Sandy Koufax

Sanford Koufax (born Sanford Braun on December 30, 1935, in Brooklyn, New York), often called "the Left Arm of God," is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who played 12 seasons for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers from 1955 to 1966. He is regarded as one of the greatest pitchers ever. Koufax was the first player to win the Cy Young Award three times, each time unanimously, and the only pitcher to do so when a single award covered both leagues. He was also the National League Most Valuable Player in 1963. He retired at age 30 because of chronic pain in his pitching elbow and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972 at age 36, making him the youngest player ever inducted.

Koufax grew up in a Jewish family in Brooklyn. His parents, Evelyn and Jack Braun, divorced when he was three, and he spent much of his childhood with his maternal grandparents. His mother later remarried Irving Koufax, an attorney, whose surname Sandy took. The family moved to Rockville Centre on Long Island and then back to Brooklyn in 1949. As a youth, Koufax was better known for basketball than baseball. He played for a community center team in Bensonhurst and was captain of the basketball team at Lafayette High School, where he averaged 16.5 points per game and once dunked twice against the New York Knicks in an exhibition game. He started playing baseball in a youth league in 1951, first as a catcher and first baseman, before a coach noticed his strong arm and recruited him to pitch. He attended the University of Cincinnati as a walk-on for the freshman basketball team, averaging 9.7 points per game, and was a member of a historically Jewish fraternity.

Because of the bonus rule under which he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers at age 19, Koufax never pitched in the minor leagues. His lack of experience led manager Walter Alston to distrust him, and he saw inconsistent playing time in his first six seasons. After making adjustments before the 1961 season, he quickly became the dominant pitcher in the majors and the first major sports star on the West Coast. He was an All-Star in each of his last six seasons, leading the National League in earned run average for five straight years, in strikeouts four times, and in wins and shutouts three times each. He was the first pitcher in the live-ball era to post an ERA below 2.00 in three qualifying seasons and the first in the modern era to record three 300-strikeout seasons.

Koufax won the Major League Pitchers' Triple Crown three times, leading the Dodgers to a pennant each time. He threw four no-hitters, including a perfect game in 1965, and was named World Series MVP twice, leading the weak-hitting Dodgers to titles in 1963 and 1965. Despite his short career, his 2,396 strikeouts ranked seventh in major league history at the time, and his 40 shutouts were tied for ninth in modern National League history. He was the first pitcher to average more than nine strikeouts per nine innings and the first to allow fewer than seven hits per nine innings. Along with teammate Don Drysdale, he was a key figure in baseball's labor movement when they staged a joint holdout before the 1966 season, demanding a fairer contract. Koufax is also considered one of the greatest Jewish athletes; his decision to sit out Game 1 of the 1965 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur drew national attention and made him revered in the American Jewish community.

Since retiring, Koufax has kept a low profile. In December 1966, he signed with NBC as a broadcaster but resigned after six years, uncomfortable with cameras and public speaking. In 1979, he returned to baseball as a pitching coach in the Dodgers' farm system, resigning in 1990 but continuing to make informal appearances during spring training. From 2013 to 2015, he served as a special advisor to Dodgers chairman Mark Walter. In 1999, he was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. His number 32 was retired by the Dodgers in 1972, and a statue of him was unveiled at Dodger Stadium in 2022.