Sandy Koufax

Sanford Koufax pitched 12 seasons for the Dodgers, won 165 games, struck out 2,396 batters, and threw four no-hitters including a perfect game. He led the National League in earned run average for five consecutive years, won three Cy Young Awards unanimously, and twice earned World Series MVP honors. Then the arthritis in his left elbow ended his career at 30 years old. In those final six seasons, from 1961 through 1966, he went 129-47 with a 1.95 ERA and seemed to be pitching from a different era than everyone standing in the batter's box against him. Ernie Banks said it was frightening. "He had a tremendous fastball that would rise, a great curveball from the eyes to the ankles. You knew you'd be embarrassed."

Brooklyn

Koufax was born Sanford Braun on December 30, 1935, in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. His parents divorced when he was three, and he grew up with his mother, Evelyn, and her parents. When Evelyn married Irving Koufax, an attorney, Sandy was nine and took his stepfather's name. He played basketball and baseball at Lafayette High School, where his teammate and team captain was Fred Wilpon, the future owner of the New York Mets.

He enrolled at the University of Cincinnati, where he walked on to the basketball team and earned a partial scholarship and averaged 9.7 points per game as a freshman starting forward. The baseball coach noticed his arm and put him on the mound. Scout Al Campanis arranged a workout with the Dodgers, and on December 14, 1954, Koufax signed for a $14,000 bonus and a $6,000 salary. Under the bonus rule at the time, any player who signed for more than $4,000 had to spend two years on the major league roster before being sent to the minors. Koufax never played a game in the minor leagues.

The Wild Years

He debuted on June 24, 1955, pitching two scoreless innings of relief against the Milwaukee Braves. His first win came on August 27, a two-hit shutout of the Cincinnati Reds with 14 strikeouts. The arm was obvious from the start, but the control wasn't. Over his first six seasons he went 36-40 with a 4.10 ERA and walked 405 batters in 691 innings. He threw hard enough to terrify hitters and wild enough to terrify catchers. Tommy Lasorda was sent down to the minors on June 8, 1955, to make room for him on the roster.

He threw the last pitch in Brooklyn Dodgers history, a relief appearance in Philadelphia in September 1957. When the team moved west to Los Angeles, he moved with it and remained mediocre. He was 25 years old with a losing record and no obvious path to the rotation.

The Change

In spring training before the 1961 season, catcher Norm Sherry told Koufax to ease up and stop trying to throw every pitch through a wall. The mechanical adjustment unlocked his control. He won 18 games in 1961, struck out 269 batters to lead the National League, and transformed from a wild thrower into a pitcher. On one late-season start he threw 205 pitches across 13 innings, struck out 15, and won the last game played at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

On June 30, 1962, he no-hit the Mets 5-0 with 13 strikeouts. But in late April he had jammed his left hand batting and developed Raynaud's phenomenon, a circulatory condition that turned his pitching finger white and raised the possibility of amputation. He missed more than two months and finished 14-7 in only 184 innings. The Dodgers lost a three-game playoff to the Giants without him at full strength.

The Peak

From 1963 through 1966, Koufax was the most dominant pitcher anyone had seen in decades. He won three Cy Young Awards (all unanimous, at a time when only one was given for both leagues), the 1963 NL MVP, and two World Series MVP awards.

In 1963 he went 25-5 with a 1.88 ERA, 306 strikeouts, 11 shutouts, and 20 complete games. He won the pitching Triple Crown. In Game 1 of the World Series against the Yankees on October 2, he struck out 15 batters to set a Series record, and the Dodgers swept the defending American League champions in four games.

On June 4, 1964, he threw his third career no-hitter, this one against Philadelphia. On August 8, he was on base in Milwaukee when a pickoff throw sent him diving back to second. He landed on his arthritic elbow. The swelling ran from shoulder to wrist. His season ended at 19-5 with a 1.74 ERA in 223 innings.

On September 9, 1965, he threw a perfect game against the Cubs, striking out 14 in a 1-0 victory. Bob Hendley of the Cubs allowed just one hit that game. Koufax finished 1965 with 26 wins and 382 strikeouts, shattering Rube Waddell's 61-year-old modern record of 349.

World Series Game 1 that year fell on Yom Kippur, and Koufax did not pitch. Don Drysdale started and lost. Koufax won Game 5, then came back on two days' rest for Game 7 and threw a three-hit shutout to beat the Twins. He was named Series MVP for the second time.

In 1966 he went 27-9 with a 1.73 ERA, won his third consecutive Cy Young Award and his third pitching Triple Crown (tying Grover Cleveland Alexander and Walter Johnson). He and Drysdale had staged a joint holdout that spring, eventually signing for $125,000 and $110,000 respectively. His 27 complete games and 323 innings testified to what the arm still had. But by season's end his left elbow was permanently bent, with quarter-inch bone spurs, and suit coats had to be retailored to hide the deformity.

His final appearance came on October 6, 1966, in Game 2 of the World Series against Baltimore, a loss to 20-year-old Jim Palmer. The Orioles swept the Dodgers. On November 18, Koufax announced his retirement. He was 30 years old. "I've got a lot of years to live after baseball," he said, "and I would like to live them with the complete use of my body."

The Arm

The traumatic arthritis in his left elbow was formally diagnosed in August 1964 after the diving incident worsened the joint. Dr. Robert Kerlan, who treated him through the rest of his career, told the press that Koufax pitched "in extreme pain that can only be overcome by his motivational urge." The treatment regimen included cortisone injections into the elbow joint, aspiration of fluid buildup, a chili pepper salve called Capsolin, anti-inflammatory pills, and ice baths after every start. By 1966, Kerlan warned that continuing the medications risked liver damage.

Koufax had thrown four no-hitters in four consecutive seasons (1962 through 1965), a feat no pitcher had accomplished before him. He struck out 10 or more batters 97 times. His opponents batted .205 against him for his career. In 12 seasons he accumulated 397 games, 165 wins, 87 losses, a 2.76 ERA, 137 complete games, 40 shutouts, and 2,396 strikeouts. The BBWAA elected him to the Hall of Fame in 1972 with 86.9 percent of the vote, his first year on the ballot. He was 36 years old at the time, the youngest inductee in Hall of Fame history.

After Baseball

Koufax signed a 10-year, $1 million contract with NBC as a broadcaster on December 30, 1966, his 31st birthday. He found the work uncomfortable because it required criticizing former colleagues, and the contract ended early. He returned to California, invested in real estate, and lived quietly. From 1979 through 1989 he worked as a special pitching coach for the Dodgers, tutoring minor league arms during spring training. He kept such a low profile that his jacket didn't have his name on it.

He has guarded his privacy more fiercely than almost any athlete of his stature. "I live my life," he told an interviewer years later. "Somebody wrote 50 years ago, still writing it. I don't care what anybody says. I'm past caring."