Attention Southern Californians
Please ping me with any Southern California related articles. Thank you!
If you want on or off this ping list, please FReepmail me.
And now, for the rest of the story . . .
I wanted to name my son Sandy, but the Missus wouldn’t have it.
Justin Verlander passed up one of his records this year. 24 wins and a no hitter in the same season.
BTW Playoff thread over here. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2786167/posts
Koufax was as good a pitcher as I’ve ever seen pitch, and I’ve seen ‘em all over the past 50 years. When the Dodgers came to Chicago, and Koufax was scheduled to pitch, it was an event! Lots of folks would come just to see him pitch.
Didn’t the Dodgers have Koufax, Drysdale and Juan Marichal (unsure of spelling) on the same team at one time?
Please ping me with any Southern California related articles. Thank you!
If you want on or off this ping list, please FReepmail me.
Should have never let him get away from Cincinnati.
Koufax was remarkable, but I always considered Bob Gibson the last of the greatest pitchers of the era...
I saw him pitch once, when I was a kid, that was at the Coliseum, he did not make it past the first inning, he walked at least two, and had at least two wild pitches, before they pulled him.
I remember it more because my Uncle, whom I went to the game with, often told the story over the years.
He was my boyhood idol growing up as a lefty (baseball lefty not political lefty).
As Ernie Banks said about him: “You can’t hit what you can’t see.”
And even Jews joke that Jews can’t play sports. Want another incredible Jewish baseball star? Hank Greenberg got 183 RBI and 58 home runs. Due to wars and health, he only played nine full seasons.
click for pic source and another good Koufax article
Obviously, a Book of Koufax must be added to the Old Testament!!
I was and am a huge Koufax fan. I, however, would like to throw a couple of names in the mix. Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson.
I would pay anything to see any of them pitch again!!!!!
I recall 8/26/65 when 20 year old Met Tug McGraw (1-2) was scheduled to go up against Koufax (21-5), who I believe was 18-0 lifetime against the Mets at the time. McGraw won. The boxscore of that game.
I hate to say it, but Dodger Stadium was by FAR the top pitcher park in baseball. Look @ Dean Chance in 1964.
Personally, I think the end of the Reserve Clause pretty much wrecked sports as it was known...and turned it into show-biz.
I saw Koufax pitch in the Coliseum. It was a night game. They announced at one point that he had just tied the National League record for strikeouts in a night game (16). I remember wondering as a kid why anyone would keep track of that kind of thing.
Some guy came out of the stands and went out to the mound and talked to Koufax for a minute, until the security guards dragged him away. I heard later that he had bet a friend $500 that he would do it.
I remember reading in the sports pages how Koufax would immediately put his elbow in ice after each game. He always played in pain. He was not only skilled, he was courageous. All the kids who followed baseball in L.A. looked up to him. He was a worthy role model.
Koufax and Drysdale and the rest of the Bums - miss them now that the Dodgers have become a joke.