooting for me to strike out."
 * The MVP award was given to Koufax in New York City. He was presented with a new car. As soon as they handed Koufax the keys to his new car, a New York City police officer stepped forward and handed Koufax a ticket for parking on the sidewalk.

Low scoring
World Series Teams With Less Than Ten (10) Runs Scored (Through 1963):