The Pecan Park Eagle

SANDY KOUFAX
1966 WINNER
DICKIE KERR AWARD

January 25, 1966: It’s still the same old story,  a fight for love and glory, a case of do or die. – The tote board on his “K”s mounts high, as time goes by.

Sandy Koufax did it again, taking the 6th annual Houston Baseball Writers’ Dinner’s Dickie Kerr Award for being their pick as the best pitcher in baseball in 1965.

Here’s how the Associated Press summarized the evening’s awards in an article that appeared all over the country on the following publication date of January 26, 1966:

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KERR AWARD IS RECEIVED BY KOUFAX

HOUSTON, TEX. (AP) – Sandy Koufax says he hopes everyone who has arthritis “has as little trouble with it as I did with mine.”

Koufax was told he had the world’s most celebrated case of arthritis Tuesday night when the Los Angeles Dodgers pitching great was honored by writers and praised by baseball men at an awards dinner.

Koufax was presented the Dickie Kerr Award by the Houston chapter of the Baseball Writers of America. It is given to the outstanding pitcher in the major leagues.

WILLIE MAYS
1966 WINNER
TRIS SPEAKER AWARD

Willie Mays, the San Francisco Giant who was presented the Tris Speaker Award for his contribution to baseball over the years called Koufax “just the greatest.”

WALT ALSTON
1966 WINNER
ROGERS HORNSBY AWARD

Walter Alston, Koufax’s manager, was given the Rogers Hornsby Award for (being) the World Series’ outstanding personality.

HARRY WALKER
1966 WINNER
EDDIE DYER AWARD

Harry Walker, manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, was presented the Eddie Dyer Award as the comebacker of the year. He called Koufax “now the greatest in the game.”

“I hear about his bad arm all the time, but it is always well when I come around”, Walker said.

Koufax had praise for Mays and said,

“Willie always tells me how tough it is to get a hit off of me, but every time I look up, he’s on second base.”

Augie Donatelli received the Bill Klem Award for umpiring.

~ Associated Press, Petersburg Progress Index, Wednesday, January 26, 1966, Page 16.

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Without direct cyber access to the Houston newspapers of these times, we begin to lose reporting interest from AP on the report of banquet locations and ticket prices. Hopefully, we will be able to pick up on this locally interesting detail since we all know that winter baseball dinners in Houston eventually begin to out-price themselves beyond the budgets of everyday fans.

It’s also interesting to watch the absence of year to year firmness in reporting the purposes of several awards here in these newspaper report explanations. Perhaps that is the result of sloppy reporting or a simple lack of concern or appreciation by the presenting group that awards need a base of legitimate respect for purpose to be valued over time.