March 23rd, 2020 at 9:00 am 
by 0799291000348 Where were you 59-years ago today when an obscure piece of Major League Baseball history was made?
March 23, 1961 – Dodgers Grapefruit League Spring Training game in Orlando, Florida against the Minnesota Twins. A relief pitcher scheduled to make the short flight from Vero Beach to Orlando misses the flight, so Sandy Koufax is asked to pitch more innings than originally planned. First inning: Koufax walks the first three batters he faces to load the bases. Dodgers catcher Norm Sherry, the lesser-known older brother of well-known Dodgers right-hander Larry Sherry,* goes out to the mound to settle Koufax down.
Norm Sherry’s own words from a 2016 Jewish Baseball Museum interview by Hillel Kuttler:
“Koufax couldn’t throw a strike, and he ended up walking the first three guys. I went to the mound and said, “Sandy, we don’t have many guys here; we’re going to be here a long day. Why don’t you take something off the ball and just put it in there? Don’t try to throw it so hard. Just put it in there and let them hit it.
“I went back behind the plate. Good God! He tried to ease up, and he was throwing harder than when he tried to. We came off the field, and I said, ‘Sandy, I don’t know if you realize it, but you just now threw harder than when you were trying to.’ What he did was that he got his rhythm better and the ball jumped out of his hand and exploded at the plate. He struck out the side. It made sense to him that when you try to overdo something, you do less. Just like guys who swing so hard, they can’t hit the ball. He got really good.”
(AP photo)
1961 becomes the break-out season for the 25-year-old Koufax: 35-starts; 3.52 ERA; 255.2 IP; leading all of MLB with 269-strikeouts. And over the next five seasons, he establishes himself as one of the best pitchers in professional baseball history. Many baseball experts point to that ‘meaningless Spring Training game’ as the turning point in Koufax’s career that eventually put him into the Hall of Fame.
Tip of the cap to his catcher on March 23, 1961 – Norm Sherry.
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* Larry Sherry pitched for the Dodgers from 1958 through 1963. He was still a rookie in 1959 when he helped lead the Dodgers into the World Series with a 2.19 ERA, winning seven games, and saving three others. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the 1959 World Series against the Chicago White Sox, winning two games and saving two others, allowing only eight hits and one earned run in 12.2 IP (0.71 ERA).
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It’s nice to read something nice about 1961. To me it always brings back memories of me being drafted into the Army. Thanks for this memory, Jesse.
One of the greatest times in my neighborhood growing up was when the kid across the street from us got a ‘Larry Sherry Pitch Back,’ a screen-like device that acted like a catcher when you pitched to it that would spring the ball back to you live a trampoline. It most certainly could have been called a ‘Norm Sherry Pitch Back,’ but Larry was far more popular than was his brother.
I always thought it pretty cool that two brothers were on the same team, especially when that team was my favorite team.
In addition to the Sherry’s, the Dodgers had four other sets of brothers play for them: Ramon and Pedro Martinez; Steve and Dave Sax; Mack and Zack Wheat; and, Paul and Lloyd Waner. There is no truth to the rumor that I saw the Wheat’s play together (1915 – 1919), or the Waner’s (1944)
They also had Jesus Martinez, but he never made it to the show.
Good catch.
Sounds like something out of Hollyweird: Back-up catcher turns wild pitcher into Sandy Koufax.
The first Dodgers game I went to (April 14, 1962) Norm caught and Larry pitched the last three innings, earning the walk-off win.
If I’m not mistaken they were the last “brother battery” in MLB, at least to this point.
Terrific point about the last “brother battery” in MLB. Norm was also considered to be one of the best baseball coaches of his time; well regarded throughout MLB.