Sandy Koufax- Apology Not Enough from Dodgers Over 'Gay' Article

ESPN ^ | February 22, 2003 | Linda Cohen

[ewing]

Sandy Koufax will sever his 48 year ties with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers over a ballclub parent owned article that appeared in the New York Post that said a 'Hall of Fame Dodger player' was gay.

The Dodgers had offered a formal apology to the all star in return for his particiaption in club activites

[Lemondropkid31]

Thats my question too; why is he blaming the Dodgers for this? No one on the team did anything wrong.

[Cagey]

Can you imagine his outrage if these rumors are not true?

And, can you imagine his outrage if the rumors are true? Why a private person's life is publicly discussed in the first place is just plain wrong.

[TruthWillWin]

Koufax is a class act, very private and very proud. So given the fact that he never married and he guards his private life, gossipmongers assume the worst. I don't blame him for severing his ties with the team. And yes, in his prime he was almost unhittable.

Koufax has been married. His first wife's name was Ann.

[Dog Gone]

The Dodgers had nothing to do with starting the rumor. My opinion of Koufax has gone down because of this, and not because of the allegation.

[ewing]

Sandy has said that he would 'look stupid' supporting the Dodgers while the NY Post parent company still owns the team.

So I assume that if Rupert Murdoch sells his stake of the ballclub Sandy will come back to be pitching coach again..

[ET(end tyranny)]

I dont think Clemens is gay at this moment, he has a wife now..

FWIW, gay people DO get married to the opposite sex. They even have kids by their spouses. Sometimes its just for cover...

[vrwc54]

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/reviews/2003-02-12-koufax_x.htm

At Koufax's request, Leavy didn't interview his closest living relatives, a niece and nephew. She chose not to call his two former wives or his current girlfriend. She writes: "You don't need to know everything to write the truth. You just need to know enough."

[Iowegian]

Koufax has been married. His first wife's name was Ann.

OK, my mistake. Makes the rumors even more questionable to me.

[txrangerette]

I read the linked story(by clicking on
MLB News). All I got is that Koufax &
a bunch of others are upset about a
gossip column mention implying he is
Gay. Nowhere does he or anyone else
confirm he is Gay. They're just mad as
hops it was implied.

Is there confirming info out there? I
did not seek out knowing such a thing
about Koufax or anyone. But now I do
want to understand what is going on.

Previous posts assume this is known.

[Zebra]

Here's why:

50,000,000 see the article--now presume he's gay.

15,000,000 see the retraction. Most probably still think he is gay, and that the paper published the retraction out of fear of a lawsuit.

You cannot undo damage in our sensational, tabloid culture. Just ask Richard Jewel.

If I were Koufax, I'd never associate with the Dodgers again (at least for so long as they are owned by News Corp).

[Iowegian]

The Dodgers had nothing to do with starting the rumor. My opinion of Koufax has gone down because of this, and not because of the allegation.

Yes I know they didn't, but he was taking a stand and he would have to swallow his pride to go back on that now, and as I said before he is a proud and private man. This is just the kind of thing he despises the most from the press, gossipmongering. Good newspapers don't do that.

[ewing]

If I was Sandy and this was not true, I would sue.

[ewing]

I agree if Sandy was concerned about taking a stand then he should take them to court.

[Kevin Curry]

FWIW, gay people DO get married to the opposite sex. They even have kids by their spouses. Sometimes its just for cover . . .

IOW, "gay" is a behavior choice that can switched on and off and controlled--it is not a exotic third or fourth gender.

Of course, rational poople know that and have always known that.

[Iowegian]

Good post, I agree. But unfortunately, now that he has done this (sever ties with the Dodgers) it multiplies the number of people who read about it and assume that it is true. Just read the thread and you'll see that. But that is what happens sometimes when you fight back against the media.

[Iowegian]

But that is not how the gossipmongers work. They don't mention names or facts, they report rumors and don't name names. Like last year they wrote a little piece about a rumor going arond that a member of the Mets is gay. Right away the rest of the press and public assumes it's true and pretty soon they are all asking question to several players to feed the frenzy. Same here. They don't want to get sued so the do it on the sly, giving just enough information for everyone to narrow it down to a few people or in the case of Koufax, just him, without naming him, of course.

[txrangerette]

Oh fine, the media circus of a lawsuit
to prove the Post/Gossip writer knew
Sandy isn't Gay(or should've known)
but wrote it anyway. Yeah, that would
get his personal life back to privacy.

IOW, no confirming info that he's Gay.

[Iowegian]

If I was Sandy and this was not true, I would sue.

See the ESPN article, he can't sue, they didn't use his name in the story.

[laredo44]

But Alomar is probably the closest to being 'out of the closet' I dont think anyone has asked him

Why would they?

[Iowegian]

Why would they?

I don't know why they would, but I do know why they won't.