Between 1941 and 1953 the World Series was New York Yankees-Brooklyn Dodgers five times, and the Yankees won five times.
In 1955 the Dodgers had a rookie, a “homemade” one, you would have said, in the sense that he was right there, from Brooklyn, who grew up in Bensonhurst which is the true, great Little Italy, even if he has nothing Italian about him, he is Jewish.
The boy has always been inclined, to tell the truth, more for basketball than baseball. Already in high school he had ended up in the Brooklyn newspapers because he had dunked. And it wasn’t very widespread. He also continued with baseball, playing catcher. Imagine: a left-handed catcher.
Then he went to college, to Cincinnati, where he was something of a star in basketball.
One day he realized that the university’s baseball team was going on an away trip to New Orleans. Man, it’s fun in New Orleans. Always wanted to see it, New Orleans. And so he went to the manager and said: “Good morning, I’m a pitcher.”
Well, that’s how it started. And in 1955, at 20 years old, he was already with the Dodgers.
Who return to the World Series, again as always against the Yankees. Let’s not get it wrong: he doesn’t pitch, but the Dodgers defeat their demons and ghosts, and are finally world champions.
The boy’s name is Sandy Koufax, and from then on he will find a way to be a protagonist.
Only one thing he wasn’t precise about: from 1955 to 1966 he wasn’t a pitcher, he was the pitcher. Always and only with the Dodgers, who in the meantime moved to Los Angeles, he won 4 World Series, in 2 of which (1963 and 1965) he was voted MVP. He finished with 165 wins and only 87 losses. He was three times Cy Young, i.e. best pitcher in the National League.
He threw 4 (FOUR) no-hitters, one of which was Perfect Game, on September 9, 1965, against the Chicago Cubs. The 14 strike outs obtained (at least one for each inning) is still the Perfect Game record. Moreover, that was the game with the fewest hits in the entire history of the MLB, since Bob Handley of the Cubs allowed only one.
In the first of 4 no-hits in the first inning he threw an immaculate inning, that is, he struck out three with 9 pitches.
In the same year as the Perfect Game, 1965, he made the news because he refused to pitch as a starter in Game 1 of the World Series because it was Yom Kippur, a Jewish religious holiday. Then, as mentioned, of that World Series, against the Minnesota Twins, he was MVP.
At the end of the 1966 season, after losing the World Series to the Baltimore Orioles, Koufax retired at just 30 years old. Too many arm problems, too much pain. He had smoked throughout his career, but had always refused to advertise cigarettes and alcohol.
He was then a TV commentator for a long time, then pitching coach, always with the Dodgers, especially with their Minors: people like Orel Hershiser, John Franco, Don Sutton, Pedro Martinez thank him…
Koufax has appeared in numerous TV series, both playing himself and impersonating more or less occasional characters. Jimmy Durante wrote a song about him ‘Dandy sandy’. It’s mentioned in ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ and ‘The Big Lebowski’, and sorry if that’s not much.
At the last World Series, as always, he was at Dodger Stadium, behind home plate and Prince Harry who, together with Meghan, I imagine had no idea that he was just a few centimeters from a monument
Sandy Koufax turns 90 today
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