Sandy Koufax

Koufax

Because Koufax's signing bonus was greater than $4,000 ($38,000 today), he was known as a bonus baby. This forced the Dodgers to keep him on the major league roster for at least two years before he could be sent to the minors. To make room for him, the Dodgers optioned their future Hall of Fame manager, Tommy Lasorda, to the Montreal Royals of the International League. Lasorda would later joke that it took Koufax to keep him off the Dodger pitching staff.[27]

Koufax made his major league debut on June 24, 1955, against the Milwaukee Braves, with the Dodgers trailing 7–1 in the fifth inning. Johnny Logan, the first batter Koufax faced, hit a bloop single. Eddie Mathews bunted, and Koufax threw the ball into center field. He then walked Hank Aaron on four pitches to load the bases, but struck out Bobby Thomson on a 3–2 fastball—an outcome Koufax later came to view as "probably the worst thing that could have happened to me," leading, as it did, to five seasons spent "trying to get out of trouble by throwing harder and harder and harder."[28]

Koufax's first start was on July 6.[29] He lasted only ​4 ²⁄₃ innings, giving up eight walks.[30] He did not start again for almost two months, but on August 27, Koufax threw a two-hit, 7–0 complete game shutout against the Cincinnati Reds for his first major league win.[30][31] Koufax threw ​41 ²⁄₃ innings in 12 appearances that season, striking out 30 batters and walking 28. He had two wins in 1955, which were both shutouts.[32]

During the fall, he enrolled in the Columbia University School of General Studies, which offered night classes in architecture. The Dodgers won the 1955 World Series for the first title in franchise history, but Koufax did not appear in the series. After the final out of Game Seven, Koufax drove to Columbia to attend class.[33]

A ticket from the game where Koufax earned his first career win

The year 1956 was not very different from 1955 for Koufax. Despite the blazing speed of his fastball, Koufax continued to struggle with his control.[34] He saw little work, pitching only ​58 ²⁄₃ innings with a 4.91 earned run average, 29 walks and 30 strikeouts. When Koufax allowed baserunners, he was rarely permitted to finish the inning. Teammate Joe Pignatano said that as soon as Koufax threw a couple of balls in a row, Alston would signal for a replacement to start warming up in the bullpen. Jackie Robinson, in his final season, clashed with Alston on Koufax's usage. Robinson saw that Koufax was talented and had flashes of brilliance, and objected to Koufax being benched for weeks at a time.[35]

To prepare for the 1957 season, the Dodgers sent Koufax to Puerto Rico to play winter ball. On May 15, the restriction on sending Koufax down to the minors was lifted. Alston gave him a chance to justify his place on the major league roster by giving him the next day's start. Facing the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, Koufax struck out 13 while pitching his first complete game in almost two years. For the first time in his career, he was in the starting rotation, but only for two weeks. Despite winning three of his next five with a 2.90 earned run average, Koufax did not get another start for 45 days. In that start, he struck out 11 in seven innings, but got a no-decision. On September 29, Koufax became the last man to pitch for the Brooklyn Dodgers before their move to Los Angeles, by throwing an inning of relief in the final game of the season.[36]

Over the next three seasons, Koufax was in and out of the Dodger starting rotation due to injuries. In 1958, he began 7–3, but sprained his ankle in a collision at first base, finishing the season at 11–11 and leading the NL in wild pitches. In June 1959, Koufax set the record for a night game with 16 strikeouts. On August 31, 1959, he surpassed his career high with 18 strikeouts, setting the NL record and tying Bob Feller's major league record for strikeouts in one game.[37]

In 1959, the Dodgers won a close pennant race against the Braves and the Giants, then beat the Chicago White Sox in the World Series. Koufax pitched two perfect relief innings in the Series opener, though they came after the Dodgers were already behind 11–0. Alston gave him the start in the fifth game, at the Los Angeles Coliseum in front of 92,706 fans. Koufax allowed only one run in seven innings, but lost the 1–0 game when Nellie Fox scored on a double play. Returning to Chicago, the Dodgers won the sixth game and the Series.[38]

In early 1960, Koufax asked Dodgers general manager Buzzie Bavasi to trade him because he was not getting enough playing time. By the end of 1960, after going 8–13, Koufax was thinking about quitting baseball to devote himself to an electronics business that he had invested in. After the last game of the season, he threw his gloves and spikes into the trash. Nobe Kawano, the clubhouse supervisor, retrieved the equipment to return to Koufax the following year (or to somebody else if Koufax did not return to play).[39]

Koufax in 1961

Koufax tried one more year of baseball and showed up for the 1961 season in better condition than he had in previous years. Years later he recalled, "That winter was when I really started working out. I started running more. I decided I was really going to find out how good I can be."[40] During spring training, Dodger scout Kenny Myers discovered a hitch in Koufax's windup: he would rear back so far that his vision was obstructed and he could not see the target.[41]

A day later, Koufax was pitching for the "B team" in Orlando. Teammate Ed Palmquist missed the flight, so Koufax was told he would need to pitch at least seven innings. In the first inning, Koufax walked the bases loaded on 12 straight pitches. Catcher Norm Sherry advised Koufax to throw slightly less hard in order to improve his control. The advice worked, as Koufax struck out the side, going on to pitch seven no-hit innings.[42]

It was the beginning of Koufax's breakout season. Posting an 18–13 record for the Dodgers in 1961, Koufax led the league with 269 strikeouts, breaking Christy Mathewson's 58-year-old NL mark of 267.[43] Koufax was selected as an All-Star for the first time and made two All-Star Game appearances; MLB held two All-Star games from 1959 through 1962.[44] He faced only one batter, in the ninth inning in the first game, giving up a hit to Al Kaline, and he pitched two scoreless innings in the second game.[45]

In 1962, the Dodgers moved from the Los Angeles Coliseum, which had a 250-foot left field line, to pitcher-friendly Dodger Stadium. The new park had a large foul territory and a comparatively poor hitting background. Koufax was an immediate beneficiary of the change, lowering his earned run average at home from 4.29 to 1.75.[46] On June 30 against the expansion New York Mets, Koufax threw his first no-hitter. In the first inning of that game, Koufax struck out three batters on nine pitches to become the sixth National League pitcher and the 11th pitcher in major league history to accomplish a nine-pitch/three-strikeout half-inning, also called an immaculate inning. With the no-hitter, a 4–2 record, 73 strikeouts, and a 1.23 earned run average for June, he was given the Major League Baseball Player of the Month Award.[47][48] It would be the only time in his career he earned this distinction.[49]

1962 Bell Brand Sandy Koufax

Koufax had his strong season despite an injured pitching hand. While batting in April, Koufax had been jammed by a pitch from Earl Francis. A numbness developed in Koufax's index finger on his left hand, and the finger became cold and white. Koufax was pitching better than ever, however, so he ignored the problem, hoping that the condition would clear up. By July, though, his entire hand was becoming numb and he was unable to complete some games. In a start in Cincinnati, his finger split open after one inning. A vascular specialist determined that Koufax had a crushed artery in his palm. Ten days of experimental medicine successfully reopened the artery. Koufax finally was able to pitch again in September, when the team was locked in a tight pennant race with the Giants. But after the long layoff, Koufax was ineffective in three appearances as the Giants caught the Dodgers at the end of the regular season, forcing a three-game playoff.[50]

The night before the National League playoffs began, manager Alston asked Koufax if he could start the first game the next day. With an overworked pitching staff, there was no one else, as Don Drysdale and Johnny Podres had pitched the prior two days. Koufax obliged. Koufax later said, "I had nothing at all." He was knocked out in the second inning, after giving up home runs to future Hall of Famer Willie Mays and Jim Davenport. After winning the second game of the series, the Dodgers blew a 4–2 lead in the ninth inning of the deciding third game, losing the pennant.[51]

In 1963, Major League Baseball expanded the strike zone.[52] Compared to the previous season, National League walks fell 13 percent, strikeouts increased six percent, the league batting average fell from .261 to .245, and runs scored declined 15 percent.[53] Koufax, who had reduced his walks allowed per nine innings to 3.4 in 1961 and 2.8 in 1962, reduced his walk rate further to 1.7 in 1963, which ranked fifth in the league.[3] The top pitchers of the era – Drysdale, Juan Marichal, Jim Bunning, Bob Gibson, Warren Spahn, and above all Koufax – significantly reduced the walks-given-up-to-batters-faced ratio for 1963, and subsequent years.[54]

On May 11, Koufax no-hit the San Francisco Giants 8–0, besting future Hall of Fame pitcher Marichal—himself a no-hit pitcher on June 15. Koufax carried a perfect game into the eighth inning against the powerful Giants lineup, including future Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, and Orlando Cepeda. He 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.[55] As the Dodgers won the pennant, Koufax won the pitchers' Triple Crown, leading the league in wins (25), strikeouts (306) and earned run average (1.88).[56] Koufax threw 11 shutouts, setting a new post-1900 record for shutouts by a left-handed pitcher that stands to this day (the previous record of 10 shutouts had been held by Carl Hubbell for 30 years). Only Bob Gibson, a right-hander, has thrown more shutouts (13) since, and that was in 1968,[57] "the year of the pitcher."[58]

Koufax won the National League MVP Award and the Hickok Belt, and was the first-ever unanimous selection for the Cy Young Award.[59][60]

Facing the Yankees in the 1963 World Series, Koufax beat Whitey Ford 5–2 in Game 1 and struck out 15 batters – including the first 5, breaking Carl Erskine's decade-old record of 14 (Gibson would break Koufax's record by striking out 17 Detroit Tigers in the 1968 World Series opener). After seeing Koufax's Game 1 performance, Yogi Berra said, "I can see how he won 25 games. What I don't understand is how he lost five,"[61] to which Maury Wills responded, "He didn't. We lost them for him."[62] In Game 4, Koufax completed the Dodgers' series sweep with a 2–1 victory over Ford, clinching the Series MVP Award for his performance.[63][64]

Koufax's 1964 season started with great expectations. On April 18, he struck out three batters on nine pitches in the third inning of a 3–0 loss to the Cincinnati Reds, becoming the only National League pitcher to have two nine-pitch/three-strikeout half-innings.[48] On April 22, however, "he felt something let go in his arm." Koufax ended up getting three cortisone shots for his sore elbow, and missed three starts.[65]

On June 4, playing at Connie Mack Stadium against the Phillies, Koufax walked Richie Allen on a very close full-count pitch in the fourth inning. Allen, who was thrown out trying to steal second, was the only Phillie to reach base that day. With his third no-hitter in three years, Koufax became only the second pitcher of the modern era (after Feller) to pitch three no-hitters.[66]

Koufax jammed his pitching arm in August while diving back to second base to beat a pick-off throw. He managed to pitch and win two more games. However, the morning after his 19th win, a shutout in which he struck out 13 batters, he could not straighten his arm. He was diagnosed by Dodgers' team physician Robert Kerlan with traumatic arthritis. With the Dodgers out of the pennant race, the book was closed on Koufax and his 19–5 record.[67]

The 1965 season brought more obstacles for Koufax. On March 31, the morning after pitching a complete spring training game, Koufax awoke to find that his entire left arm was black and blue from hemorrhaging. Koufax returned to Los Angeles to consult with Kerlan, who advised Koufax that he would be lucky to be able to pitch once a week. Kerlan also told Koufax that he would eventually lose full use of his arm. Koufax agreed not to throw at all between games—a resolution that lasted only one start. To get himself through the games he pitched in, Koufax resorted to Empirin with codeine for the pain, which he took every night and sometimes during the fifth inning. He also took Butazolidin for inflammation, applied capsaicin-based Capsolin ointment (called "atomic balm" by baseball players) before each game, and soaked his arm in a tub of ice afterwards.[68]

Despite the constant pain in his pitching elbow, Koufax pitched ​335 ²⁄₃ innings and led the Dodgers to another pennant. He finished the year by winning his second pitchers' Triple Crown, leading the league in wins (26), earned run average (2.04) and strikeouts (382; the highest modern day total at the time. Nolan Ryan struck out 383 batters in 1973). Koufax captured his second unanimous Cy Young Award. Koufax held batters to 5.79 hits per nine innings, and allowed the fewest base runners per 9 innings in any season ever: 7.83, breaking his own record (set two years earlier) of 7.96. Koufax had 11-game winning streaks in both 1964 and 1965.[3][69]

On September 9, 1965, Koufax became the sixth pitcher of the modern era, and eighth overall, to throw a perfect game, the first by a left-hander since 1880.[70][71] The game was Koufax's fourth no-hitter,[71] setting a Major League record (subsequently broken by Ryan in 1981).[72] Koufax struck out 14 batters, at the time the most recorded in a perfect game (tied by Matt Cain in 2012). The game also featured a quality performance by the opposing pitcher, Bob Hendley of the Cubs. Hendley pitched a one-hitter and allowed only two batters to reach base.[73] Both pitchers had no-hitters intact until the seventh inning.[74]

This remains the only nine-inning major league game where the teams combined for just one hit.[75][76] The game's only run, scored by the Dodgers, was unearned. The Dodger run was scored without a hit when Lou Johnson walked, reached second on a sacrifice, stole third, and scored on an inaccurate throw by Chicago catcher Chris Krug.[74]

Koufax garnered headlines by declining to pitch Game 1 of the World Series because of his observance of the Jewish religious holiday of Yom Kippur. This decision garnered national attention as an example of conflict between professional pressures and personal religious beliefs.[7] Drysdale pitched the opener, but was hit hard by the Minnesota Twins.[77]

In Game 2, Koufax pitched six innings, giving up two runs, and the Twins won the Game 5–1 and took an early 2–0 lead in the series. The Dodgers fought back in Games 3 and 4, with wins by Claude Osteen and Drysdale. With the Series tied at 2–2, Koufax pitched a complete game shutout in Game 5 for a 3–2 Dodgers lead as the Series returned to Minnesota's Metropolitan Stadium for Game 6. The Twins won Game 6 to force a seventh game. Starting Game 7 on just two days of rest, Koufax pitched through fatigue and arthritic pain. Despite giving up on his curveball early in the game after failing to throw strikes with it in the first two innings and pitching the rest of the game relying almost entirely on fastballs, Koufax threw a three-hit shutout to clinch the Series. The performance earned him his second World Series MVP award. Koufax also won the Hickok Belt a second time, the first time anyone had won the belt more than once. He was awarded Sports Illustrated magazine's Sportsman of the Year award.[3][60][78]

Before the 1966 season began, Koufax and Drysdale met separately with Dodger general manager Bavasi to negotiate their contracts for the upcoming year. After Koufax's meeting, he met Drysdale for dinner and complained that Bavasi was using Drysdale against him in the negotiations, asking, "How come you want that much when Drysdale only wants this much?"[79] Drysdale responded that Bavasi did the same thing with him, using Koufax against him. Drysdale's first wife, Ginger Drysdale, suggested that they negotiate together to get what they wanted. They demanded $1 million (equivalent to $7.9 million in 2019), divided equally over the next three years, or $167,000 (equivalent to $1.32 million in 2019) each for each of the next three seasons. Both players were represented by an entertainment lawyer, J. William Hayes, which was unusual during an era when players were not represented by agents.[80][81] At the time, Willie Mays was Major League Baseball's highest paid player at $125,000 (equivalent to $0.99 million in 2019) per year and multi-year contracts were very unusual.[82]

Koufax and Drysdale did not report to spring training in February. Instead, they both signed to appear in the movie Warning Shot, starring David Janssen. Drysdale was to play a TV commentator and Koufax a detective. Meanwhile, the Dodgers waged a public relations battle against them. After four weeks, Koufax gave Drysdale the go-ahead to negotiate new deals for both of them. Koufax ended up getting $125,000 and Drysdale $110,000 (equivalent to $0.87 million in 2019). They rejoined the team in the last week of spring training.[83] In April 1966, Kerlan told Koufax it was time to retire and that his arm could not take another season. Koufax kept Kerlan's advice to himself and went out every fourth day to pitch. He ended up pitching 323 innings, a 27–9 record, and a 1.73 earned run average. Since then, no left-hander has had more wins, nor a lower earned run average, in a season (Phillies pitcher Steve Carlton matched the 27-win mark in 1972). In the final game of the regular season, the Dodgers had to beat the Phillies to win the pennant. In the second game of a doubleheader, Koufax faced Bunning for the second time that season,[84] in a match-up between perfect game winners. Koufax, on two days rest, pitched a complete game, winning 6–3 to clinch the pennant.[85] He started 41 games (for the second year in a row); only two left-handers started more games in any season over the ensuing years through 2020.[86]

The Dodgers went on to face the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series, and Game 2 marked Koufax's third start in eight days. He pitched well enough—Baltimore first baseman Boog Powell told Koufax's biographer, Jane Leavy, "He 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. Baltimore's 20-year-old Jim Palmer pitched a four-hitter and the Orioles won 6–0.[87] Alston lifted Koufax at the end of the sixth inning,[87][88] with the idea of getting him extra rest before a potential fifth game. It never happened; the Dodgers were swept in four games, not scoring a single run in the last three.[89] Less than six weeks later, Koufax announced his retirement due to his arthritic condition on Friday, November 18, 1966.[90][91]

In his 12-season career, Koufax had a 165–87 record with a 2.76 earned run average, 2,396 strikeouts, 137 complete games, and 40 shutouts. He was the first pitcher to average fewer than seven hits allowed per nine innings pitched in his career (6.79) and to strike out more than nine batters (9.28) per nine innings pitched in his career.[92] He also 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. In his last ten seasons, from 1957 to 1966, batters hit .203 against Koufax, with a .271 on-base percentage and a .315 slugging average.[93]

Koufax's postseason record is impressive: a 4–3 won-lost record with a 0.95 earned run average, in four World Series. He is on the very short list of pitchers who retired with more career strikeouts than innings pitched. Koufax was selected as an All-Star for six consecutive seasons[2] and made seven out of eight All-Star Game appearances those seasons (he was not selected for the 2nd All-Star Game in 1962).[44] He pitched 6 innings in four All-Star games,[94] including being the starting pitcher for 3 innings in the 1966 All-Star Game.[95]

Koufax was the first pitcher to win multiple Cy Young Awards, as well as the first pitcher to win a Cy Young Award by a unanimous vote. He is also the only pitcher to win three Cy Young Awards in the era in which the award was presented to one pitcher across the board, rather than one in each major league, and one of three Dodgers pitchers to win the one-across-the-board Cy Young Award. (The others were Don Newcombe, the first Cy Young winner in 1956, and Drysdale in 1962.) Each of Koufax's three Cy Young Awards were by unanimous vote.[3][96] Koufax and Juan Marichal are the only two pitchers to have more than one 25-win season in the post-war era (1946–present), with each pitcher recording three.[97]

Through 2020, among Jewish major league pitchers, he was first all-time in career strikeouts (ahead of Ken Holtzman), second in wins (behind Holtzman) and earned run average (behind Barney Pelty), and eighth in games pitched (behind Alan Levine and Larry Sherry).[98]