Koufax, "Sandy" [Sanford Braun]
Baseball
b. Dec. 30, 1935, Brooklyn, NY
"If there was ever a better pitcher, it was before my time," Dodger manager Walter Alston said of Koufax. Yet it took Koufax years to become a genuine star and, once he did, his stardom lasted only a short time because of physical problems.
His parents divorced when he was three years old and he took the name of his mother's second husband, Irving Koufax, when she remarried. Koufax starred in basketball in high school, though he played sandlot baseball during the summer, usually as a first baseman.
The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Koufax went to the University of Cincinnati on a basketball scholarship in 1953 and averaged 10 points a game as a freshman. He also pitched for the baseball team and, after striking out 51 hitters in 32 innings, he left college to sign with the NL's Brooklyn Dodgers for a $140,000 bonus.
A left-hander, Koufax was an exceptionally hard thrower, and that was his problem for a long time. In his second major league start in 1955, he pitched a 2-hitter. He said later that performance hurt him, explaining, "I threw real hard in the game, and it worked. . . . It took me a long time to learn that it was wrong."
During his first 6 seasons with the Dodgers, who moved to Los Angeles in 1958, Koufax won just 36 games while losing 40. The turning point in his career came during an exhibition game against the Chicago White Sox in 1961. With the bases loaded and no outs, catcher Norm Sherry came to the mound and told him, "Don't force your fastball. That's when you get real wild. Throw it easy."
Koufax decided to try it, retired the next three hitters without giving up a run, and became a different pitcher. During the next 6 seasons, his last in the majors, he had a 129-47 record. He went 18-13 in 1961, leading the league with 269 strikeouts in only 255 2/3 innings, and he was 14-7 in 1962 with a league-leading 2.54 ERA.
In 1963, Koufax won his first Cy Young Award and was named the league's most valuable player and the Associated Press male athlete of the year. He led the NL in victories with a 25-5 record, 11 shutouts, 306 strikeouts, and a 1.88 ERA to lead the Dodgers to the pennant. In a four-game World Series sweep of the New York Yankees, he had a 2-0 record with a 1.50 ERA and he set a record with 23 strikeouts in 18 innings.
Koufax was the league leader in winning percentage at .792 on a 19-5 record, in shutouts with 7, and in ERA with 1.74 in 1964. He followed that with two consecutive Cy Young Award seasons. In 1965, he was 26-8, a .765 winning percentage, with 27 complete games, 335 2/3 innings pitched, 382 strikeouts, and a 2.04 ERA, leading the league in every category including victories.
He almost duplicated that in 1966 with a 27-9 record, 27 complete games, 5 shutouts, 323 innings pitched, 317 strikeouts, and a 1.73 ERA. Koufax didn't lead in winning percentage that season, but he did lead in shutouts.
The Dodgers won pennants both years. Koufax was 2-1 with a 0.38 ERA and a record 29 strikeouts in 24 innings when Los Angeles beat the Minnesota Twins in seven games in 1965. Despite a 1.50 ERA, he lost his only decision in 1966, when the Baltimore Orioles swept the Dodgers in four games.
During his last three seasons, Koufax pitched in almost constant pain because of arthritis in his pitching arm. He announced his retirement after the 1966 World Series, saying, "I don't regret for one minute the twelve years I've spent in baseball, but I could regret one season too many."
The first pitcher to have four no-hitters, Koufax threw a perfect game against the Chicago Cubs on September 9, 1965. Leading 1-0, he struck out the last 6 hitters he faced. Although famed for his explosive fastball, Koufax often got his strikeouts with a devastating curve that broke sharply down at the last moment.