Common Denominator: Lou Johnson

 "Scored the only run in Koufax's perfect game 9/9/65 and gave Sandy the only run he'd need in the seventh contest of that year's Fall Classic."

That would be Lou Johnson, who passed away two days ago. Sadly, baseball lost Bob Gibson later that day. Ron Perranoski, Johnson's teammate on the 1965 Los Angeles Dodgers, also passed away just yesterday. It has been a sad year for baseball legends.

Lou Johnson might not have been a legend, but as LA took on Chicago at home on September 9th, 1965, it was Sandy Koufax on the hill. Sandy needed no introduction. He'd finish the year with 26 wins, 382 K's, and top the National League in earned run average for the fourth straight year.

The Dodgers did have a weakness, though. Don Drysdale was second on the club in '65 with 23 wins, Claude Osteen third, 15. Osteen also lost 15 contests that season despite an earned run average of 2.79. Koufax was at 2.04 and Drysdale at 2.77. Though they won 49 games between them, it didn't come easy. Johnny Podres was able to win just seven games despite a no-so-bad ERA of 3.43.

In the bullpen, Perranoski and Bob Miller each won just six games despite earned run averages of 2.24 and 2.97.

But all those numbers could have been so much better if the team had any offence. The 1965 Los Angeles Dodgers finished a distant eighth with just 608 runs scored. The pitching held 'em in there. The staff had the best (lowest) earned run average in the National League, 2.81.

And Sandy Koufax no-hit the Chicago Cubs 1-0 on September 9th at home. However, all the Los Angeles fans had to make sure he got that 27th out, or you never know.

Bob Hendley hung in there with Sandy all night. The only run scored was by Dodger Lou Johnson.

It happened in an interesting way. Obviously, the scored was tied. All the way until the last of the fifth. Johnson drew a leadoff walk on a 3-2 pitch from Hendley to become the game's first runner. Ron Fairly, hitless of course, bunted. The sacrifice moved Johnson into scoring position with just one away. Johnson wasted no time while on second. First pitch to Jim Lefebvre, he made a b-line towards third.

Chris Krug, the Cubbies catcher, threw to third. And it was a bad throw. Into left. And here's the thing: Lou Johnson was sure he had it stolen anyway, and told Krug later!

But most importantly, Johnson scored on all that transpired (Which, if you are scoring...No at bat has been charged from the walk to the crossing of the dish). 1-0, Los Angeles. Oh, Lefebvre struck out and Hendley got Wes Parker to ground out. So those two AB's resulted in outs. However, it's the ones that didn't that led to the final score.

Hendley continued to pitch well. Sixth inning, Bob needed just five pitches to get the side out. In the seventh, he needed eight more to get the first two men out. And then Lou Johnson was back at the dish.

After taking a ball, Lou lifted a pitch to first. Just out of the reach of first basemen Ernie Banks. Johnson motored to second. And there, he stayed as Bob Hendley got behind Ron Fairly 3-1, but retired him on a grounder to short.

But Koufax didn't need that hit. He had his run from the fifth inning. In the seventh, he'd needed just a dozen pitches of his own to retire the side. Eighth inning? A K of Ron Santo. A strikeout of Ernie Banks. When Byron Brown fanned, Sandy needed just three more outs for a perfect game.

Bob Hendley needed just ten pitches to get 'em 1-2-3 in the bottom of the frame. So Sandy didn't have long to wait. How'd he do in the ninth?

Krug fanned on a 2-2. Joey Amalfitan fell behind 0-2, and then fanned. Bob Hendley would not bat for himself, of course. So Harvey Kuenn hit for him. Sandy fired a strike. 0-1. But then missed, twice. A swing and a miss for 2-2. And a swing and a miss for strike three! And...A perfect game.

Oh, did you remember Lou Johnson scored the only run? And got the only hit? Koufax actually hadn't won a game since August 14th, no doubt raising some eyebrows. All was back to normal after September 9th, though.

And Koufax, who won game number 22 on the night, added four more wins to close the season. Oddly enough, both Don Drysdale and Koufax lost their first starts in the World Series that season to Minnesota.

Claude Osteen beat the Twins in the third contest at home. Drysdale won 7-2. Koufax did even better! He beat Minny 7-0.

Osteen had a chance to put this thing away and be the hero in the sixth game. But back in Minnesota, it was the Twins whippin' LA to a tune of 5-1. So this was going to a seventh and deciding game.

It was Sandy Koufax (1-1) vs. Jim Kaat (1-1).

And the two lefties kept things scoreless through three innings at Metropolitan Stadium. Johnson flew out to right to leave a man on second in the top of the first. Koufax had big trouble. He got two outs in the bottom of the frame, then walked two before ending the inning with his second strikeout.

Sandy got two more K's in a 1-2-3 second. Although he allowed a single in the bottom of the third, Koufax not only pitched out of it, he got two more strikeouts.

In the top of the fourth, Lou Johnson broke the scoreless deadlock. He hit a home run just fair, leading off. Two more hits followed an it was 2-0, Los Angeles. Jim Kaat hit the showers. Those two runs would be the only touches of home the entire contest. For either side.

The home team, Minny, got two on with only one out in the bottom of the fifth, but Jim Gilliam made an excellent stop of Zoilo Versalles's hit to third. Gilliam made the putout at third unassisted. Gilliam was the oldest LA Dodger still left over from their Brooklyn years. The veteran still had it. Sandy Koufax then got Joe Nossek to ground into a force at second.

From there, Koufax seemed to just be that much better. He got 'em 1-2-3 in the sixth, fanning Tony Oliva on an explosive fastball. The same in the seventh and eighth. Sandy retired the side in order.

Lou Johnson, meanwhile, tried to get his pitcher more offence. In the top of the seventh, he'd come up with two on and just one out against Minnesota's Johnny Klippstein. But Klippstein (Who'd not only been a Dodger, but even got a ring as part of their 1959 World Championship) got Johnson to ground out to third. Although both runners advanced, Ron Fairly was retired and a promising inning had led to zilch on the Dodgers' part.

Johnson did not bat again. But the left fielder collected the ball as Harmon Killebrew singled with one away in the last of the ninth. There was no pinch runner. Sandy Koufax fanned Earl Battey on three pitches. Bob Allison, the game's last batter, went to 2-2 before Koufax collected K #10!

Lou Johnson's contributions to these two huge Sandy Koufax games in 1965 have been forgotten over time. With he died on September 30th of this year, though, it is time to remember the Los Angeles Dodgers' outfielder for giving Sandy the offence he needed to win both those contests.

References

“1965 World Series.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Sept. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1965_World_Series. 

Buckley, James, and Phil Pepe. Unhittable: Reliving the Magic and Drama of Baseball's Best-Pitched Games. Triumph Books, 2004. 

Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. St. Martin's Press, 1992. Print.

Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen. The World Series: Complete Play-by-Play of Every Game, 1903-1989. St. Martin's Press, 1990. 

Nemec, David. The Baseball Chronicle: Year-by-Year History of Major League Baseball. Publications International, Ltd., 2008. 

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. https://www.baseball-reference.com/. 11 Oct. 2020.