67 Facts About Sandy Koufax

Sandy Koufax has been hailed as one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history.

Sandy Koufax was an All-Star in each of his last six seasons, leading the National League in ERA each of his last five years, in strikeouts four times, in wins and shutouts three times each, and in winning percentage, innings pitched and complete games twice each; he was the first NL pitcher in 20 years to post an ERA below 2.

Sandy Koufax was the first pitcher to record 300 strikeouts three times, and set a record with 97 games of at least 10 strikeouts, later broken by Ryan; he twice tied a modern record by striking out 18 batters in a game.

Sandy Koufax was named the NL Most Valuable Player in 1963, and was runner-up for the award the other two years.

Sandy Koufax was the first major league pitcher to hurl four no-hitters, and in 1965 became the eighth pitcher and the first left-hander since 1880 to pitch a perfect game.

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Sandy Koufax was named the World Series MVP in both 1963 and 1965, earning two wins in each Series and striking out 52 batters to lead the team to another pair of titles.

Sandy Koufax is notable for being one of the outstanding Jewish athletes in U S sports; Koufax's decision not to pitch Game 1 of the 1965 World Series because it fell on the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur garnered national attention as a conflict between religious calling and society, and remains a notable event in U S Jewish history.

Sandy Koufax was the first pitcher in history to average more than one strikeout per inning, and the first to allow fewer than seven hits per nine innings pitched.

Sandy Koufax briefly held the Dodgers records for career strikeouts and shutouts until longtime teammate Don Drysdale passed him in 1968.

Sandy Koufax was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1972, becoming at age 36 the youngest player ever elected.

Sandy Koufax has since worked for the Dodgers organization in a variety of capacities.

Sandy Koufax was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Jewish family and was raised in Borough Park.

Sandy Koufax's mother was remarried when he was nine, to Irving Koufax.

Sandy Koufax attended Brooklyn's Lafayette High School, where he was better known for basketball than for baseball.

Sandy Koufax started playing basketball for the Edith and Carl Marks Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst local community center team.

In 1951, at the age of 15, Sandy Koufax joined a local youth baseball league known as the "Ice Cream League".

Sandy Koufax started out as a left-handed catcher before moving to first base.

Laurie recognized that Sandy Koufax might be able to pitch, and recruited the 17-year-old to pitch for the Coney Island Sports League's Parkviews.

Sandy Koufax attended the University of Cincinnati and was a walk-on on the freshman basketball team, a complete unknown to assistant coach Ed Jucker.

Sandy Koufax planned to use the money as tuition to finish his university education, if his baseball career failed.

When Sandy Koufax allowed baserunners, he was rarely permitted to finish the inning.

Teammate Joe Pignatano said that as soon as Sandy Koufax threw a couple of balls in a row, Alston would signal for a replacement to start warming up in the bullpen.

Robinson saw that Sandy Koufax was talented and had flashes of brilliance, and objected to him being benched for weeks at a time.

In June 1959, Sandy Koufax set the record for a night game with 16 strikeouts.

In early 1960, Sandy Koufax asked Dodgers general manager Buzzie Bavasi to trade him because he was not getting enough playing time.

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Sandy Koufax tried one more year of baseball, showing up for the 1961 season in better condition than he ever had before.

Teammate Ed Palmquist missed the flight, so Sandy Koufax was told he would need to pitch at least seven innings.

The advice worked, Sandy Koufax struck out the side, and then went on to pitch seven no-hit innings.

Sandy Koufax was an immediate beneficiary of the change, lowering his ERA at home from 4.

Sandy Koufax had a strong season despite an injured pitching hand.

Sandy Koufax was pitching better than ever so he ignored the problem, hoping that the condition would clear up.

Sandy Koufax, who had reduced his walks allowed per nine innings to 3.

Sandy Koufax walked Ed Bailey on a 3-and-2 pitch in the eighth, and pinch-hitter McCovey on four pitches in the ninth, before closing out the game.

Sandy Koufax threw 11 shutouts, eclipsing Carl Hubbell's 30-year post-1900 mark for a left-handed pitcher of 10 and setting a record that stands to this day.

Sandy Koufax won the NL MVP Award and the Hickok Belt, and was the first-ever unanimous selection for the Cy Young Award.

Sandy Koufax was diagnosed by Dodgers team physician Robert Kerlan with traumatic arthritis.

Sandy Koufax returned to Los Angeles to consult with Kerlan, who advised him that he would be lucky to be able to pitch once a week.

Sandy Koufax agreed not to throw at all between games—a resolution that lasted only one start.

Sandy Koufax took Butazolidin for inflammation, applied capsaicin-based Capsolin ointment before each game, and soaked his arm in a tub of ice afterwards.

Sandy Koufax declined to pitch Game 1 of the 1965 World Series in order to observe the Jewish religious holiday of Yom Kippur.

Sandy Koufax's decision garnered national headlines, raising the conflict between professional pressures and personal religious beliefs to front-page news.

Sandy Koufax won the Hickok Belt a second time, the first time anyone had won the belt more than once.

Sandy Koufax was awarded Sports Illustrated magazine's Sportsman of the Year award.

Sandy Koufax kept Kerlan's advice to himself and went out every fourth day to pitch.

Sandy Koufax started 41 games ; only two left-handers have started more games in any season over the ensuing years through 2021.

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Sandy Koufax pitched well enough—Baltimore first baseman Boog Powell told Koufax's biographer, Jane Leavy, "Sandy Koufax might have been hurtin' but he was bringin'"—but three errors by Dodger center fielder Willie Davis in the fifth inning produced three unearned runs.

Less than six weeks after the series, on Friday, Sandy Koufax announced his retirement due to an arthritic elbow.

Sandy Koufax became the second pitcher in baseball history to have two games with 18 or more strikeouts, and the first to have eight games with 15 or more strikeouts.

Sandy Koufax remains, over half a century later, on the very short list of pitchers who retired with more career strikeouts than innings pitched.

Sandy Koufax was selected as an All-Star for six consecutive seasons and made seven out of eight possible All-Star Game appearances those seasons .

Sandy Koufax pitched six innings in four All-Star games, including being the starting pitcher for three innings in the 1966 All-Star Game.

Sandy Koufax was the first pitcher to win multiple Cy Young Awards, an especially impressive feat because it was during the era when only one was given out for both major leagues.

Sandy Koufax is the first pitcher to win the award by a unanimous vote—a recognition which he accomplished twice more.

At the beginning of his career Sandy Koufax fought a tendency to "tip" pitches to the opposing team through variations in his wind-up, which included the position in which he held his hands at the top of the wind-up.

Sandy Koufax quit after six years, just prior to the start of the 1973 season.

Sandy Koufax resigned in 1990, saying he was not earning his keep, but most observers blamed it on his uneasy relationship with manager Tommy Lasorda.

Sandy Koufax returned to the Dodger organization in 2004 when the Dodgers were sold to Frank McCourt.

Sandy Koufax was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, 1972, just weeks after his 36th birthday.

Sandy Koufax was the youngest player ever elected, five months younger than Lou Gehrig upon his special election in December 1939 .

Sandy Koufax was named that year as one of the 30 players on the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

In 1990 Sandy Koufax was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Sandy Koufax was the final player chosen in the inaugural Israel Baseball League draft in April 2007, picked, at 71 years old, by the Modi'in Miracle.

Sandy Koufax threw the ceremonial first pitch to Bench from in front of the base of the mound.

Sandy Koufax has been described by Sports Illustrated writer John Rosengren as a secular Jew.

Sandy Koufax married Anne Widmark, the daughter of actor Richard Widmark, in 1969; they divorced in 1982.

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Sandy Koufax is the stepfather of Clarke's daughter from her prior marriage to artist John Clem Clarke.

Sandy Koufax serves as a member of the advisory board of the Baseball Assistance Team, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping former major league, minor league, and Negro league players through financial and medical difficulties.