The Koufax Perfect Game

Entering the game of September 9, 1965 at Dodger Stadium Sandy Koufax had made five straight unsuccessful tries for his twenty-second win. The odds were good that he would break through that night against the eighth-place Chicago Cubs who were starting a young lefty named Bob Hendley recently recalled from Triple-A. Beginning with only “average stuff,” Koufax escaped the first inning thanks to an inches-foul line drive and another liner hit right at center fielder Willie Davis─the last ball sharply hit off him. After the first, Koufax found a rhythm─and Hendley was matching him. When the game moved to the bottom of the fifth—the mid-point of the game—both pitchers both had retired every batter in order: Hendley 12 up and 12 down; Koufax 15 up and 15 down. Hendley’s perfect run ended in the bottom of the fifth when he walked leadoff batter Lou Johnson. After Sweet Lou scored on an error, the Dodgers were up 1-0 on an unearned run. Hendley still had a no-hitter until Johnson broke it up in the seventh on a bloop double that landed near the right field foul line. It was the last—and only—hit of the game. Koufax’s fastball had come alive as he mowed down the Cubs in order inning after inning. He stuck out the last six batters he faced to complete a perfect game. The game, which took only one hour and forty-three minutes, was historic on many levels. Koufax’s fourth no-hitter broke the then major league record of three set by Bob Feller. It is still the only game in major league history in which there was only one hit. And it came within an off-field bloop double of being the only double no-hitter. This story is told in the book, Koufax Throws a Curve: The Los Angeles Dodgers at the End of an Era, 1964-1966 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CR5H9XC/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2