COUNTDOWN TO 2000: A day-by-day recap of some of the most important sports moments of the 20th century. / SEPT. 9, 1965 : You Want Perfection? This Is How It’s Done

The Michelangelo of pitchers, Sandy Koufax, produced his masterpiece 34 years ago tonight.

At Dodger Stadium before 29,139, he pitched a perfect game, a 1-0 decision on a night he needed a perfect game to beat the Chicago Cubs’ Bob Hendley, who pitched a one-hitter.

The Dodgers won it on an unearned run in the fifth inning.

Koufax was magnificent. There was no other word for it.

He struck out 14, including the last six batters. He struck out Ernie Banks three times, Billy Williams twice.

The hardest-hit ball was a low line drive that Dodger center fielder Willie Davis ran down. He went to a three-ball count once, a 3-and-0 on Williams in the seventh, then induced him to fly out.

The crowd was on its feet and roaring its support for Koufax, as he faced the Cubs for the final time in the ninth. He struck out Chris Krug and Joe Amalfitano, swinging. The last hitter was Harvey Kuenn, batting for Hendley.

On a 2-and-2 pitch, Kuenn struck out swinging, Koufax went into a victory dance and his catcher, Jeff Torborg, wrapped him in a bear hug.

It was Koufax’s fourth no-hitter. He had been tied with Bob Feller at three for most no-hitters in the game’s modern era.

Also on this date: In 1972, in Munich, Randy Williams, a USC freshman from Compton, leaped 27 feet 1/2 inch on his first try to win an Olympic gold medal in the long jump. . . . On the same day, the Soviet men’s basketball team, led by Alexander Belov, ended the United States’ 62-game Olympic winning streak with a 51-50 result that the U.S. protested, to no avail. . . . In 1992, Robin Yount of Milwaukee became the 17th major leaguer to reach 3,000 hits with a single to center.