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

[ewing]

Too bad it had to go down like this.

I dont agree with his lifestyle choice, but everone agrees that Sandy is a good guy.

[lonestar]

I didn't know he was gay. But then, I never thought about it, never cared one way or the other.

[ewing]

The author on this upcoming book said he interviewed over 400 people for his boigraphy on Sandy and not one person had a bad thing to say about him.

[ewing]

Link http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2003/0221/1512383.html

[vrwc54]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/48828p-45876c.html

The Word

Left-handed praise

You may have read elsewhere that an unnamed "baseball hero" who is the subject of a best-selling biography allegedly agreed to cooperate with the author only after receiving a promise that the book would not reveal he is gay. Now, The Word is no sports fan, but does read best-seller lists, and that made it pretty simple to narrow down the possible subject of that blind item to Sandy Koufax, the great left-handed Dodger pitcher whose bio was a big book this Christmas.

Koufax gay? Nothing wrong with that — but no way!

The Word easily confirmed that Koufax lives in Greenwich Village and in Bucks County, Pa., with a woman he met on Tortola, where they both often spend time. She bears an uncanny resemblance to Carly Simon — and Koufax isn't her first brush with celebrity. She was the roommate of First Lady Laura Bush at Southern Methodist University.

[lexington minuteman 1775]

Saw Koufax strike out 18 once.One of best pitchers in baseball and I always appreciated the fact that he refused to pitch a crucial game because of his religious beliefs.I can't say I blame him for severing ties.He is certainly more of a man than say Buzzie Bavasi and his remarks about minorities.

[Iowegian]

So I guess now we are supposed to assume that every athlete who stays single is a homosexual? It started with Piazza and now Koufax. Must be quite a shock to all those women that they have dated over all these years.

[ewing]

The only other baseball guy who has a book out right now is Joe Dimaggio and his best friend/advisor.

If Sandy wasn't gay, why not just accept the apology and continue working in Spring Training as the 'unofficial' pitching coach emertius?

[ewing]

There were gay rumors dogging Sandy Alomar and Rodger Clemens as well the past few years..

[Iowegian]

What did Bavasi say about minorities?

[Iowegian]

So you assume that all rumors are true?

[Man of the Right]

Koufax was the DiMaggio of his generation: pure class. I watched his perfect game on TV and saw a no-hitter and a 18-strikeout game in person. He lead the league in ERA five consecutive seasons and went 14-7 (14-2 when he was injured), 25-5, 19-5 (when he went out for the season in early August), 26-8, and 27-9. Not many pitchers leave the game at 27 & 9. The Dodgers were incredibly loose when he pitched. Koufax would joke with Johnny Roseboro (another class act) while he was pitching. With Koufax on the mound, the Dodgers knew all they had to do to win was score one run or two runs. Maury Wills would single, steal second, go to third on a grounder, and Tommy Davis or Frank Howard would get the sac fly. Put another W in Koufax's column. Koufax even went 3-1 lifetime against Juan Marichal.

[Theodore R.]

As I recall, Mr. Koufax was once the son-in-law of the late actor Richard Widwark, star of the film "Cheyenne Autumn," among many others.

[TruthWillWin]

I met Sandy and his wife, Ann back in the 70's. At that time if you wanted to talk to him the one thing you did not do was bring up baseball. Sandy wanted more than anything to remain a private regular person. If you mentioned anything about his career he would walk away.

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

[ewing]

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

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

[Man of the Right]

Koufax was never arrested, never trashed the armed forces. He played the game and when he could pitch no longer, departed as gracefully as he threw the curve.

[Lemondropkid31]

I am confused. I read the ESPN article and are they saying that the POST is sorry that they got it wrong and Koufax isn't gay or that they were not supposed to say anything and he is gay?

[ewing]

I can see Sandy taking a moral stand here as long as News Corp owns the Dodgers.

[Iowegian]

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.

[ewing]

That was my question, if the Post has retracted the article and apologized..why is Sandy still boycotting the Dodgers?