Hendley’s love story is more than just a love for baseball

Bobby Hendley can’t help but talk about “the” game.

People still ask about the fine print in the box score. They want to hear the story. Again. 

For 60 years, it has defined his baseball career. It’s nice to be remembered. Sometimes, you can lose and still win.

Sept. 9, 1965. It was the day Hendley, pitching for the Chicago Cubs, threw a one-hitter against the Dodgers in Los Angeles.

History has not shoved it to the back pages.

 It was a different kind of one-hit wonder.

The left-hander from Macon picked the wrong day to paint his masterpiece. He lost the game, 1-0, when the Dodgers scored an unearned run. 

The opposing pitcher was Sandy Koufax, a future Hall of Famer  whose nickname was the “Left Arm of God.’’

Koufax pitched a perfect game. No runs. No hits. No errors.

After six decades, the game is revered by baseball enthusiasts and duly noted in the hall of fame at Cooperstown. The Society for American Baseball Research voted it the “greatest game ever pitched.’’ It remains the only game in major league history in which two teams have combined for only one hit.

Ron Wildman, a veteran TV journalist from Macon, calls Hendley every year on Sept. 9. He was married that same afternoon in 1965 in Springfield, Illinois. He and his bride had no sooner left the chapel when he turned on the broadcast of the Cubs-Dodgers game from the West Coast.

Wildman was so caught up in listening to the historic game, he kept driving. He didn’t want to get out of the car until it was over.

To mark the game’s 50th anniversary in 2015, the New York chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America honored Hendley, Koufax and Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully with the prestigious “Willie, Mickey & the Duke Award.’’

Hendley faced Koufax six times in his career, but that night at the Roosevelt Hotel was the first time he had officially met him off the field. Koufax told the audience he and Hendley had shared something special.

“But there’s a possibility I may have enjoyed it just a little bit more than he did,’’ Koufax said.

The former Lanier High star had a comeback line when he stepped to the podium. He gently reminded Koufax of their rematch five days later at Wrigley Field, when he tossed a four-hitter and won 2-1. Each pitcher allowed two runs and five hits in the two games combined. In his career, Hendley finished with a 3-1 record with two no-decisions against the pitcher many consider the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time).

Hendley is now 86 years old and looks like he could still pitch. His mind is sharp. His handshake is strong. He stays in shape by walking and exercising at Amerson River Park.

He spent seven seasons in the major leagues with four teams — the Milwaukee Braves, San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs and New York Mets. His career record was a modest 48-52 with 12 saves, 25 complete games, six shutouts and a 3.97 ERA. (His minor league mark was 62-47.) 

Those numbers didn’t punch his ticket to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum at Cooperstown, but he has been inducted into three others, including the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, the Macon Sports Hall of Fame and the Stratford Academy Sports Hall of Fame.

 Hendley grew up on the sandlots of Macon. His father taught him how to throw a knuckle curve, but he developed a reputation as a flamethrower in high school. The scouts certainly knew where he lived.

He turned down a scholarship offer from the University of Georgia and signed a professional contract with the Milwaukee Braves. He played in what he calls baseball’s “greatest era.” He was teammates with Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Ernie Banks. He said the greatest player he ever faced was Roberto Clemente of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

He has no regrets. Well, maybe one. He hurt his elbow at the beginning of his big-league career.  

“I never played a day with a good arm in the major leagues,’’ he said. “So I wonder what might have been.’’

He had been sent to the minors in Salt Lake City during the 1965 season to work on his mechanics. After a turbulent, six-hour plane trip to Oklahoma City, when everyone on the flight got sick, he “reached down and found something I didn’t know I had.’’ 

He pitched on guts that night in 100-degree heat and lost 2-1 on two unearned runs. His perseverance paid off. He was recalled to the big leagues. No one could have predicted what would happen next.

The Cubs were struggling, 11 games under .500. Manager Leo Durocher sent him to the mound to face Koufax in front of a crowd of 29,139 in Los Angeles.

Both pitchers were perfect until Hendley walked “Sweet” Lou Johnson, who became the game’s first baserunner in the fifth inning. Johnson moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Ron Fairly, who was born in Macon in 1938 when his father was playing for the minor league Macon Peaches.

Hendley later admitted he allowed Johnson to get too big a lead at second base. When Johnson took off to steal third, Cubs catcher Chris Krug made a wild throw, the ball sailing past third baseman Ron Santo.

The unearned run proved to be decisive. Johnson also broke up Hendley’s no-hitter in the seventh on an opposite-field double to right. He was the only baserunner of the game, reaching twice.

“I remember standing on the top step of the dugout watching Koufax throw,’’ Hendley said. “He was coming out from under his cap on every pitch. His fastball was rising, and his curve was like it was falling off a tabletop. I was hoping we could do something to break it open or at least get somebody on base. But it didn’t happen.’’

He never blamed Krug for the throwing error. Krug retired and lives in his hometown of Los Angeles. They are the same age and stay in touch. Krug later served as a coach for the San Diego Padres and was a manager in the Mets’ minor league system.

Krug started a company, Athletic Turfs, that was involved in building the baseball field for the movie “Field of Dreams’’ starring Kevin Costner.

“He once told me in the movie there’s a tractor moving along the edge of the cornfield,’’ Hendley said. “That’s him.’’

For all the notoriety Hendley has received over the years from the game with Koufax, there is another game he cherishes even more. In his second year in the big leagues, he was pitching for Milwaukee against the Philadelphia Phillies on the night of Aug. 4, 1962.

His girlfriend, Runette Harris, made the trip from Macon to Milwaukee with two friends to watch him pitch. She and Hendley would talk for more than an hour every night on the phone when he was away on road trips. This time, she was there to see him in person at County Stadium.

The Braves won 6-2 behind Hendley’s complete game. He hit his only career home run in the second inning, a two-run blast off future Phillies manager Dallas Green.

The next day was Runette’s 20th birthday.

He had known her since she was a skinny, 14-year-old blonde who lived three doors down on a dirt street in Macon called Grand Avenue. He was three years older. They would talk on the porch. His senior year at Lanier, he asked her if she would wear his Junior ROTC company colors, a sign of going steady.

“That was the beginning,’’ he said. “She became the love of my life.’’

They were married on Jan. 26, 1964 — after baseball season and before spring training. Their sons, Brett and Bart, came along in 1967 and 1971. The “Mavericks,’’ as the boys were often called by family members, played baseball for their dad, who coached for 30 years at Tattnall Square, River North and Stratford.

The Hendleys were blessed with four grandchildren — Blake, Brooke, Mia and Ty. Blake and Brooke were fraternal twins. Brooke was a kindergarten student at Stratford when she was diagnosed with a mitochondrial disorder called “Leigh’s Disease.’’

She died 20 years ago this summer. The pinwheels behind the preschool at Stratford were dedicated in her memory in April 2017. 

The pinwheels dance in the breeze across from the baseball field named for her grandfather. Her brother spoke at the dedication, the month before he graduated.

Runette Hendley was diagnosed with cancer in 2022. For two years, Bobby Hendley was her devoted caregiver in the small, brick house where they had lived since 1970.

She never complained. She was the rock of the family. 

They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in 2024. She died nine months later. On Oct. 21, it will have been one year.

“For almost 70 years, we were always together,’’ Hendley said. “We were inseparable. That’s why it’s so difficult.’’

Hendley is proud to have served his country in the Army National Guard. And although it took him 13 years, he received his degree in English from Mercer in 1970, the year after he retired from pro baseball.

He laughs about majoring in English. He never taught it in the classroom. But he is putting it to use now. After his wife’s death, he started writing a book.

For as much as he loves baseball, this will be a different kind of love story.

He keeps a framed photograph of Runette on an end table in his living room. It is next to the chair where she always sat.

The photo will be on the cover of the book. The title will be “Runette: A Love Story.” It will be a tribute to her.

For now, he is writing it in longhand. Sometimes he can’t read the words for all the tears in his eyes.

In the late innings of his life, he wonders if he will have time to complete it.

“Don’t worry, Dad,’’ his son Bart told him. “If you don’t finish it, I will.’’