Sandy Koufax

Sanford Koufax (; né Braun; born December 30, 1935), nicknamed "the Left Arm of God", is an American former baseball player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest pitchers of all time, he played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers from 1955 to 1966. Koufax was the first three-time winner of the Cy Young Award, each time winning unanimously and the only pitcher to do so when a single award was given for both leagues; he was also named the National League Most Valuable Player in 1963. Retiring at age 30 due to chronic pain in his pitching elbow, Koufax was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972 at age 36, the youngest player ever elected.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Koufax was primarily a basketball player in his youth and had pitched in only a few games before signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers at age 19. Due to the bonus rule he signed under, Koufax never pitched in the minor leagues. His lack of pitching experience caused manager Walter Alston to distrust Koufax, who saw inconsistent playing time during his first six seasons. After making adjustments prior to the 1961 season, Koufax quickly rose to become the most dominant pitcher in the major leagues, as well as the first major sports star on the West Coast. He was an All-Star in each of his last six seasons, leading the National League (NL) in earned run average each of his last five years, in strikeouts four times, and in wins and shutouts three times each. He was the first pitcher in the live-ball era to post an earned run average below 2.00 in three different qualifying seasons, and the first in the modern era to record a 300-strikeout season three times.

Koufax won the Major League Pitchers' Triple Crown three times, leading the Dodgers to a pennant in each of those years. He was the first major league pitcher to throw four no-hitters, including a perfect game in 1965. He was named the World Series MVP twice, leading the weak-hitting Dodgers to titles in 1963 and 1965. Despite his comparatively short career, his 2,396 career strikeouts ranked seventh in major league history at the time; his 40 shutouts were tied for ninth in modern NL history. He was the first pitcher in history to average more than nine strikeouts per nine innings pitched, and the first to allow fewer than seven hits per nine innings pitched. Koufax, along with teammate Don Drysdale, became a pivotal figure in baseball's labor movement when the two staged a joint holdout and demanded a fairer contract from the Dodgers before the 1966 season. Koufax is also considered one of the greatest Jewish athletes; his decision to sit out Game 1 of the 1965 World Series because it coincided with the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur garnered national attention and made him a revered figure within the American Jewish community.

Since retiring, Koufax has kept a low profile and makes public appearances on rare occasions. In December 1966, he signed with NBC to work as a broadcaster; uncomfortable in front of cameras and with public speaking, he resigned after six years. In 1979, Koufax returned to work as a pitching coach in the Dodgers' farm system; he resigned from the position in 1990 but continues to make informal appearances during spring training. From 2013 to 2015, Koufax was special advisor to Dodgers chairman Mark Walter. In 1999, he was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. His number 32 was retired by the Dodgers in 1972 and he was honored with a statue at Dodger Stadium in 2022.

Early life

Koufax was born Sanford Braun to a Jewish family on December 30, 1935, in Borough Park, Brooklyn. His parents, Evelyn (née Lichtenstein) and Jack Braun, divorced when he was three years old. The son of a single working parent, he spent most of his childhood with his maternal grandparents and spent his summers at Camp Chi-Wan-Da, a Jewish summer camp in Ulster Park, New York, where his mother worked as a bookkeeper.

Evelyn, a certified public accountant, remarried when her son was nine to Irving Koufax, an attorney, whose name Sandy took. Koufax also gained a stepsister, Edith, Irving's daughter from a previous marriage. Shortly afterwards, the family moved to the Long Island suburb of Rockville Centre. They moved back to Brooklyn in June 1949, the day after Koufax graduated from ninth grade, settling in the neighborhood of Bensonhurst.

As a youth, Koufax was better known for basketball than for baseball. He had started playing it at the Edith and Carl Marks Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst, winning a few local titles with the community center team. Attending Lafayette High School, Koufax would become the basketball team's captain in his senior year. That year, he ranked second in his division in scoring, averaging 16.5 points per game. He made newspaper headlines for the first time when, during a preseason exhibition game between the Lafayette basketball team and the New York Knicks, he dunked twice and showed up Knicks star Harry Gallatin.

In 1951, Koufax joined a local youth baseball league known as the "Ice Cream League", playing for the Tomahawks. He started out as a left-handed catcher before moving to first base. He joined Lafayette's baseball team as a first baseman in his senior year at the urging of his friend Fred Wilpon. While with the high school team, he was spotted by Milt Laurie, a newspaper deliveryman and baseball coach who was the father of two Lafayette baseball players. Laurie noticed Koufax's strong throwing arm and recruited him to pitch for the Coney Island Sports League's Parkviews.

Koufax chose to attend the University of Cincinnati after becoming a walk-on for their freshman basketball team. Playing under coach Ed Jucker, he averaged 9.7 points per game. As a student, he was enrolled in a liberal arts major with the intention of transferring to the architectural school, and was a member of Pi Lambda Phi, a historically Jewish fraternity.

One day, Koufax overheard Jucker, who also coached the college baseball team, planning a last-minute road trip in his office which started in New Orleans. Eager to visit the city, he told Jucker, "I'm a pitcher" and made the team in a subsequent tryout. For the season, Koufax went 3–1 with a 2.81 earned run average, 51 strikeouts and 30 walks in 32 innings pitched.

Major League tryouts

While with the college baseball team, Koufax began to attract the attention of baseball scouts. Bill Zinser, a scout for the Brooklyn Dodgers, sent the team a glowing report that was seemingly filed away and forgotten. Gene Bonnibeau, a scout for the New York Giants, learned of Koufax through a Cincinnati newspaper and invited him to try out at the Polo Grounds after his freshman year. The workout did not go well for the nervous Koufax who threw wildly over the catcher's head; he never heard back from the Giants.

That summer, Koufax began pitching regularly for the Parkviews. In September, Ed McCarrick, a scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates, was highly impressed with Koufax after seeing him in a few sandlot games. At McCarrick's behest, Branch Rickey, general manager of the Pirates, sent scout Clyde Sukeforth to see Koufax. Sukeforth subsequently invited him to Forbes Field for a tryout before the Pirates' front office. Upon seeing Koufax pitch in person, Rickey remarked, "This is the greatest arm I've ever seen." The Pirates, however, failed to offer Koufax a contract until after he was already committed to the Dodgers.

Al Campanis, a Dodgers scout, heard about Koufax from sportswriter Jimmy Murphy of the Brooklyn Eagle who covered sandlot teams in Brooklyn and had seen him pitch a few times. He was also urged by Pat Auletta, the owner of a sporting goods store and founder of the Coney Island Sports League, to see Koufax pitch. Campanis arranged a tryout for him at Ebbets Field. With Dodgers manager Walter Alston and scouting director Fresco Thompson watching, Campanis assumed the hitter's stance while Koufax started throwing; he later said, "There are two times in my life the hair on my arms has stood up: The first time I saw the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the second time, I saw Sandy Koufax throw a fastball."

After the tryout, Koufax's father negotiated the contract with the Dodgers, asking for a bonus which would allow his son to finish college if his baseball career failed. They agreed on a $20,000 contract ($240,000 today) – $6,000 then-league minimum salary, with a $14,000 signing bonus – and not to officially sign until after the season ended, with Irving Koufax and owner Walter O'Malley making a handshake commitment.

Returning to university, Koufax also had a tryout with the Milwaukee Braves after which general manager John Quinn made him a $30,000 offer. Having already committed to signing with the Dodgers, Koufax turned down the Braves' offer. He also turned down a belated offer from the Pirates, promising him $5,000 more than what the Dodgers did. Koufax officially signed with his hometown team on December 14, 1954.

Professional career

At the time of Koufax's signing, the bonus rule implemented by Major League Baseball was still in effect, stipulating that if a major league team signed a player to a contract with a signing bonus in excess of $4,000 ($58,000 today), they were required to keep them on their 25-man active roster for two full seasons. In compliance with the rule, the Dodgers placed Koufax on their major league roster. As it subsequently turned out, Koufax never played in the minor leagues.