September 9, 1965
55 years ago today, perhaps my favorite non-WS game I ever watched or listened to played out on my transistor radio. It was a Thursday evening. School had just started, and we had just completed our third day of my 9th grade year. I was forbidden to be listening to my transistor radio, but I chose to ignore the rules and listen anyway. Of course that is another story that
55 years ago today, perhaps my favorite non-WS game I ever watched or listened to played out on my transistor radio. It was a Thursday evening. School had just started, and we had just completed our third day of my 9th grade year. I was forbidden to be listening to my transistor radio, but I chose to ignore the rules and listen anyway. Of course that is another story that will stay between my therapist and myself.
Lineups for the game between the Dodgers and Cubs are listed below . The Cubs had three HOF players in the lineup (Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Ernie Banks), while the Dodgers only had a HOF left handed starting pitcher…Sandy Koufax.
Don Young CF Maury Wills SS
Glenn Beckert 2B Jim Gilliam 3B
Billy Williams RF Willie Davis CF
Ron Santo 3B Lou Johnson LF
Ernie Banks 1B Ron Fairly RF
Byron Browne LF Jim Lefebvre 2B
Chris Krug C Wes Parker 1B
Don Kessinger SS Jeff Torborg C
Bob Hendley P Sandy Koufax P
Unlike the several hundred thousand who said they were at that game; I simply was listening. Actually there were only 29,139 at the Stadium that night. The Dodgers were playing the Cubs. Pitching for the Cubs was Bob Hendley. Hendley came over to the Cubs earlier in the year in a trade with SF Giants. On March 29, 1965, SF Giants traded Hendley, C Ed Bailey, and OF/PH Harvey Kuenn to the Cubs for C Dick Bertell and 1B/PH Len Gabrielson.
Entering the game, Hendley was 2-2 with an 8.22 ERA. Thusly, Hendley was not considered a threat to throw a perfect game, and yet for four innings, that is exactly what he did. However, in the 5th, Sweet Lou Johnson walked on a 3-2 pitch. Ron Fairly sacrificed Johnson to 2nd. Johnson then stole third and scored on the errant throw from catcher Chris Krug. Dodgers up 1-0. An offense, certainly unlike the 2020 Dodgers.
In the 7th, Sweet Lou doubled for the only hit in the game, but was left stranded. The 1-0 score held up over nine full innings. Koufax pitched a perfect game, and Hendley pitched a 1-hitter. He allowed only two base runners, and surrendered one unearned run. It was undoubtedly the best pitched game of his career. The 1965 Dodgers were not an offensive juggernaut. For the year they batted .245/.312/.335/.647. Out of 10 NL teams, those stats were ranked 7th, 6th, 9th, and 8th respectively. Hendley was not finished with Koufax and the Dodgers in 1965. Five nights later, Hendley bested Koufax 2-1 on a 4 hit complete game victory.
Through seven innings, Koufax had allowed:
3 Pop Fly Outs
1 Line Out
4 Fly Outs
5 Ground Outs
4 Strike Outs Looking
4 Strike Outs Swinging
But that was just a precursor as to what Koufax was about to do in the final two innings. Ron Santo led off the 8th and was struck out looking. Sandy followed that up with swinging strikeouts of Ernie Banks and Byron Browne.
Now comes the 9th. Catcher Chris Krug led off and struck out swinging on a 2-2 pitch. Joe Amalfitano pinch hit for Don Kessinger and struck out swinging on an 0-2 pitch. That left PH Harvey Kuenn who came over to the Cubs with Hendley earlier in the season. Kuenn worked the count to 2-2 and as Vin Scully said, Swung On and Missed.
Koufax struck out the final six batters he faced, the last five by swinging. A lot of swing and miss on that night, especially the last two innings. Koufax threw 113 pitches., and had three 3-ball counts.
The game ended at 9:46 PM and unfortunately for me, I let out a loud cheer. My parents came running in to my room, grabbed my transistor radio and smashed it in front of me. Lucky for me I had good friends (and their parents) who looked out for me and got me a new one, which I was able to hide for the last 4 years I was in the house.
Like most of us here believe, Sandy Koufax was larger than life. Before the perfecto, Sandy had three previous no-hitters:
- June 30, 1962 – 5-0 against NYM at Dodger Stadium
- May 11, 1963 – 8-0 against San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium
- June 4, 1964 – 3-0 against Philadelphia at Connie Mack Stadium
The umpires for the game were Ed Vargo (HP), Chris Pelekoudas (1B), Bill Jackowski (2B), Paul Pryor (3B). Vargo is the only Major League umpire to call a no hitter and a perfect game for the same pitcher. He was behind home plate for Sandy Koufax’s no-hitter on June 4, 1964, and his perfect game on September 9, 1965.
Vargo wore the same jacket when he worked Koufax’s perfect game, the first World Series night game in 1971 and Hank Aaron’s 714th home run in 1974. It was donated to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
September 9, 1965 will always be a special day for this Dodgers fan.
Vin Scully to me was perfection. He has made some very memorable calls, but for me, his final inning of Koufax’s perfect game is my favorite. So instead of me continuing, I will let Vin call the final three outs of my favorite non World Series game.
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Discussion (106)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Really like Joe Davis, great announcer. A poor man’s Joe Buck? Wow, everybody’s a critic. Too funny. Hard to judge batting averages, just a weird time — Look at Christian Yelich for one. The bullpen has hit a speed bump. Reason for concern or just a bump in the road? We’ll see.
It will be interesting to see if the two Puerto Ricans on the team opt to wear 21 tonight on Roberto Clemente day. MLB allowing all players of that nationality to wear Roberto’s # 21. There has also been some push to retire 21 all across baseball for Clemente. Will see if that happens down the road. In case you wonder, MLB would allow players already assigned that number to wear it as long as they play. Same thing they did for 42.
A commentator here, much wiser than me, (i honestly can’t remember who), said a while back, that the Bullpen would suffer as the season went on, if the Starters continued to throw short games. Well here we are.
If any other Pitcher was throwing the innings that KJ was last night, Doc would’ve had him outta there fast.
In the midst of post op blues… To tell people how important the last months LADT are to me, is/would be impossible to convey… (Hell, I don’t know if I pulled those last two sentences off, so I’ll blame it on the opiates )…
1965 had me in Millington Naval Air Station, Tenn. for boot camp and A school…
My first experience in the South… Good food and music in or around Beale St., Memphis and I’ll leave it at that… Played ball for the Navy base and damn it had it’s perks for sure!!! I yearned for the Manhattan Beach, Ca. and the Pacific…
Sandy is and will be the greatest pitcher to ever toe the rubber for the Blue IMO…
Yips always remind me of Sax and how painful it was to watch before he worked out of it…
Garvey at 3rd. a close second…
Marte to the 10 day IL for the D-Backs. Phil, you are probably right about Davis, but I can honestly say, I enjoy Steiner more. And Monday too. Guess us old farts like the veteran guys. I would rather listen to Uecker. As for Orel, I loved him as a player. As an analyst, I just have a tough time listening to his horse manure
Tonights line up.
1. Betts RF
2. Seager SS
3. Taylor DH
4. Bellinger 1B
5. Muncy 3B
6. Pollock CF
7. Smith C
8. Lux 2B
9. Hernandez LF
P Kershaw.
Reds got 3 off of Darvish in the first on a Moustakas homer. His ERA up to 1.86.
I wish Doc would consider Smith batting third with that great plate discipline and great OBP.
I like Joe Davis and like Bear, I would like to see a one-man booth.
It doesn’t look like CK isn’t confortable with Smith behind the plate. Not sure why
Eric,
The catcher and pitcher have to be in sync about how to attack different batters, which of the pitcher’s pitches are and aren’t working that day, how to control the running game, and so on. Sometimes, over time, a pitcher comes to feel like a particular catcher has better rapport with them on those decisions.
As former Atlanta Braves’ pitcher John Smoltz puts it, “you just don’t want to be out there shaking your head 20 times.” It can be very disruptive to a pitcher’s rhythm and concentration to have to wave off pitches (or worse, take extra mound visits) because he and his catcher are out of sync about how to manage the game.
Maybe you have more experience at catching or pitching, but if not, I suggest you do not have a clue!
If you still don’t think it’s a thing, read this:
Open on dashboard.mlblogs.comhttps://dashboard.mlblogs.com/behind-the-mask-how-catchers-influence-every-pitch-c7a25a5da82eI absolutely love Corey’s offensive game, but that is a play easily made by a superior defensive SS. He loves the backhand but it seems to me if he charged and threw on the run as opposed to playing the backhand he would have made the play a lot easier.
D-Backs should have never scored their 4th run if Corey makes that play.
Got to think the move to 3B discussion will grow some legs in the off season.
The catcher has nothing to do with Kershaw’s stat line tonight. Kersh has given up squibbers, had a ball hit the bag, and had horrible defense by his shortstop and now right fielder.
Smith is doing just fine. Kersh is doing just fine. The rest of the guys behind them look like 3rd graders.
Dodgers aré playing garbage
Seager and Muncy are a defensive nightmare together on left side!
The catcher can definitely affect the pitchers performance. Why do you think the Dodgers kept AJ Ellis around for all those years? He certainly was not a great hitter, but he was Kershaw’s personal catcher his entire time with the team.
Why Kershaw just 5 innings??! This team looks like a kids league pitch counter
Did you kids see the Braves scored 29 runs tonight??
They beat Miami 29-9. No that’s not a Falcons Dolphins score
the last 5 games have been painful to watch. the padres are just behind
Seager’s D has definitely cost Kershaw a W and a more extended outing. It’s been pretty sloppy lately.
Because of our ridiculously easy schedule our record is way better than this team actually is! I don’t see a World championship team right now!
Who is the guy wearing Bellinger’s jersey? Those last two ab’s belong in Tulsa!
Last season, I got a lot of flak for saying that Seager was not a first rate SS in fielding. I love his offense, but his throwing has me wondering if he will be moved off SS next season. He has bobbled too many and so many throws in the dirt to 1B. You don’t want this from the SS.
What is more surprising to me is the poor fielding we’ve seen from Mookie. His arm looks very mediocre to me and his accuracy is subpar. He is a GG but looks nothing like one. Maybe he is still getting used to playing in the National league. I hope he improves. Bellinger was far better in RF, GG quality.
Muncy is doing an admirable job at 3B. His defense has improved a lot but I still don’t think he is a natural at 1B. He doesn’t have the height of a Bellinger for those long stretches.
The last two games have been very sloppy. I agree that the C is important to a SP. The connection is probably more psychological than actual. I’m surprised that Doc started Smith with CK. You always go with strength when possible. I do like Smith and it would be great if CK adjusted to him.
Dodgers win!!
Another win against a very average team that was harder than it should have been.
I like Treinan Closing things out.
Pete – hope you’re ok.
Bums & Vegas – hope you guys are enjoying this version of the Baseball Season and are keeping well.
Bellinger once again looks lost. Seager is not the best fielding SS in the league, we all know that. But I doubt he moves to third and it would not happen next year anyway. They have to decide what they are going to do with Turner. Rios looks like he can handle the 3rd base job if he hits enough. Right now he still strikes out too much. If the NL keeps the DH, as most think it will, then Turner is a natural to fill that spot most of the time, and I think they will bring him back on at least a 2 year deal. To keep Muncy’s bat in the lineup, they will keep him at first. It is where he can do the least damage defensively. This year is an anomaly. I do not think you can take any players performance in this atmosphere and compare it to what they have done before. I think Jeff is totally wrong about Mookie. He has one of the strongest and most accurate arms in the outfield. So he has one bad inning out there. I have seen a lot of great fielders have bad days, but they usually make up for it. Jeff seems to forget the throw Mookie made earlier in the season to throw out a runner at third. Us older guys remember Willie Davis making 3 errors in a world series game. Treinen did a great job tonight, and Ferguson, after giving up a double, did not let it bother him, and did his job. Will the Dodgers be better in the playoffs? No one here, or anywhere else knows how they will do. What they are on paper, and what they do in reality are two totally different things. The Giants are on a roll. They are the 8 seed right now. The Rockies have lost 3 straight to SD, and play them again tomorrow. Then on Friday when the Dodgers are off, SD plays the Giants. If both SD and LA win tomorrow, SD will have a chance to cut the lead to 4 on Friday while the Dodgers are off. Then we play Houston twice before heading to SD for the last 3 against them in the regular season this year. Then off to Colorado for 4 with the Rocks. The next 7 games should give us some idea how LA plays against better competition. And that string of consecutive division titles might be on the line. One thing is painfully obvious to me though. They need Justin Turner back, and the sooner the better.