Sweet Lou JohnsonExcerpt from “After Jackie – Pride, Prejudice, and Baseball’s Forgotten Heroes: An Oral History” by Cal Fussman, ESPN Books, 2007. Page 180
I went to the Dodgers, and I was home. You know the saying, “Died and gone to heaven”? Well, I walked in the front door to heaven, and there in the clubhouse was Sandy Koufax. He shook my hand and said, “Welcome.” Anybody could have done that. But it was Sandy Koufax who did it.
Everyone was saying, “You’ve got some big shoes to fill.” See, they called me up because Tommy Davis had broken his ankle.
I said, “I wear size 9.”
They said, “Tommy gave us size 12.”
So I gave them a 13. I had myself a year, man. If you look at the statistics in September, when we won 13 games in a row, you’ll see I was right in the middle of it with clutch hits.
My swing put a new sound to my voice. It was my voice that gave me my nickname. During an interview, I answered a question with six words: “Sweet Lou can do it all.” Next thing I know, I was Sweet Lou Johnson. What you have to do when that new voice starts to come out is you have to learn to live without so many lies.
Two hits. After all was said and done, two hits are the reason you’re reading my words right now. You never would have remembered me if I hadn’t got those hits, and I never would have gotten a job back with the Dodgers years later.
The first hit came on September 9, 1965. Sandy was pitching against Bob Hendley of the Chicago Cubs. They were both throwing perfect games until the fifth inning. I walked, got sacrificed to second, stole third, and when the catcher overthrew the base, I scored. We had a run, but still no hits. I got a double later in the game. And that was the only hit. If I hadn’t gotten that hit, there would have been a double no-hitter in a single game.
And Sandy was perfect.
The second hit came in the seventh game of the World Series that year. I hit a home run in the top of the fourth. Gave Koufax a 1-0 lead. That’s all he needed, and we won the Series.
Sandy said “Welcome” to me.
And I said “Thank you” to him.
I went to the Dodgers, and I was home. You know the saying, “Died and gone to heaven”? Well, I walked in the front door to heaven, and there in the clubhouse was Sandy Koufax. He shook my hand and said, “Welcome.” Anybody could have done that. But it was Sandy Koufax who did it.
Everyone was saying, “You’ve got some big shoes to fill.” See, they called me up because Tommy Davis had broken his ankle.
I said, “I wear size 9.”
They said, “Tommy gave us size 12.”
So I gave them a 13. I had myself a year, man. If you look at the statistics in September, when we won 13 games in a row, you’ll see I was right in the middle of it with clutch hits.
My swing put a new sound to my voice. It was my voice that gave me my nickname. During an interview, I answered a question with six words: “Sweet Lou can do it all.” Next thing I know, I was Sweet Lou Johnson. What you have to do when that new voice starts to come out is you have to learn to live without so many lies.
Two hits. After all was said and done, two hits are the reason you’re reading my words right now. You never would have remembered me if I hadn’t got those hits, and I never would have gotten a job back with the Dodgers years later.
The first hit came on September 9, 1965. Sandy was pitching against Bob Hendley of the Chicago Cubs. They were both throwing perfect games until the fifth inning. I walked, got sacrificed to second, stole third, and when the catcher overthrew the base, I scored. We had a run, but still no hits. I got a double later in the game. And that was the only hit. If I hadn’t gotten that hit, there would have been a double no-hitter in a single game.
And Sandy was perfect.
The second hit came in the seventh game of the World Series that year. I hit a home run in the top of the fourth. Gave Koufax a 1-0 lead. That’s all he needed, and we won the Series.
Sandy said “Welcome” to me.
And I said “Thank you” to him.
Excerpt from “After Jackie – Pride, Prejudice, and Baseball’s Forgotten Heroes: An Oral History” by Cal Fussman, ESPN Books, 2007. Page 180
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