Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy by Jane Leavy

Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy Reviews

• 
  Brett C(urrently overseas again)

  I enjoyed reading about the legend Sandy Koufax from Brooklyn. Although he had a short-lived career from 1962 to 1966 that saw him lead the National League in ERA all five years, win three Cy Young awards, and pitch four no-hitters including a perfect game. Then he almost completely vanished from baseball. He kept a low-profile except for his induction into the Hall of Fame and occasional appearances at the Dodgers training camps. The importance in his Jewish faith made him refuse to pitch the opening game of the 1965 World Series on Yom Kippur. There's not much out there about Sandy Koufax except for his 1966 autobiography. I found myself immersed in his story and enjoyed it very much. I recommend this one to anyone who loves baseball or a good sports biography. Thanks!
• 
  Brian Eshleman

  I don't know the contours of his character as well as I have in some biographical subjects, but I'm sure the author got as much out of her subject as she could. She certainly made up for it in my other criteria for biographies, how well does the author conveyed to the reader the flavor of the times. I think she could have written a book on the transition in the mid-1960s by itself, and it would have been less frustrating for her than trying to draw information out of this reluctant superstar.
• 
  Ray

  This one surprised me. Harper Coliins' cheap packaging and the uninspired title (A Lefty's Legacy?) screamed formulatic hagiography. You know the genre: lots of stats, cheesy writing, exclamation points...
  
  Instead this is as subtle, probing, smartly written as any biography could be. Jane Leavy is a skillful researcher with a relentless drive to get at her subject from every angle. And she knows how to tell her story. She is a masterful writer, able to draw us in to her quest. We are led to discover aspects of this man through a process that mirrors her own.
  
  As others have noted this is more than a simple biography of Koufax. It really uses Koufax as a lens to do some significant social history. In the process we are led through some critical reflections on Jewish identity, baseball, physiology, American values, etc.
  
  Truly one of the most compelling things I have ever read. It really deserved a better title, and pages that don't yellow on teh edges after just three years.
• 
  Joy D

  Non-fiction about the legendary Dodgers’ pitcher Sandy Koufax. It is told in alternating chapters of one of his best pitching performances and biographical insights. The author sets the record straight regarding several myths. It harkens back to an earlier age in baseball, prior to free agency, when “bonus babies” were required to remain on the major league team even if it would have served everyone better to go through the learning experiences in the minor leagues. It covers a wide range of topics, including his Jewish faith, friendships with other players, integrity, and accomplishments. It raises questions of how much better he could have been if not mishandled by the Dodgers early in his career. It sheds light on decisions such as the joint hold-out with Don Drysdale and why he retired when he did. I was astounded at the extremes he endured to deal with the pain in his arm, near the end of his career, while still managing to attain spectacular results.
  
  The author weaves together many interviews from players, fans, and management to provide a fascinating picture of an interesting man. This is not a typical biography, as in it does not follow a linear progression through his life, but instead contains social commentary about the times and stories from his life that highlight his personal qualities. Overall, I found it an enjoyable read. Recommended to baseball fans interested in learning more about the life of Sandy Koufax.
• 
  Mary

  I was very let down by this book. Sandy Koufax was a great pitcher, an inspirational human being, and is a hero to many people (including myself). But this book is just a big heaping mess of hero-worship (hagiography). It was a one-dimensional look at a man who is very complex and enigmatic.
  
  I thought the structure of the book was interesting, alternating the innings of Koufax's perfect game with more biographical chapters. But that’s about it. I know there's some other Sandy Koufax literature out there. Maybe they do a better job of living up to the subject.
  
• 
  Dan

  Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy by Jane Leavy was written in 2003.
  
  This was an exceptionally well written and interesting book about, arguably, the best left-handed pitcher in baseball history. Koufax’s prowess as America’s greatest Jewish athlete also added a significant and compelling angle to the biography as well. Koufax was a fiercely competitive man and multi-sport athlete who succeeded at everything he tried athletically. In the early years he struggled mightily with his control but he was a bonus baby. So he was guaranteed two years at the Major League level before he could be demoted to the minors and he needed every last pitch of these two years to prove he belonged. In his fourth year he became virtually unbeatable as he learned to locate his pitches. He set the major league record for most no-hitters and set individual game and season strikeout records as well. He did this in less than ten years as a starting pitcher.
  
  The suffering Koufax went through with his black and swollen arm in the final years of his career makes for dramatic reading. The painkillers were eating a hole in his stomach and he was urged not to throw any pitches between his scheduled starts. These final years were also, despite his deteriorating arm condition, some of his (and baseball’s) best pitching seasons as well.
  
  Days after the end of the ‘66 season Koufax called a press conference to announce his retirement. The Dodger’s management and ownership were apoplectic. Koufax had even told a sports writer eighteen months before when he would retire and asked him not to write about it until he made the announcement. This was a classic Koufax moment — he was going to go out on his own terms. He was only thirty years old.
  
  Leavy is a gifted storyteller. The only criticism of the book, and it is a significant departure from most biographies, is that Sandy Koufax reads like a series of self contained chapters that are not in chronological order. This might be because Leavy is an award winning journalist and not a historian by trade. So there are a few redundant events that re-occur in multiple chapters.
  
  4 stars. Highly recommended and a must read for any baseball fan. Admittedly I have always been a Dodgers fan but I think you could be a Giants fan and appreciate the excellent writing in this one.
• 
  Heather Jacks

  A Lefty’s Legacy
  Anyone who spends more than ten minutes with me knows that I am a huge baseball fan. I love the game; the history, the stories, the smell of fresh cut grass, that moment of mystical silence when the catcher has given the signal and the pitcher has accepted it, followed by that magical moment when the field of potentiality is wide open and anything can happen. The pitcher winds up, muscles rippling in weird physiologic perfection that is almost alien. That being said; I read a lot of baseball books, which brings me to Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy, by Jane Leavy.
  
  Let me state upfront: I am in the minority. I did not enjoy this book. As I closed the final page, I was left sadly unfulfilled and disappointed. I probably wouldn't have even finished this book, had it not been for that pesky New Year’s resolution I made; to finish books that I start, even if I don’t like them, and then figure out and articulate my reason for said displeasure.
  
  The reviews are overwhelmingly positive, but then again, the subject matter is Sandy Koufax, a left handed pitcher who is arguably one of the best players the game has ever seen; the youngest player ever elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame, the first 3-time Cy Young winner in baseball history and the only one to win 3 times when the award was for all of baseball, not just one league. He was the first major leaguer to pitch four no-hitters (including the eighth perfect game in baseball history), amongst many other accolades. These things are barely—(if at all) mentioned in the book. In The Glory of Their Times—(possibly one of the best baseball books ever written), Harry Hooper says, “…and that Koufaux. You name a better left hander in the history of baseball and I’ll eat my hat.”
  
  I was excited to read the book, so when I got to a page numbered xviii in the Preface, with this quote, “Hi, Ms. Leavy, this is Sandy, uh, Koufax. I don’t really have any interest in this project…” I was on alert, but I wasn't sure what to make of it. Perhaps Sandy would come around and ultimately embrace the project, participating fully and sharing little known stories of the game. Alas, that was not to be. What the line meant, was exactly what it said. Ms. Leavy goes on to justify the 269 page book, by interviewing 469 friends and acquaintances of Sandy Koufax, making some observations about the game, social history and civil persuasions of the era; all which can be found in any Google search or Wikipedia entry.
  
  Sandy Koufax is well known for not pitching the first game of the 1965 World Series due to the fact that it fell on Yom Kippur. This monumental act, which transcends the field, making Sandy Koufax as big on the field as off, receives approximately one paragraph—unless you include the comments from two random Rabbis’.
  
  In reading the book, I felt like Ms. Leavy had been given a book contract, signed on the line that was dotted and subsequent to that, received a ‘no interest’ clause from Sandy Koufax himself; because his voice is strangely absent in a book titled; Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy. Maybe she paced around her kitchen, nervously chewing pencil erasers. What could she do? She had a contract; she had to write a book—any book. I, of course have no proof that such a thing occurred, but, it would seem a plausible explanation.
  
  I bleed Orange and Black, which almost necessarily dictates that I am NOT a fan of the Dodgers. However, I am a fan of baseball, and I think one of the greatest players who have ever graced the game, Sandy Koufax deserved better. I would be willing to eat my hat over it.
  
• 
  Brina

  I enjoyed Jane Leavy's biography of Sandy Koufax primarily because a lot the story takes place away from the playing field. She examines all facets of his life as well as the the social histories surrounding it making it a compelling read.
  I am surprised by the negative reviews and I am surmising that it is because the majority of people expected a baseball biography. I purposely read this book because it is not a ghost written sports autobiography. Leavy even cites this genre in the book as an example of how Koufax did not go seeking fame and money, even after his playing career had ended.
  People I talk to who saw Koufax pitch remember the domination and then call him a recluse. Leavy refutes this common misconception. Koufax remains loyal to his friends and teammates but does not seek the limelight. He may be quiet but not a recluse. This image adds to the myth that was the pitcher Sandy Koufax.
  I am glad I picked up this book because beforehand I mainly knew the pitcher as the man who refused to pitch on Yom Kippur. At least now I can say I have learned about other aspects of his life.
• 
  Harold Kasselman

  So I reread the book after fifteen years and it got better, Maybe it's nostalgia or my old age, but I loved the book. Leavy was hampered by the fact that Sandy made it abundantly clear in a polite way that he would not participate in the biography, but invited her to talk to his friends and teammates. She does a wonderful job of presenting his unparalleled five year prime supremacy of any pitcher in baseball.(Some may differ and offer Pedro Martinez). Hall of Famer Bob Feller said in 1995 that Sandy was the best he ever saw. Casey Stengel said. "forget Walter Johnson, the Jewish kid has him beat." And she does a fascinating job of interspersing quotes from teammates and friends while at the same time chronicling his perfect game of September 9th, 1965 against the Chicago Cubs via intermittent short chapters of that game. It was perhaps one of the greatest regular season games ever pitched. Sandy threw a perfect game and Bob Hendley threw a one hitter. Joey Amalfitano, raised in the same Bensonhurst neighborhood as Sandy, had the unenviable job of pinch hitting against him late in the game. After Sandy threw a 100 MPH fastball, Amalfitano turned to plate umpire Ed Vargo and said, "That ball sounded inside" and Vargo laughed. Casey Stengel said something similar in the 1963 world series when he said, "umpires often can't see where Koufax pitches go, so they have to judge from the sound of them hitting the catcher's glove. He's very tough on those hard of hearing".But we do learn a lot about the "mysterious" legend of the game even without Koufax's own words. Leavy refutes the allegations that he was aloof, strange, or didn't really love the game itself. Don Sutton called him a "clinical introvert" but pointed out that the difference between solitude and loneliness. Sometimes people misunderstood someone who is simply quiet for being aloof. Sutton called his unwillingness to trade his privacy for commercial gain(as did Drysdale and especially Dimaggio) as evidence of an ethical life. As Vin Scully said, "He was a minimalist." Leavy makes a persuasive case that Sandy lived his life the way he wanted-as a non conformist. He had ideals born of his modest Bensonhurst neighborhood. He didn't reach for celebrity, fame, or even material possessions. He was fiercely competitive, but that was his inner self commanding perfection. It was not an "other directed" need. How else can you explain Sandy continuing to pitch in 1962 with a crushed artery in his palm until finally the finger split? How else can you explain a man who had traumatic arthritis in his elbow so that his UCL would swell his arm like a balloon and yet keep pitching from the onset in mid season 1964 through 1966. I can't get over the pain he endured(nor could his appalled teammates who witness an arm in full hemorrhage). He took codeine, cortisone, drugs so strong they were used on horses to kill pain, and regularly applied Capsolin to his arm to keep it hot and loose. That substance was made of hot pepper and was so potent that Lou Johnson once wore Sandy's sweatshirt, which was laced with the Capsolin, and broke out in boils, sweats, and ultimately vomited. That is the extent of his competitiveness that Koufax endured pain that modern pitchers would never consider. So while he was shy and comfortable reading at home with a glass of wine listening to classical music, he was still loyal to his teammates and friends whenever an occasion warranted his appearance to celebrate their accomplishments or team reunion. So while Maury Wills, one of his closest friends on the team, continued to say in 2002 "There was so much depth there, and complexity too. He is still a mystery to a lot of us, Leavy does a great job in making him understandable. I loved he chapter on being Jewish and how his roots and ethnicity never left him. He accepted the burden of high expectency placed upon him as a role model for Jews. He did so because he knew that his community felt pride because of him and that this pride made for a bond that was shared by all Jews. It was part of the reason he had a real friendship with black teammates or even opposing black players. He understood the racism they experienced because he had experienced anti-semitism as well. One of the best lines in the book is from Minnesota catcher Earl Battey who paid Koufax a compliment. Says Battey, "I accused him of being black. I told him he was too cool to be white." It's wonderful to still be able to see Sandy in the front row of Dodger Stadium as I write this review. He is a hero to many and Leavy's book explains why in so many ways that he is worthy of our admiration. PS The cover photograph is worth the price of the book.
• 
  Andy Miller

  This would have been a lot better book if the author, Jane Leavy, had more focus on Sandy Koufax instead of her repeated asides, tangents and pages about Koufax fans that were scattered throughout the book.
  
  Koufax's story is compelling and the author does include some good perspectives, my favorite is dispelling the commonly held notion(including myself) that Koufax was a wild, unpredictable pitcher early in his career who could could not be counted on. Leavy showed that instead Koufax's often uneven performance was the result of poor managing, Koufax would pitch a complete game shutout and then not be used for the next three weeks and when used would be bounced between bullpen and rotation. Another great perspective was about how Koufax should be viewed in history, contrasting Bob Gibson's statement that Koufax's career was too short to be considered the top pitcher of his generation contrasted with Willie Mays who said Koufax shouldn't be penalized for accomplishing in five years what others took 20 years to accomplish
  
  Leavy also explains Koufax as an introvert not as an aloof snob and traces great character, especially his refusal to commercialize on his fame. I wish there was more time and emphasis on his faith and refusal to play on Yom Kippur even when it fell during the World Series which showed great character that we see far too seldom
• 
  Mark Stevens

  Where to begin with Sandy Koufax? Which mark is bigger, the one he left in terms of wins and losses, strikeouts, clutch games and no-hitters? Or the one he left as a person, an individual who stuck to his way of going about his life?
  
  “No other baseball immortal in memory retired so young, so well, or so completely,” writes Jane Leavy in the preface to this energetic biography. “He may be the last athlete who declined to cash in on his fame. He has refused to cannibalize himself, to live off his past. He remains unavailable, unassailable (and) unsullied.”
  
  Immortal? For lots of reasons. If the stat sheet didn’t glow, nobody might care how Koufax lived his life and went about his work. But the pitching record is crammed with “wow” numbers and amazing feats—six straight All-Star appearances, four no-hitters, one perfect game, twice the World Series MVP—and despite the fame he moved through the world in a very private way.
  
  Was Koufax simply inscrutable? Merely aloof? Or just an athlete who wanted to define his own terms? Yes. Did Koufax’s character contribute to his success on the mound? It had to—right? Koufax was as tenacious about maintaining his privacy as he was about striking out good hitters.
  
  Jane Leavy’s biography, written with Koufax’s awareness but without his direct involvement, is remarkable. Leavy writes that Koufax made it clear that he didn’t want the book to be written “but if it was going to be done, he wanted it to be done right.” Koufax gave friends approval to talk and verified some biographical details. But Koufax got Leavy to agree not to bug his close relatives. “You don’t need to know everything to write the truth,” writes Leavy. “You just need to know enough.”
  
  Well, Leavy spoke to 469 people and it’s hard to imagine there’s another truth out there. Leavy covers all the basic details of Koufax’s family, youth, and early days in sports as a budding basketball player (yes, basketball) and all his struggles for his first few yeas as a big-league pitcher. Crammed with telling details and colorful anecdotes, Sandy Koufax is as much about the player as the era. It’s also about one pitcher working to figure out the art of pitching and then perfecting everything that goes into it—preparation, technique, mental attitude. Everything.
  
  It’s about the move of the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, about the rise of players standing up for their share of baseball revenue (Koufax and fellow Dodger Don Drysdale raised a ruckus before the whole battle over free agency), and about one man maintaining his personal integrity from start to finish. Even the Jewish community wanted to claim Koufax as the “Chosen One” but Koufax, as in all aspects of his life, had things to say (or not say) about being pigeonholed in any aspect of his private life.
  
  "Sandy Koufax-A Lefty’s Legacy" recounts the highlight-reel games and provides ample, gritty detail on the deterioration of Koufax’s elbow—along with Koufax’s stoic battle to pitch through the pain until he could pitch no more.
  
  The world of sports, in my humble opinion, could use a few more unique forces like Sandy Koufax. Perhaps no one anecdote illustrates Koufax’s reluctance to do the autograph circuit (where he could make a fortune to this day). Occasionally, Koufax signs stuff—he does so every year at the annual dinner held to raise money for indigent ballplayers who came of age before free agency. The lines at Koufax’s table are long.
  
  "What is this impulse, this need for a shred of greatness, a name scrawled on a sweet spot?” asks Leavy. “Koufax doesn’t get it. The need mystifies him; he is dubious about his ability to fill it. But he does the best he can, within the bounds of taste and decorum, bringing dignity to this most undignified pursuit—the sycophantic elevation of one human being over another and the exploitation of that difference for material gain.”
  
  If we had more athletes (and celebrities of all sorts) who better understood that distinction, the world would be a better place. Leavy's biography is a home run.
  
• 
  Lance

  Anyone who watched baseball in the five year period between 1962 and 1966 will tell you that the best pitcher during that stretch was Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers. There are so many stories about how good he was, and many of them are shared in this excellent biography of the pitcher written by Jane Leavy.
  
  The format of the book is not the typical format for a sports biography. The chapters alternate between Koufax stories and the innings of the most spectacular game of his career – a perfect game thrown against the Chicago Cubs on September 9, 1965. That game was also marked by the fact that the Cubs pitcher, Bob Hendley, threw a great game as well, allowing only one hit, but ended up as the losing pitcher. No matter whether the chapter is about that game, Koufax’s teenage years in Brooklyn, his struggles early in his career, his meteoric rise to greatness or his post-baseball life, the reader is sure to not only be engrossed in the material, but will also learn something new about the pitcher.
  
  All of the legendary stories about Koufax are covered – his decision to not pitch on Yom Kippur when it fell on the same day as game 1 of the 1965 World Series is described in great detail and what it meant to Jewish people across the country is just one of them. Later in that series, he shut out the Minnesota Twins in game 7 with just two days’ rest.
  
  Leavy covers the famous holdout against the Dodgers that he and fellow Los Angeles pitcher Don Drysdale executed in 1966. She makes a case that this action was just as important to the eventual abolishment of baseball’s reserve clause as was Curt Flood’s legal case that was heard by the Supreme Court. She states that had Koufax and Drysdale had not held out, then Flood’s case could not have happened. While I agree with her argument, it is hard to see how they are connected.
  
  Leavy writes about Koufax’s early troubles with the Dodgers as part of a bigger issue that all teams had with “bonus baby” players, which Koufax was. If a player was offered a bonus to sign his first contract about a certain threshold, he had to remain on the major league roster for at least two years. This rule was in effect until the amateur draft began in 1965, and many clubs let these players languish on the bench or only gave them sporadic game action. The latter was the case for Koufax, as he didn’t get a lot of innings until the decade changed to the 1960’s. Ironically, once it was seen how dominant a pitcher Koufax became, the same manager (Walter Alston) who used him so little early in his career now seemed to overuse Koufax.
  
  The last topic this review will mention that the author wrote about in depth was the extent of his arm pain, which led to his retirement after the 1966 World Series when he was at the peak of his performance. The description of his arm during off days, rubdowns on game day and the lotion used to relieve his pain runs the gamut from funny (the reaction of a kid who put on a game-used jersey by Koufax that still had the ointment on the sleeve was hilarious) to the grotesque (just about any description of the swelling of the arm after a game).
  
  There is much more to this book but these are just a few snippets of the wonderful stories that Leavy weaves together to make this a book that every baseball fan, especially fans of the game in the 1960’s, will want to pick up.
  
  
  http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...
• 
  Chris Gager

  Starting tonight after work - perhaps. Something light after "Canada".
  
  And done in a couple of days. It'a an enjoyable "puffy" kind of look at a short-term great pitcher. No mysteries about Koufax are cleared up, such as whether or not he's a closeted gay man(not that there's anything wrong with that). She never mentions it. I was never a big fan because he was in the National League and because of my Red Sox I was American League all the way. Still, I have to admit that by reading this I'm more of a fan now. I remember in 1963 at boarding school there was an underclassman named Richard Sherman(Jewish) who was a huge Koufax/Dodger fan. I never got that whole connection either, between Sandy and his Jewish roots and his Brooklyn fan base. Come to think of it there were plenty of things I didn't get back then. Oh well... As for his place in MLB pitching history he's right up there of course. Nobody dominated like he did but it was for such a short period of time. Warren Spahn(a lefty) won 200 more games than Koufax and Steve Carlton must be considered too. My own personal favorite pitcher is Nolan Ryan(7 no-hitters but no perfectos due to his wildness). No doubt this is partly because he was on the staff of the two Strat-O-Matic teams I had that won championships. He "pitched" a no-hitter in one of those playoff runs.
• 
  Philip Shaw

  In an effort to catch up with the multitudes of fascinating gaps in my reading, every year as Spring Training begins, I start a baseball book. This one by Jane Leavy, on one of my all-time favorite figures in baseball, has been sitting on my shelves for 5 years now and I took to it. What happened? The most frustrating of reading experiences.
  
  I only give this book a reasonable rating based on the subject matter itself. In the venerable world of sports writing there are definitely the good and the bad, and without having read any of her other work how Koufax allowed Ms. Leavy to create this is beyond me. It's obvious her efforts were well intentioned and she was thorough and fair in her research and interviews with the many people surrounding the career of Sandy Koufax. All that effort makes the book quite well-rounded in perspective. Frankly it's the language, voice and structure that makes for almost intolerable reading. Furthermore, it's as she lifted the conventions of Ken Burns films and just applied them to the page in the way of setting up a chapter's era.
  
  The result is horsey, unoriginal, and uninspired writing on a story that begs for better.
  
  �����Philip Swanstrom Shaw
  
• 
  Steven Peterson

  Jane Leavy has written a fine work on Mickey Mantle recently. She authored this work in 2002. It is a fascinating examination of one of the best pitchers that I have ever watched (on TV only, I'm sorry to say).
  
  The book begins with Koufax working with the Dodgers in 1997. The book goes back and forth in time--and it doesn't seem distracting to me. The perfect game that Koufax authored against the Cubs cuts in and out as Leavy relates the early years and developing career of Koufax. We get a better picture of why he retired and what he did after his retirement, including his quiet involvement with baseball thereafter.
  
  Many interviews enrich the narrative, as we get a sense of what people thought at each stage of Koufax' career. We also get a sense of the pitcher as a person--and, for the most part, he comes off pretty well.
  
  In short, a nice sports biography, with considerable emphasis on Koufax the person rather than just Koufax the pitcher.
  
  Some pluses: a nice interview that Sports Illustrated carried out with Leavy; Koufax's pitching statistics from his all too brief career (on page 276).
  
• 
  Michael

  The date is September 9, 1965. Vin Scully the famous Dodger sportscaster said it best, "On the scoreboard in right field it is 9:46 p.m. in the city of the Angels, Los Angeles, California, and a crowd of 29,139 just sitting in to see the only pitcher in baseball history to hurl four no-hit, no-run games. He has done it four straight years. And now he capped it. On his fourth no-hitter, he made it a perfect game.(p.251) This is the story line that Jane Leavy's book Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy is about. The no hitter between the Dodgers and the Cubs is related in ten chapters that alternate with biographical material of how Sandy Koufax became a great Major League Baseball player. Leavy does a great job bringing out the man who was more then just a pitcher, through interviews with former coaches, players and even fans. I sat the edge of my seat reading between chapters on how his no hitter would end. Sandy Koufax had one of the most spectacular careers that ended to short in the history of the game. Baseball fan or not the book is worth reading.
• 
  Jim

  Simply put, a great biography. I came away from it feeling like I knew as much about Sandy Koufax as I could possibly know without knowing him personally, like I knew where he came from and how he got where he got to, and how he felt about the journey. With (generally) stylish writing as part of the mix, a better achievement in biography seems difficult to imagine, particularly for a subject as elusive as Koufax. This is a splendid book.
• 
  Phillip

  A great book about a great pitcher and a good guy. Koufax was so much better than anyone else in the league there's only ever been one pitcher that has approximated his success over a shot time period. Well written in a clever format. If you like baseball, and like the Koufax era, you'll enjoy this book.
• 
  Carol Storm

  Gave up after twenty pages -- listening to everyone who grew up on Koufax's block talk about how wonderful the "old neighborhood" was made me want to throw up. It was like a circle-jerk.
• 
  John Dugan

  As a baseball fan I have high expectations when it comes to engaging in text surrounding the game. This book just really didn't work for me. It took the story of a pitcher by the name of Sandy Koufax, who only had a twelve year career with the Dodgers, and really gave detailed descriptions of things that just weren't important to me as a reader. This was problematic in my opinion because as Sandy had such a short career in baseball, there was no way Leavy was going to have an entire story to tell over about 300 pages of writing, especially if he isn't even going to write about Sandy's childhood that much. I mean, come on! It's a biography, there should've been more information about the man's life rather than his charitable events that he does today and his little golf tournaments that he plays in. I lnow a lot of people who play golf that are retired and participate in charitable events, so I don't want to hear that kind of stuff when I'm reading a biography. Tell me about how he "got there" in "the spotlight" abd about his success as a Jewish athlete in America, you know, instead of just rambling about his little injuries and post baseball life. I must say I enjoyed the chapters surrounding his perfect game against the Cubs, however, as Leavy did a good job bringing Snady's historic game to life on the pages. Overall, not my favorite.
• 
  Robert Greenberger

  I was just a kid when Sandy Koufax was the greatest pitcher of his era. I am told I was taken to see him pitch a night game against the Mets, although I recall the game, not the lean, fireballer on the mound. But I have since come to know his legacy and impact on the game.
  
  I've been meaning to read Jean Leavy's thoughtful biography since it was released in 2002 and am glad I finally got to it. COnsidering Koufax didn't actively participate, this is a well-handled look into the life and events that shaped him. In some ways, he's a living Rorschach test as people see what they want in him, but the accomplishments more than speak for themselves.
  
  It's a good look at what baseball was like in the 1950s and 1960s, as it began to morph just as he was exiting. He was overlooked and underused early on, delaying his evolution, but once he got regular work, he quickly dominated the game in an era when there were many excellent pitchers and batters at work.
  
  There were dozens of people interviewed providing a well-rounded look at the athlete, which made for entertaining reading.
• 
  Melanie

  Sandy Koufax sounds like he was an exceptional person and baseball player. Having read Leavy's book on Mickey Mantel I was a bit disappointed in this book. However, Koufax didn't get into the shenanigans that Mantle did. It is sad that arthritis ended his career too soon - at the age of 30. He was also a very private person and didn't draw attention to himself. I'm glad this book was written and I had a chance to learn more about this great ball player.
  
  How did this book find me? It was a book on baseball and recommend by a Facebook Baseball group.
• 
  Chip Rickard

  I really can't add to the praise others gave to this book. A very in depth portrait of one of the most private players ever. I really enjoyed the chapter about when he and Drysdale held out and how that was so important for future players. It was interesting learning how he was handled when he first got to the Dodgers and how manager Walter Alston wouldn't use him very much. It was almost like he had a grudge against him. I think Leavy really got to know Koufax despite him not being terribly forthcoming.
• 
  Steve Rice

  I’ve read all three of Leary’s baseball biographies, Mantle and Ruth being the others, and I thought this was the weakest. But not by much, and perhaps mostly because Koufax guarded his privacy and emotions the most. The book strayed from chronological order a bit, making it a challenge to follow in parts. But, overall well written and compelling, especially the narrative of Koufax’s 1965 perfect game.
• 
  Elliot

  Halfway through the book I told my friend that the only words I had about it, and about Koufax, were "It's so much". "He's so much." *Edit: meaning that this book, in some ways, was indescribably emotional and it really just. Hit. The right spots emotionally! Love a brilliant and loving and wonderful and in pain baseball god.
  
  I didn't grow up a baseball fan. In fact, before the beginning of this year I'd never given it a second thought, much less knew who Sandy Koufax was. But uh. This book was just. A Real Lot. The best biography I could have asked for.
  
  *Edit: Might re-read it after I watch his perfect game and cry
• 
  Mark Taylor

  Although Sandy Koufax only played professional baseball for twelve years, he still ranks as one of the most legendary baseball players of the 20th century. Koufax came up with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1955. He had a blazing fastball, but not much control over it. After the 1960 season, Koufax’s record was 36-40. His ERA was 4.10. From 1961 to 1966, Sandy Koufax simply dominated opposing batters. His record was 129-47, an incredible winning percentage of .733. His ERA had gone down to 2.76.
  
  Koufax won 3 Cy Young Awards, in 1963, 1965, and 1966, at a time when the award was given to just one pitcher, rather than one in each league. He was the unanimous winner each time. All three years Koufax won the Cy Young Award he also won the pitching Triple Crown, leading the league in strikeouts, wins, and ERA. Koufax was the NL MVP in 1963, and finished second in the voting in 1965 and 1966. He led the NL in ERA five years in a row, from 1962-1966. He led the league in strikeouts four times, setting a new single-season strikeout record of 382 in 1965. Koufax also set a record by pitching four no-hitters, including a perfect game in 1965. During Koufax’s 12 years with the Dodgers, they made it to the World Series six times, and he was the World Series MVP in 1963 and 1965.
  
  Diagnosed with arthritis in his left elbow, Koufax’s final two seasons, 1965 and 1966, were marked by extreme pain and super-human pitching performances. Rather than risk permanent damage to his elbow and arm, Koufax retired after the 1966 season, just weeks away from his 31st birthday.
  
  In her book Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy, author Jane Leavy examines Koufax’s career, and his continued hold on the public’s imagination. Koufax has a reputation for being a very private person, and although Leavy communicated with Koufax during her writing of the book, he never sat down for an interview with her.
  
  Leavy deliberately didn’t try to pry into Koufax’s personal life, and thus she didn’t interview his two ex-wives or any of his former girlfriends. This begs the question: is it right to write a biography of someone without interviewing, or trying to interview, such key figures in someone’s life? It’s up to the individual biographer, I suppose, but anyone looking for dirt on Sandy Koufax won’t find it here. However, you shouldn’t get the impression that Leavy didn’t do her homework on this book, because she certainly did, interviewing 469 people who are connected to Sanford Koufax in one way or another.
  
  Because Leavy doesn’t closely examine Koufax’s private life, there isn’t much material on his post-baseball life, so the book is essentially about Koufax’s playing career. The book uses Koufax’s 1965 perfect game against the Chicago Cubs as a framing device, and chapters alternate between a chronological look at Koufax’s life, and the innings of his perfect game. Koufax’s perfect game was pretty incredible. At that stage of his career, Koufax basically only had two pitches: a blazing fastball and a devastating, swooping curveball. The only problem was that Koufax also inadvertently tipped his pitches, giving the batters a clue as to what was coming. Even with that knowledge, the Cubs batters, including future Hall of Famers Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, and Ron Santo, were unable to reach base against him that night.
  
  I learned a lot about Sandy Koufax from Leavy’s biography, and one of the most interesting things is that he didn’t play a lot of baseball in high school. His best sport was basketball, and Leavy tells the story of 17-year-old Koufax dunking when his high school team played the New York Knicks. For whatever reason, Koufax wasn’t scouted by the NBA, and after pitching one season at the University of Cincinnati, Koufax was already being scouted by the Brooklyn Dodgers, his hometown team.
  
  Koufax was signed by the Dodgers for a $14,000 bonus, and because his signing bonus was over $4,000, he had to spend two years in the major leagues before he could be sent to the minor leagues. The Dodgers never ended up sending Koufax down to the minor leagues, but Koufax only threw 100 1/3 innings for the Dodgers over those first two seasons. Sending Koufax to the minor leagues for more seasoning might have helped his overall development as a pitcher.
  
  I was surprised when reading the book to learn how muscular Koufax was. Wayne “Doc” Anderson, the Dodgers’ trainer in the 1960’s said Koufax had “extreme muscles, the largest I ever worked on, including Ted Kluszewski and Frank Howard.” (p.148) Maybe it was because so often Koufax was pictured next to his rotation mate Don Drysdale, who stood 6’5” that I never realized how tall and muscular Sandy Koufax was. But Koufax was listed at 6’2”, and numerous people throughout the book testify to his very muscular physique.
  
  One of the most famous things Sandy Koufax did in his career was to not start Game 1 of the 1965 World Series, because it fell on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. Koufax’s longtime friend Tom Villante said, “When that happened, he transcended being a player and became a symbol.” (p.171) Throughout the book, Leavy highlights the devotion of Koufax fans. People who have just the tiniest shred of a connection to him come up to her, wanting to share their stories.
  
  From the beginning of his career, Koufax was thought to be different from the average baseball player. An article from March of 1955 carried the headline: “Koufax, Unorthodox, Reads Books.” (p.176) Koufax’s reluctance to seek out the maximum amount of publicity possible has garnered him the label of someone who is aloof. Red Adams, a scout and pitching coach for the Dodgers from 1959-1980, said of Koufax: “Sometimes people are misunderstood for being aloof when they’re really just quiet.” (p.248) I think this is a great point. Koufax’s shyness or aloofness is probably overstated. A recluse would not have worked as a minor league pitching instructor for the Dodgers for ten years, as Koufax did. In some ways, we want to make people like Sandy Koufax more distant than they really are. He doesn’t like publicity? Well, then, he must be an eccentric recluse. On the other hand, he might just be a regular guy who disdains the spotlight of self-promotion—but that’s not as interesting a story.
  
  There has always been something special about Sandy Koufax. I was born nearly a decade and a half after Koufax last pitched, but yet he’s one of the figures from baseball’s past that fills me with awe. There’s a grace and dignity that Sandy Koufax has had both throughout his baseball career and after his retirement. I remember the surge of emotion I felt when I saw Sandy Koufax in 2004, at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown. I nearly teared up. Why? I can’t really explain it, other than to say there’s something special about Sandy Koufax. At one of my friend’s bar mitzvahs, there was a drawing for a signed photo of Koufax, and I happened to win it. It’s one of my favorite signed photos, even though I’ve never met Sandy Koufax. I’ve even had a dream about Sandy Koufax. It was sometime in the past year, and instead of a baseball player who hadn’t pitched since 1966, Koufax was a novelist who hadn’t written a book since 1966. Somehow I had tracked him down and found his office in the university where he taught. In my dream, Sandy Koufax looked just like he does today, and he was kind and smiled a lot. When I asked him where he had been since 1966, he laughed, spread his arms to indicate his office, and said, “I’ve been here the whole time!” Maybe that’s the secret to the “real” Sandy Koufax—he’s been right in front of us the whole time.