Sandy Koufax

A left-handed pitcher, Koufax played his entire 11-year career, 1955-1966, for the Dodgers franchise of Major League Baseball. An accomplished athlete, the Baseball Hall of Fame inducted Koufax in 1972 and he was recognized as an National League All-Star every year between 1961-1966.

Between 1961-1966, Koufax won 18 major awards. In 1965, Koufax again won the NL Triple Crown and the Cy Young Award. The following year, Koufax added another Cy Young Award to his trophy case.

Koufax appeared in four separate World Series competitions while with the Dodgers. The team won three of those championships and Koufax helped by winning four games. One of Koufax's most notable career moments occured during the 1965 World Series. Koufax, an American Jew, famously refused to pitch Game 1 because game day fell on Yom Kippur, the Jewish High Holiday.

Early life

Sandy Koufax was born on December 30, 1935 to Evelyn and Jack Braun.

Koufax attended High school Brooklyn's Lafayette High School. By this time, Koufax had started to visit his local Jewish Community Center and play basketball there. In 1940, at the age of 15, Koufax began to play in the Baseball Ice Cream League where he was noticed by baseball scouts.

While at Lafayette, Koufax was spotted by Milt Laurie, the father of two of Koufax's teammates and coach of the Coney Island Sports League's Parkviews. Laurie got his sons to recruit Koufax to pitch for the Parkviews. Laurie would keep Koufax overnight in order to make sure he got to the baseball field on time.

Koufax graduated from High School and decided to attend the University of Cincinnati on a basketball scholarship.. That season, Koufax went 3–1 with a 2.81 ERA, 51 strikeouts and 30 walks, in 32 innings.

Koufax's first tryout was with the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds.

Dodgers scout Al Campanis had been told about Koufax from a local sporting goods store owner. After seeing Koufax pitch at Lafayette High School, Campanis immediately invited him to a try out at Ebbets Field. Dodgers manager Walter Alston and scouting director Fresco Thompson watched as Campanis assumed the hitter's stance while Koufax started throwing. The Dodgers signed Koufax for $20,000—a $14,000 signing bonus and a $6,000 salary. Koufax accepted this offer, planning to use the signing bonus as tuition for architecture school just in case baseball did not work out.

Professional career

Early years

Because Koufax's signing bonus was greater than $4,000, he was known as a bonus baby. Lasorda would later joke that it took Sandy Koufax to keep him off the Dodger pitching staff.

Koufax made his major league debut on June 24, 1955, in the fifth inning against the Milwaukee Braves with the Dodgers trailing 7–1. Mathews bunted, and Koufax calmly fielded the ball and threw it into center field, trying to get Logan on the force.

Koufax's first game as starting pitcher was on July 6. On August 27, playing at Ebbets Field against the Cincinnati Reds, Koufax threw a two hit, 7–0 complete game shutout for his first major league win. Koufax made only twelve appearances in 1955, pitching 41.7 innings and walking almost as many men (28) as he struck out (30). The Dodgers won the 1955 World Series for the first title in franchise history—but without any help from Koufax, who sat on the bench for the entire series. After the final out of the Series, Koufax drove to Columbia to attend class.

1956 wasn't very different from 1955 for Koufax. Robinson saw that Koufax was talented and had flashes of brilliance, and Robinson objected to Koufax being benched for weeks at a time.

To prepare for the 1957 season, the Dodgers sent Koufax to Puerto Rico to play winter ball. Facing the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, Koufax struck out 13 and earned a complete game win. Despite winning three of his next five, leading the league in strikeouts and having a 2.90 ERA, Koufax didn't get another start for 45 days. On September 29, Koufax became the last man ever to pitch for the Brooklyn Dodgers before their move to Los Angeles, by throwing an inning of relief in the final game of the season.

Over the next three seasons, Koufax was in and out of the Dodger starting rotation due to injuries. In June 1959, Koufax struck out 16 Philadelphia Phillies to set the record for a night game. Game One was in Chicago, where Koufax made his first World Series appearance, pitching two perfect innings of relief in an 11–0 loss. Koufax and the Dodgers lost 1–0 when Nellie Fox scored on a double play.

In early 1960 Koufax asked Dodgers GM Buzzie Bavasi to trade him because he wasn't getting enough playing time. Nobe Kawano, the clubhouse supervisor, retrieved the equipment to return to Koufax the following year (or to somebody else if Koufax did not return to play).

Domination

Koufax showed up for the 1961 season in better condition than he had in previous years. During a spring training trip to Orlando, a Dodger scout eating with Koufax and catcher Norm Sherry the night before the game discovered a hitch in Koufax's windup: he'd rear back far enough that, in his release, his vision was somewhat obstructed by his lead arm and he often couldn't see the full strike zone. Sherry translated it for Koufax in the same words that many others had used in the past: Sandy, you don't have to throw so hard. He also convinced Koufax not to pull so far back in his windup.

In the first inning of the game in Orlando, Koufax walked the bases loaded on 12 straight pitches. By the time he came out of the game after seven innings, Koufax had struck out eight batters, walked five and given up no hits.

Koufax finally broke into the starting rotation permanently. On September 27, Koufax broke the National League record for strikeouts in a season, surpassing Christy Mathewson's 58-year-old mark of 267, set in 1903. Koufax finished the year 18–13, with 269 strikeouts versus 96 walks. During the two 1961 All-Star games, Koufax pitched two and one-third innings without giving up a run. Pitching in this park, Koufax lowered his home ERA from 4.29 to 1.75. On June 30 against the New York Mets, Koufax threw his first no-hitter, and would finish his career with a record four no-hitters; in the first inning of the 5-0 win over the Mets, Koufax struck out three batters on nine pitches to become the sixth National League pitcher and the 11th pitcher in Major League history to accomplish the nine-strike/three-strikeout half-inning, as well as the first pitcher to accomplish the feat in the first inning of a game. While batting against the San Francisco Giants on July 8, Koufax's index finger on his left hand was injured, but he did not tell anybody. Koufax pitched in several more games while his finger slowly developed gangrene. Koufax finally was able to pitch again in September, when the team was locked in a tight pennant race with the Giants. Trying to get back into shape after the long layoff, Koufax was ineffective in three appearances as the Giants caught the Dodgers at the end of the regular season. The night before the National League playoffs, Manager Walter Alston asked Koufax if he could start the first game on the next day.

As Koufax later said, "I had nothing at all."

Koufax came roaring back in 1963. Koufax ended up walking Ed Bailey on a 3-and-2 pitch, but preserved the no-hitter, his second in as many years, by closing out the ninth. Koufax finished the year by winning the pitchers' Triple Crown, leading the league in wins (25), strikeouts (306) and ERA (1.88) while also throwing 11 shutouts.

The Dodgers faced the New York Yankees in the 1963 World Series where Koufax beat Whitey Ford in Game One with a new World Series record 15 strikeouts, and also won Game Four, completing the Dodgers' series sweep of the "Old Yankees", earning the World Series MVP Award for his performance. Koufax also struck out three pinch-hitters, including Harry Bright to end the game. Yogi Berra, after seeing Koufax's Game One performance, was quoted as saying, "I can see how he won 25 games. On April 22, however, against the St. Louis Cardinals, during the first inning of Koufax's third start, he felt something "let go" in his arm. Koufax ended up getting three cortisone shots for his sore elbow, and he missed three starts. On June 4, playing at Shibe Park against the Philadelphia Phillies, in the bottom of the fourth inning, Koufax walked Richie Allen on a very close full-count pitch.

With his third no-hitter in three years, Koufax became only the second pitcher of the modern era (after Bob Feller) to pitch three no-hitters. On August 8, Koufax jammed his pitching arm while diving back to second base to beat a pick-off throw. Koufax finished the year with an impressive 19–5 record.

Playing in pain

The 1965 season started off badly for Koufax. On March 31, the morning after pitching a full game during spring training, Koufax awoke to find that his entire left arm was black and blue from hemorrhaging. Koufax returned to Los Angeles to consult with Kerlan, who advised Koufax that he'd be lucky to be able to pitch once a week. Together, they mapped out a schedule where Koufax would only pitch every 5th day instead of his customary every 4th day, resulting in 34 starts instead of 41. Kerlan didn't think that making 7 fewer starts in a season would make much of a difference, so Koufax agreed not to throw at all between games -- instead of throwing the customary one day between.

To get himself through the games he pitched in, Koufax resorted to cortisone shots in the elbow, Empirin with codeine for the pain (which he took every night and sometimes during the 5th inning), and Butazolidin for inflammation.

Despite the constant pain in his pitching elbow, Koufax finished the year by winning his 2nd pitchers' Triple Crown, leading the league in wins (26), ERA (2.04) and strikeouts (382).

Koufax and the Dodgers won the World Series again, while he captured his 2nd Cy Young Award (again unanimously). In the Series, Koufax declined to pitch Game One due to his observance of Yom Kippur, and his team was hit hard. Koufax pitched six innings, giving up 2 runs in Game Two, but the Minnesota Twins won the game 5–1, and took an early 2–0 lead in the series. The Dodgers fought back, with Claude Osteen, Don Drysdale, and Koufax picking up vital wins to take a 3-2 lead back to Minnesota. Koufax pitched a complete game shutout winning 7-0 in Game Five. Starting Game 7 on only 2 days of rest, Koufax took the ball and, despite not having good command of his curveball and pitching through tiredness and arthritic pain, he threw a 3-hit shutout to clinch the Series.

Perfection

On September 9, 1965, Koufax became the sixth pitcher of the modern era to throw a perfect game. Koufax had not won a game in three weeks; not since Juan Marichal hit Koufax's catcher, John Roseboro, in the head with a baseball bat;

Koufax retired the first batter he faced, Donald Young, a late season call-up, on a pop-up on the second pitch of the game. Koufax got Chris Krug to line out to center field to start off the third inning. In the fourth inning, Koufax got Young to line out to center field and Beckert to fly out to right. Koufax then struck out Williams a second time. Parker managed to dig the ball out to save the play and Koufax's perfect game.

Koufax's nerves started to get to him a little in the seventh, when he threw one pitch that sailed past Young and went all the way to the backstop. Koufax's next two pitches were fastballs right down the middle.

The heart of the Chicago order came up in the eighth inning, and Koufax struck out all three of them. Koufax again struck out the side in the ninth inning, striking out the final two hitters on six straight curveballs, "big balloons" as called by Vin Scully, the Dodgers long time play-by-play announcer. The final out was made by Harvey Kuenn, the same man who made the final out of Koufax's 1963 no-hitter.

Hold out

Before the 1966 season began, both Koufax and Drysdale went to Dodger GM Buzzie Bavasi to negotiate their contracts for the upcoming year. In the past, Bavasi had used Koufax and Drysdale against each other in contract negotiations, saying to Koufax, "How could you ask for so much when Drysdale is only asking for ..."

Koufax and Drysdale both signed to appear in the movie Warning Shot, starring David Janssen. Drysdale was going to play a TV commentator and Koufax was going to play a detective. Dodger management started leaking allegations about dissension between Koufax and Drysdale, trying to drive a wedge between them. Everywhere Miller went, all the players were asking him about Koufax and Drysdale. Koufax finally gave Drysdale the go-ahead to negotiate new deals for the both of them.

In April 1966, Kerlan told Koufax it was time to retire, that his arm could not take another season. Koufax kept Kerlan's advice to himself and went out every fourth day to pitch. In the second game of a doubleheader (Drysdale had lost the first game), Koufax faced Jim Bunning in the first ever match-up between perfect game winners. Game Two marked Koufax's third start in eight days. Koufax pitched well enough---Baltimore first baseman Boog Powell told Koufax's biographer, Jane Leavy, "He might have been hurtin' but he was bringin'"---but three errors by Dodger center fielder Willie Davis in the fifth inning produced three unearned runs, and the Dodgers ended up losing the game 6–0 on Jim Palmer's four-hit pitching. The last man to face Koufax was Andy Etchebarren, who hit into a double play to end the sixth inning---Alston lifted his future Hall of Famer with the idea of getting him extra rest before pitching a potential fifth Series game. After the World Series, Koufax announced his retirement due to his arthritic condition.

In a twelve-season career, Koufax had a 165–87 record with a 2.76 ERA, 2,396 strikeouts, 137 complete games, and 40 shutouts. Koufax was selected for seven All-Star games (twice in 1961 when there were two games played, and once in each year from 1962 to 1966, with the All-Star Game having returned to one game per year in 1963). Koufax was the first pitcher to win multiple Cy Young Awards, as well as the first pitcher to win a Cy Young Award by a unanimous vote; More impressive yet, through Koufax's career and until 1967 there was only one such award given out annually, rather than the current practice of naming a Cy Young Award winner for each league.

Koufax was married to Anne Widmark, daughter of movie star Richard Widmark, until the couple's divorce in 1982.

In his first year of eligibility in 1972, Koufax was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, just weeks after his 36th birthday. On June 4 of that same year, Koufax's uniform number 32 was retired alongside Dodger greats Roy Campanella (39) and Jackie Robinson (42).

The Dodgers hired Koufax to be a minor league pitching coach in 1979. In 2003, Koufax ended his longtime relationship with the Los Angeles Dodgers when the New York Post (which, like the Dodgers, had become part of Rupert Murdoch's business empire) published a story reporting rumors about his sexual orientation and implying that Koufax was gay. Koufax returned to the Dodger organization in 2004 when the Dodgers were sold to Frank McCourt.

In 1999, The Sporting News placed Koufax at number 26 on its list of "The 100 Greatest Baseball Players."

Mechanics

Whereas many left-handed pitchers throw with a three-quarter or sidearm motion, Koufax threw with a pronounced over-the-top arm action. Throughout Koufax's career, he relied on two pitches: his four-seam fastball had a "rising" motion due to underspin and appeared to move very late;

At the beginning of his career, Koufax worked with coaches to eliminate his tendency to "tip" pitches (i.e. Willie Mays said after Koufax's retirement, "Sandy would strike me out two or three times a game and I knew every pitch he was going to throw: fastball, breaking ball.

Career statistics

Pitching statistics