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Posted on 10/04/2014 1:08:54 PM PDT by EveningStar
On the field, Sandy Koufax wasn't just any baseball player. Off the field, he wasn't viewed that way either. The Hall of Fame pitcher isn't just remembered by baseball fans as "the man with the golden arm," but is revered by his Jewish admirers as "the left arm of God" for his talent as well as the public observance of his faith, most notably during the 1965 World Series.
A legendary left-handed pitcher who spent his entire career with the Dodgers, Koufax dominated batters like few ever have, atop mounds in Brooklyn and Los Angeles -- as well as just about every major league locale in between. His preternatural gifts -- notably that knee-buckling curve and relatively overlooked fastball -- earned him three Cy Young Awards and all-time great status in an injury-shortened career that lasted from 1955 through 1966. Five years after retiring at the age of 30, Koufax became the youngest player ever inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971.
For many Jewish fans, he was something even more important than a plaque in Cooperstown. The lanky, reserved product of Lafayette High School in Brooklyn was a role model for young Jewish boys -- and girls -- who dreamt big league dreams while also bolstering the hopes of Jewish adults who hoped to find success or even simply acceptance in an America they may have felt viewed them as outsiders.
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I was a huge Sandy Koufax fan as a kid, even after we moved to the SF Bay Area. Wasn’t easy being a Dodgers fan there. After Koufax retired I eventually switched to being a Giants fan. I didn’t even know he was Jewish then, not that it would have mattered.
Quite a lineup the Dodgers had: Koufax, Drysdale, Osteen, Regan.
Sandy Koufax (27-9, 1.73), Don Drysdale (13-16, 3.42), Claude Osteen (17-14, 2.85), Don Sutton (12-12, 2.99), Phil Regan (14-1, 1.62)
sandy is one of the top ten pitchers of all time...and my personal fave...
Koufax practically invented whole body pitching. He was so good because we almost to the plate to throw.
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/94356/jewish/A-Pair-of-Tefillin-for-Sandy-Koufax.htm
...The day after Yom Kippur, Koufax received a visit in his S. Paul hotel room from Rabbi Moshe Feller, regional director of the Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch — the educational arm of the Lubavitcher Hasidic movement. Feller congratulated Koufax for not playing on Yom Kippur and for “the great assist he gave Rabbis and Jewish educators the world over.”
Rabbi Feller also brought Sandy a pair of tefillin. “Since you bat right and throw left,” he told the pitcher, “I wasn’t sure what type to get you.” (Tefillin are worn on the weaker arm — right-handed people wrap them around their left arm, and lefties on their right arm.) “But considering what your left arm has accomplished, I decided to get you the type you put on your right arm.”...
The only Dodger to hit over .300 on the 1965 team that won the World Series.
Don Drysdale.
A Dodgers fan in 60’s Giant land?..you lucky they didn’t kill you.. those people up there were the enemy. . 60’s so cal kid ping
Totally agree...and more amazing that one of the best RHP ever, Bob Gibson,played at the same time..
Yep. I still have a love/hate relationship with the ol’ blue. I root against them in the regular season, but if the Giants are knocked out of the playoffs I hope the Dodgers win it. Same with the Niners and Green Bay.
If he and Nolan Ryan aren’t the top two of all time, the top two spots are vacant.
http://framework.latimes.com/2014/03/05/holdouts-koufax-and-drysdale-on-movie-set/
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/68068528/sandy-koufax-hit-with-batted-ball-at-dodgers-spring-training
I’ve always hated the Dodgers with a passion but I *do* recall as a kid having heard that Koufax wouldn’t pitch on Saturdays because of his religion.
Koufax did regularly pitch on Friday nights and Saturday days.
Pitcher Jose Bautista (not the current non-Jewish outfielder with the same name), also did not pitch or attend games on the Jewish High Holidays.
As a small boy, I clearly remembering feeling genuinely sorry watching the 1966 World Series which Baltimore swept 4 games to 0 because the great Koufax would pitch no more.
As well as seeing he and Drysdale pitch many times, I was there for his first no-hitter against the Mets.
As a kid in Chicago, I saw Koufax pitch many times, in person at Wrigley Field, as well as on television. He was the best pitcher I have ever seen. If they had had Tommy John Surgery back when he retired, he would have missed a year or so, come back, and his career wins and strikeouts would be almost double. And the surgery would be called Sandy Koufax Surgery. :-)
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