My evening with Sandy Koufax

World Net Daily ^ | December 21, 2006 | Larry Elder

[VOA]

Maybe it's the nostalgia for the past, but baseball did seem to be better,
"back in the day".

Back when Bob Costas had a radio show, I remember him one of his
interviews with Micky Mantle.
Mantle talked about how he and Billy Martin would ride the subway from
their digs to Yankee Stadium.

It WAS a simpler time.

[happygrl]

That was back in those days when the public persona, at least, of sports figures was protected and projected as clean-living, all American.

Sandy Koufax was the genuine article, a real class act.

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

Do you know why his career was cut short? Was it an injury?

I believe it was a severe case of arthritis in his elbow.

[Torie]

Great pics.

[Pistolshot]

Here's my Koufax story.

July 4th. I have to look at the program to remember the year. It was hot. Albuquerque is always hot in July. The Dodgers had the Albuquerque Dukes as their farm club for years. Lasorda was there...a number of future Dodgers have started there or worked their way through.

Each year there would be fireworks for the 4th of July home game as always. It was the one game we did not miss.

My dad and I walk out on the concourse about 2 hours before the game. The Dukes were taking a little batting practice from none other than....Sandy Koufax.

I had just seen the silver haired gentleman not 3 days earlier in an interview. I told my dad..."There's Koufax pitching." He didn't believe it. I handed my Binocs to him and sure enough, Koufax. One of my idols from Dodgermania.

Batting practice ended and the cage rolled off and Sandy went to stand in the coolness of the dugout on the Home side. No one but my dad and I knew he was there. I took the program I had and went down to that dugout to ask for an autograph. The guard stopped me and asked..."Who's Sandy Koufax?"

After reading off all his stats from memory to the guard, who but the man himself stepped into the sunshine, looked at me and said....."Anyone who knows that much about me, shouldn't need anyones permission to ask me to sign something for him."

He was that kind of kind. I still have that Dukes program, sealed, dated....and I look at it when I want to remember a time when a kindly gentle man showed a young boy what dignity meant.

[nicollo]

Great Drysdale story! My favorite Drysdale quotation -- even if it's not true -- is:

The most important pitch of the game is the second brushback pitch. That way the batter knows the first one wasn’t a mistake.

[Michael.SF.]

Great story, thanks for sharing. There was a time when baseball players were gentlemen, but they did not make too many of them:

Koufax, Yaz, Musial, Kaline, Killebrew, Gibson, Carew.

Those are a few that come to mind from that era, I am sure there are some others and I am sure I missed a few.

[Michael.SF.]

Thanks! I have heard that quote as well and I do believe it is very true. Drysdale was one of the most intimidating pitchers, ever.

[Michael.SF.]

I went to L.A. Dodger games at the Coliseum too...!!

As did I. Saw Wally Moon hit one out and saw Koufax pulled in the first inning, walked the bases full, two wild pitches. He was not 'on' that day. I was with my Dad, Uncle and cousins. We laughed at how wild he was and my Uncle told us that we would hear of him again and to remember his name.

[ReignOfError]

When Mantle was interviewed following the Dodgers four game sweep over the Yankees in 1964 he said "when Koufax is right.....no one can hit him"<.I>

Not to be too glib about it, but if Mantle can't hit ya, ya can't be hit. If modern medicine, say, arthroscopic surgery, had been available then, who knows what Koufax could have done?

Koufax retired before I was born, so I never got to watch him play. But from his reputation, the closest recent pitcher has to be Greg Maddux. Him, I've seen, and when he's on, he's on. A 63-pitch complete game? That's so good it's rude.

[JZelle]

Elder bears a striking resemblence to Rashweed Wallace:

[ReignOfError]

IMHO, baseball needs a shot clock like basketball and football. I think 30 seconds would be generous.

WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. What I love about baseball is that there is no clock. You can be down 22-0 with two out in the ninth, and however unlikely a comeback is, it's never impossible. There is no such thing as "running out the clock" in baseball. If you can't devote 3 hours to a game, skip it and watch the highlights on SportsCenter.

That is what makes baseball a great game, and more importantly, a great American game. As baseball's poet laureate, Yogi Berra, once observed, "it ain't over 'til it's over." Every pitch counts. Every play counts. Every game counts, all 162 of them. It's a never-give-up, never-say-die game, and sticking a clock on it would suck the life out of it. Never, I say.

[ReignOfError]

I don't know about the whole game, but Scully's call of the ninth inning is here. Good, good stuff.

[Revenge of Sith]

Yes, I believe the players' association will eventually phase out what's left of pitchers batting (don't forget interleague games).

[Rockhound]

I never have been a huge baseball fan, but my Father certainly was. I remember he would fall asleep on worknights with the radio on, listening to the ballgame.

I still have my first baseball glove that he gave me in 1962: it's a Phil Rizutto Signature model.

[justiceseeker93]

That's a tremendous action photo of the great Koufax at work. I think it's from the first game of the '63 World Series vs. the Yankees (when he struck out 15, a record since broken), but I'm not quite sure.

[veronica]

My uncle, who was a highly respected and noteworthy writer, (and a dedicated FReeper) collaborated with Koufax on his autobiography. He was also tapped by ESPN to talk about Koufax's career, when ESPN produced the series SportsCentury 2000.