Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy (P.S.) Review
By creating her own rules on the fly, after being forced to operate within the rigid constraints imposed by Koufax, Jane Leavy has thrown a few fastballs into the annals of sports reporting and biography herself. With this very revealing biography of one our most enigmatic sports heroes she has immortalized him in a way befitting his elevated and elegant status and demeanor.
As a dyed in the wool "Dodger fan for life," frustrated physicist, survivor of the 1965 LA Watts Riots, and general sports enthusiast, this book about Koufax hit my palate's "sweet spot." Her description of 1955 Brooklyn New York, the excitement of the Dodger Yankee rivalry, the changes in the game itself, and how Koufax intuited the perfect mechanics of the optimum pitch is unexcelled in sports writing. That picture of the body being a single muscle coiled and anchored to the ground as it unfurls like a medieval catapult at the release of a pitch, for many reasons will be an enduring image in my mind.
But that is just the preliminaries, in the intro. The best part is the tension her narrative creates in the lead up to Koufax's own "game of a career," in the 1965 pennant final with the Chicago Cubs. With LA still smoldering in the background from the "Watt's Riot," Koufax's old and weary arm (at the very young age of 30), "came again in the stretch run," and it was a beautiful sight to behold.
But more than this, her interleaving of scenes and scenery from his life with the nine innings of the most famous and electrifying game of any era, the descriptions of his technique, the comments of his teammates, the awe in which he and his talents were held, and the utter modesty of the man himself, makes this book a rich offering of sports biography of an important sports icon; a proper portrait of the rarest of human beings; and an excellent description of what grace and elegance looks like under pressure.
If what Ernie Banks said about Koufax is true that "It is like being in the ballpark with Jesus," then this, Jane Leavy's book is the bible with nine innings of scriptures, chapter and verse. Five stars
Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy (P.S.) Overview
No immortal in the history of baseball retired so young, so well, or so completely as Sandy Koufax. After compiling a remarkable record 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, Koufax essentially disappeared. Save for his induction into the Hall of Fame and occasional appearances at the Dodgers training camp, Koufax has remained unavailable, unassailable, and unsullied, in the process becoming much more than just the best pitcher of his generation. He is the Jewish boy from Brooklyn, who refused to pitch the opening game of the 1965 World Series on Yom Kippur, defining himself as a man who placed faith over fame. This act made him the standard to which Jewish parents still hold their children. Except for his autobiography (published in 1966), Koufax has resolutely avoided talking about himself. But through sheer doggedness that even Koufax came to marvel at, Jane Leavy was able to gain his trust to the point where they talked regularly over the three years Leavy reported her book. With Koufax′s blessing, Leavy interviewed nearly every one of his former teammates, opponents, and friends, and emerged with a portrait of the artist that is as thorough and stylish as was his command on the pitching mound.
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Customer Reviews
No Curveball here, just the great #32 - W. Capodanno - Bellevue, WA
I was born four years after Koufax hung it up for good so never had the opportunity to see him pitch. While I have always been a Yankee fan, there was an aura I'd hear baseball fans, players, commentators and family members talk about when Sandy Koufax came up in a conversation. As a youngster, you'd hear aboutthe greatest lefty ever and the best 6 year stretch that any pitcher ever put together. Those little tidbits, plus some old film, his oft-cited reclusiveness and his decision not to pitch in the 1st game of the 65 WS because of Yom Kippur were the essence of my knowledge about #32.
I finally decided to read Jane Leavy's book when I bought her recent bio on Mickey Mantle. I'm certainly glad I decided to read about the great Koufax. This book was pure baseball nirvana for me. Leavy structure is to intersperse each objective and insightful chapter on the life and career of Koufax with a chapter that covers each inning of his only perfect game (one of his three no-hitters) against the Cubs in 1965. That game might have been the best pitched baseball game ever when you consider it was the cleanest baseball box score in history -- 1 run, 1 hit and 1 error.... for BOTH teams. Perhaps because of Koufax's brilliance and aura, I never realized that the Cubs pitcher Bob Hendley lost this duel 1-0, giving up a solitary hit (it didn't factor in the run) and losing as the result of an error and a few stolen bases that led to the run.
Much of what Leavy covers was new to me --- from Koufax love of basketball, the lack of trust and outright mis-use (or no use) by Walter Alston, Dodger manager, for the first 6 years of Koufax's career, to his family background and the role of Judaism in his life. In the day of 24 hour sports cycles, coddled athletes, primadonnas and performance enhancing drugs, --- and leaves me with an even fonder appreciation for this baseball legend. The only thing that I truly regret after finishing this book was never having a chance to watch #32 pitch at the ballpark.
Buyer Beware! - Reviewer - USA
I read this book a while ago and pretty much put it out of my mind until I saw that the author was getting press for her new Mantle bio, in which this book was cited as an "achievement". I was hoping for the definitive biography of one of baseball's great characters; I'm not sure what I ended up with. One other reviewer called it "disjointed", and I guess that sums it up. Try as I might, I could not finish this book. Koufax is a great subject and I didn't think it would be possible to write a bad biography about him, but I was wrong. I hope the Mantle book is better, but after reading the Koufax book I have low expectations.
In Tribute to a Tribute - Scott Phoenix - Newberg, OR USA
I'm in the process of immediately turning around and rereading this book. The author layers her story slowly and allows Sandy's perfect game to take place, inning by inning, through the eyes and ears of his teammates, contemporaries, and fans, as it is a perfect vehicle for examining Koufax the athlete. But this book is not about Koufax the athlete; it is about Koufax the man, the human being, the essence outside the image.
For a true fan of the game, there is no rush, only moments in time, with those of the Koufax era, alas, neither widely nor dynamically recorded on either radio or television, but here captured by Jane Leavy. You want to savour the details. Here Koufax becomes palpable and eminently graceful in athelticism and humanity. Here he is honored from force of his actions. Here he is as a human being, beyond the mythological creature we are guilty of having constructed and all too often forcing upon him. Here Sandy Koufax, the human being, stands forth. And THAT is why I'm rereading this book.
Perfect. Great for all audiences. - Eric Muntz - Atlanta, GA USA
Insanely good. This is the kind of book even non baseball fans will love, it covers the game and the man in a very compelling voice. I couldn't put it down. Next to The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America, this is #2 on my list of baseball books.
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