Review of "Sandy Koufax," by Jerry Mitchell

Review of

Sandy Koufax, by Jerry Mitchell

Four out of five stars

 This book for the young adult sports fan was written after the end of the 1965 season, when the Koufax mystique was at its height. At that time, there was no question that he was the best pitcher in baseball and the most valuable player in the majors. This book is generally laudatory, as the books about sports figures generally were before the ground-breaking “Ball Four” by Jim Bouton.

 Followers of modern baseball will be surprised at the amount of mound work that Koufax put in. In 1965 he pitched 333 innings and in 1963 it was 311. Considering the well-publicized arthritic nature of his left and pitching elbow, this is astonishing. Koufax pitched through the dull, sharp and chronic pain of his one key body part failing. The baseball world was shocked when he retired after the 1966 season at the age of 30, after pitching 323 innings. Given how successful he was, fans found it difficult to understand his decision, even though he risked permanent disability if he continued to pitch.

 This is a nice, complimentary book about a man that is justifiably a legend of sports. While he struggled in his early years, his last four years were a time when he dominated the league and the headlines. One can only wonder what he would have done had he been able to keep that up for two more years through 1968, the year of the pitcher. It is plausible that Koufax could have finished the year with an ERA under 1.00, only 0.12 less than that of Bob Gibson.