page may give you some idea of how absolutely incredible that part of his career was. His degenerative arthritis in his elbow ended his career at the early age of 30. When you read about the pain and the treatment he went through to pitch every turn in his rotation you can see how much of a warrior he was on the mound. In 1965 he pitched 27 complete games. There are few pitchers in this era of baseball who pitch that many complete games in their career. Koufax admits that he damaged his elbow early in his career when he tried to throw too hard instead of controlling his pitches. There is only one Sandy Koufax and like Casey Stengel said, "The Best of the lot is probably that Jew from Brooklyn." The biography Sandy Koufax by Jane Leavy is a dandy. It centers around the Perfect Game in 1965 and fills in the rest of his life between innings. It is one of the better baseball books I have read in a while. This week's card of the week goes to Sandy Koufax, a few days before Yom Kippur.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Baseball Card of the Week
On September 9, 1965 Sandy Koufax pitched a perfect game against the Chicago Cubs. It was his fourth no hitter in four years, one per year. He struck out the last six batters he faced the final out being Harvey Keuhn. As a young Little Leaguer Sandy Koufax was one of my heros. I never saw him much on TV but I did have a transistor radio. I could pick up Vin Scully announcing the Dodger games when it was night time here in Utah and listen to some of the game before I fell asleep. Most people cannot grasp in this era of baseball how incredibly dominating Koufax was from 1961-1966 when he retired at the age of 30. This page may give you some idea of how absolutely incredible that part of his career was. His degenerative arthritis in his elbow ended his career at the early age of 30. When you read about the pain and the treatment he went through to pitch every turn in his rotation you can see how much of a warrior he was on the mound. In 1965 he pitched 27 complete games. There are few pitchers in this era of baseball who pitch that many complete games in their career. Koufax admits that he damaged his elbow early in his career when he tried to throw too hard instead of controlling his pitches. There is only one Sandy Koufax and like Casey Stengel said, "The Best of the lot is probably that Jew from Brooklyn." The biography Sandy Koufax by Jane Leavy is a dandy. It centers around the Perfect Game in 1965 and fills in the rest of his life between innings. It is one of the better baseball books I have read in a while. This week's card of the week goes to Sandy Koufax, a few days before Yom Kippur.
page may give you some idea of how absolutely incredible that part of his career was. His degenerative arthritis in his elbow ended his career at the early age of 30. When you read about the pain and the treatment he went through to pitch every turn in his rotation you can see how much of a warrior he was on the mound. In 1965 he pitched 27 complete games. There are few pitchers in this era of baseball who pitch that many complete games in their career. Koufax admits that he damaged his elbow early in his career when he tried to throw too hard instead of controlling his pitches. There is only one Sandy Koufax and like Casey Stengel said, "The Best of the lot is probably that Jew from Brooklyn." The biography Sandy Koufax by Jane Leavy is a dandy. It centers around the Perfect Game in 1965 and fills in the rest of his life between innings. It is one of the better baseball books I have read in a while. This week's card of the week goes to Sandy Koufax, a few days before Yom Kippur.
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Nice commentary on the greatest. Koufax was my hero as a kid. My older brother and I listened to Scully announce that perfect game and he, in fact, scored it.
ReplyDeleteI remember when he pitched that perfect game cause my Dad was cheering and thrilled. Sandy Koufax was a household name at our house. Thanks so much for the lovely insider info on him. What a man!
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