1965 MLB season | |
---|---|
League | Major League Baseball |
Sport | Baseball |
Duration | April 12 – October 14, 1965 |
Number of games | 162 |
Number of teams | 20 |
TV partner(s) | NBC, CBS, ABC |
Draft | |
Top draft pick | Rick Monday |
Picked by | Kansas City Athletics |
Regular season | |
Season MVP | AL: Zoilo Versalles (MIN) NL: Willie Mays (SF) |
AL champions | Minnesota Twins |
AL runners-up | Chicago White Sox |
NL champions | Los Angeles Dodgers |
NL runners-up | San Francisco Giants |
World Series | |
Champions | Los Angeles Dodgers |
Runners-up | Minnesota Twins |
World Series MVP | Sandy Koufax (LAD) |
The 1965 Major League Baseball season was contested from April 12 to October 14, 1965. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Minnesota Twins were the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The Dodgers then defeated the Twins in the World Series, four games to three.
The Houston Colt .45s became the Houston Astros, as they moved from Colt Stadium to the new Astrodome, becoming the first team to play their home games indoors, rather than outdoors. It was also the final season for the Milwaukee Braves, before relocating and becoming the Atlanta Braves for the 1966 season. The Los Angeles Angels officially changed their name to California Angels on September 2, 1965, with only 28 games left in the season, in advance of their pending 1966 move to a new stadium in Anaheim, California.
In June, the first Major League Baseball draft was held in New York City. Teams chose players in reverse order of the previous season's standings, with picks alternating between American League and National League teams. [1] With the first pick of the 1965 MLB draft, the Kansas City Athletics took Rick Monday, an outfielder from Arizona State University. [2]
|
1 National League Triple Crown Pitching Winner
American League
| National League
|
World Series | ||||
AL | Minnesota Twins | 3 | ||
NL | Los Angeles Dodgers | 4 |
Team | Manager | Comments |
---|---|---|
Baltimore Orioles | Hank Bauer | Finished 3rd |
Boston Red Sox | Billy Herman | |
Los Angeles/California Angels | Bill Rigney | |
Chicago White Sox | Al López | Finished 2nd |
Cleveland Indians | Birdie Tebbetts | |
Detroit Tigers | Chuck Dressen | Replaced temporarily by Bob Swift while recovering from a heart attack |
Kansas City Athletics | Mel McGaha | Replaced during the season by Haywood Sullivan |
Minnesota Twins | Sam Mele | Won the American League pennant |
New York Yankees | Johnny Keane | |
Washington Senators | Gil Hodges |
Team | Manager | Comments |
---|---|---|
Chicago Cubs | College of Coaches | Head Coach was Bob Kennedy |
Cincinnati Reds | Dick Sisler | |
Houston Astros | Lum Harris | |
Los Angeles Dodgers | Walter Alston | Won the World Series |
Milwaukee Braves | Bobby Bragan | |
New York Mets | Casey Stengel | Replaced during the season by Wes Westrum |
Philadelphia Phillies | Gene Mauch | |
Pittsburgh Pirates | Harry Walker | Finished 3rd |
San Francisco Giants | Herman Franks | Finished 2nd |
St. Louis Cardinals | Red Schoendienst |
Team name | Wins | %± | Home attendance | %± | Per game |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Los Angeles Dodgers [3] | 97 | 21.3% | 2,553,577 | 14.6% | 31,526 |
Houston Astros [4] | 65 | -1.5% | 2,151,470 | 196.4% | 26,561 |
New York Mets [5] | 50 | -5.7% | 1,768,389 | 2.1% | 21,566 |
San Francisco Giants [6] | 95 | 5.6% | 1,546,075 | 2.8% | 19,087 |
Minnesota Twins [7] | 102 | 29.1% | 1,463,258 | 21.2% | 18,065 |
St. Louis Cardinals [8] | 80 | -14.0% | 1,241,201 | 8.6% | 15,323 |
New York Yankees [9] | 77 | -22.2% | 1,213,552 | -7.1% | 14,621 |
Philadelphia Phillies [10] | 85 | -7.6% | 1,166,376 | -18.2% | 14,580 |
Chicago White Sox [11] | 95 | -3.1% | 1,130,519 | -9.6% | 13,957 |
Cincinnati Reds [12] | 89 | -3.3% | 1,047,824 | 21.5% | 12,936 |
Detroit Tigers [13] | 89 | 4.7% | 1,029,645 | 26.2% | 12,712 |
Cleveland Indians [14] | 87 | 10.1% | 934,786 | 43.1% | 11,400 |
Pittsburgh Pirates [15] | 90 | 12.5% | 909,279 | 19.7% | 11,089 |
Baltimore Orioles [16] | 94 | -3.1% | 781,649 | -30.0% | 9,894 |
Boston Red Sox [17] | 62 | -13.9% | 652,201 | -26.2% | 8,052 |
Chicago Cubs [18] | 72 | -5.3% | 641,361 | -14.7% | 7,727 |
Los Angeles/California Angels [19] | 75 | -8.5% | 566,727 | -25.5% | 7,084 |
Washington Senators [20] | 70 | 12.9% | 560,083 | -6.7% | 6,915 |
Milwaukee Braves [21] | 86 | -2.3% | 555,584 | -39.0% | 6,859 |
Kansas City Athletics [22] | 59 | 3.5% | 528,344 | -17.8% | 6,523 |
In 1965, ABC provided the first-ever nationwide baseball coverage with weekly Saturday broadcasts on a regional basis. ABC paid $5.7 million for the rights to the 28 Saturday/holiday Games of the Week . ABC's deal [23] [24] covered all of the teams except the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies [25] (who had their own television deals) and called for two regionalized games on Saturdays, Independence Day, and Labor Day. [26] Each Saturday, ABC broadcast two 2 p.m. ET games and one game for the Pacific Time Zone at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m local time.
Although MLB ended the Game of the Week blackouts in cities with MLB clubs, ABC blacked out the games in the home cities of the clubs playing those games. [27]
Meanwhile, CBS continued to air its own slate of Games of the Week with the rights to individual teams, with its New York Yankees games in particular beating ABC in the ratings. At the end of the season, ABC declined to exercise its $6.5 million option for 1966, citing poor ratings, [28] [29] especially in New York.
Although it did not air Games of the Week this season, NBC continued to air the All-Star Game and World Series.
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