There are events that happen in our childhood which we remember forever. It could be the birth of a brother or sister, a special family vacation, that first brand new family car – just to name a few.

For me one such special memory occurred on July 23, 1966 when, as a 12-year-old, my father took my brothers and me to Dodger Stadium to see a game between the Dodgers and the New York Mets.

This wasn’t just any Dodger game, of which I had been to quite a few – both at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum and later at Dodger Stadium where we usually sat out in the Left Field Pavilion. No sir, for this game my dad was able to get tickets from a business associate for the (original) Dugout Box seats which, back then, were below the actual field level and directly behind home plate behind a wire mesh fence.

What made this game all the more special was that the starting pitcher for the Dodgers that day was none other than Sandy Koufax. Although I certainly knew who Sandy Koufax was and had seen him pitch before, I was unaware at the time that he was having the greatest season of his career, and I most certainly had never seen him this up close and personal before.

As we were preparing to leave our house in Burbank, my dad, who was always thinking ahead, said to me “Son, you might want to bring your camera with you for this game.” Although I didn’t connect the dots at the time, I would a couple months later. On my father’s recommendation I grabbed my trusty old Kodak Brownie camera, took a quick peek and saw that there was film in it and off to the game we went.

My Kodak Brownie camera was identical to this one.

When we arrived at Dodger Stadium (which my dad forever called Chavez Ravine), we didn’t park where we normally did when we sat out in the Left Field Pavilion. This time we parked in a special lot with only a few other cars in it. “This is kinda neat,” I remember thinking to myself.

We entered the stadium through a series of gates that I never even knew existed and when we walked through a short tunnel, we came out into the Dugout Box seats… and the field was right there! I could actually stick my fingers through the wire mesh fence and touch the bright red dirt (they used crushed brick back then). The next thing I noticed was that the players, both Dodgers and Mets, were right there walking directly in front of the fence. I was in absolute awe.

The first guy I recognized was former Yankee great and current Mets coach Yogi Berra. I immediately grabbed my camera and snapped a photo of him.

Hall of Famer Yogi Berra

A few minutes later I saw Jim Lefebvre, the Dodgers second baseman and 1965 National League Rookie of the Year (and one of my favorite Dodgers), and snapped a picture of him. “This is great!” I said to my dad and brothers.

1965 NL Rookie of the Year Jim Lefebvre

The next photo I took was of eight-time All-Star and 1964 NL MVP Ken Boyer, who had joined the Mets in 1966 after 11 outstanding seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Eight-time All-Star third baseman Ken Boyer. (That’s Hall of Fame manager Whitey Herzog in the background. He was a coach for the Mets in 1966).

“Hey look! There’s Johnny Roseboro,” my brother Tom said to me, and I quickly snapped his photo.

Longtime Dodger catcher Johnny Roseboro.

But why is Johnny Roseboro standing there with his catchers mitt on? Could it be because…

…and there he was – Sandy Koufax. Roseboro was warming Koufax up right there in front of the Dodgers dugout. “I’m going to take a bunch of pictures of Sandy,” I said to myself.

I squirmed my way over as close as I could get to the very end of the Dugout Box where it butted up against the Dodgers dugout and snapped my first picture of Sandy. I reached down to advance the film with the little roller knob but it did not stop where it should have for the next picture but instead kept turning.

“NO!!!!”

Yes, I was out of film.

“How can this be? I said in utter shock “I thought I had a full roll of film (which was only 12 photos back then).”

I was devastated.

Not only did the Dodgers go on to win the game by a score of 6-2, but Koufax pitched a complete game and allowed only two runs (one earned) giving up seven hits while striking out seven. It was his 17th win of the season against only five losses – and I was out of film.

After the game I begged my dad to stop by our neighborhood Sav-On Drug Store so I could drop off the film for processing, which he obliged. Back then it took a week to process film – A WEEK!

“Did they come out?” I kept asking myself. “Will the picture of Sandy be there or was it past the last shot?” It was the longest week of my life.

Lo and behold the picture of Sandy Koufax did come out, albeit from a pretty good distance away – but it’s him, you can look at the photo and immediately tell it’s him.

Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax.

Over the next half century a lot changed in my life. I moved away from home, began my career in law enforcement, got married, had a daughter and a son (both of whom are avid Dodger fans), bought my own home in Santa Clarita and eventually retired. Somewhere along the way the small leather-bound photo book in which I had put those precious photographs from that memorable day got misplaced and I feared that it was lost forever.

Once again I was devastated.

And then about a week ago I came home from working in the Vin Scully Press Box at Dodger Stadium and there on my desk was the small leather-bound photo book. My wife, bless her heart, had spent hours digging through boxes in the rafters and found it stuffed in a box. I opened it carefully and after several of those little black lick and stick photo holders dropped out, I was looking at my treasured photos of Yogi Berra, Jim Lefebvre, Ken Boyer, Johnny Roseboro and yes, Sandy Koufax.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw my old leather-bound photo book lying on my desk.

I carefully scanned the photos onto my computer where they will always… always be but a mouse click away.

Thanks dad.

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Koufax Facts from 1966

• Koufax started 41 games in 1966 – most in the MLB.
• Koufax won 27 games in 1966 – most in the MLB and the most in his 12-year career.
• Koufax pitched 323.0 innings in 1966 – most in the MLB.
• Koufax threw five shutouts in 1966 – most in the MLB.
• Koufax had an ERA of 1.73 in 1966 – lowest in the MLB.
• Koufax struck out 317 batters in 1966 – most in the MLB.
• Koufax pitched 27 complete games in 1966 – most in the MLB.
• Koufax won the pitching Triple Crown in 1966 for the third time in his career (1963, 1965).
• Koufax won his third Cy Young Award in 1966 (1963, 1965) – 1966 was the last year that one Cy Young Award was presented for both leagues.
• Koufax pitched the entire 1966 season in pain after having been told by team physician Dr. Robert Kerlan that it was time for him to retire and that his arm could not take another season. Koufax told no one of his conversation with Dr. Kerlan and instead went on to have the best season of his career.
• Koufax announced his retirement on November 18, 1966 at the age of 30 – a little over three months after I took the above photo of him.
• Koufax was enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame on August 7, 1972 at the age of 36 – the youngest player ever enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
• Koufax was elected into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot with 86.9% of the vote.
• Koufax was enshrined into the Hall of Fame with (are you ready for this) Yogi Berra and Early Wynn.