Why July 17? Because that's a pivotal day for the Dodgers: it's the day that Sandy Koufax' finger injury forces him to the sidelines, where he'll remain until late September. (Ironically, the Dodgers hold up surprisingly well without Koufax--it's after he returns that the team goes into a collective batting slump that puts their pennant chances into peril.)
You can also see the dates where the two teams meet in July (though the results of their second series of the month--in Los Angeles at the end of the month--are not provided here).
Also visible: both teams embark on long road trips during the month (we've already shown you in a previous post how the 10-team schedule adopted in the first year of expansion in the NL affected home/road configurations). Such lengthy road trips are unheard of today--one of the many benefits of the bargaining position enjoyed by the players' union (something that was non-existent in 1962).
Not visible in this snapshot is the (temporary) rise of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who were the hottest team in the NL from June 25 through July 19, posting a record of 19-4 and climbing to within 2 1/2 games of the lead. The Pirates had won the 1960 World Series and still had a formidable team; their drive toward the top would reverse itself in the last ten days of July, however, and they would fade quickly from the pennant race, overtaken by the Cincinnati Reds.
The Dodgers had an off day on July 3, but the Giants had a game with the Mets--and they wasted little time in putting it into the win column, scoring once in the first and four times in the second. San Francisco banged out fifteen hits, including three each from Harvey Kuenn, Jim Davenport, and Felipe Alou (who hit his 15th homer and pushed his batting average up to .335, putting him in a tie with the Dodgers' Tommy Davis for the NL lead). Jack Sanford didn't strike out a single Met, but he scattered nine hits in going the distance for his 8th win of the year (there would be many more). Final score: Giants 10, Mets 1.
SEASON RECORDS: LAD 54-29, SFG 53-29
