The 44th Anniversary Of Sandy Koufax's Perfect Game

It's the 44th anniversary of Sandy Koufax's fourth no-hitter, and his one and only perfect game—a 1-0 masterpiece at Dodger Stadium to beat Bob Hendley and the Chicago Cubs.

Rather than wait for a more obvious anniversary, such as the 50th, to recall the game, I'll just plunge ahead and quickly do it now.

Only 29,139 fans were there to watch the game, which took just 103 minutes. Take a look at the box score.

Afterward, Sandy said his one bad pitch was to Byron Browne in the third inning: Browne lined it to center fielder Willie Davis, "coming as close as the Cubs got to a hit all night," as the L.A. Times reported.

Koufax also went 3-0 on Billy Williams in the seventh: he said, "I threw him two curves low, and then I was high with a fastball." Williams flied out on a 3-2 count.

Koufax's quotes after the game were pretty bland: he said, "You always know when you've got a no-hitter going, but you don't particularly pay attention to it early in the game. In the seventh, I really started to feel as though I had a shot at it. But I still had only one run to work on. I still had to win the game."

Here are some links to a picture of the front of the Times' sports section, Vin Scully's call of the final inning, and Koufax's remarks at the press conference following his sudden retirement a year later, after the 1966 season.