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Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy | 
 enlarge | Author: Jane Leavy
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  107 reviews
Sales Rank: 99216
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 0060933291
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.357092
EAN: 9780060933296
ASIN: 0060933291
Publication Date: September 1, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More.
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Product Description
Nobody ever threw a baseball better than Sandy Koufax. He dominated the game -- and the ball, making it rise, break, sing. Then, after his best season, in 1966, he was gone, retired at age thirty, leaving behind a reputation as the game's greatest lefty and most misunderstood man. The Brooklyn boy whom the Dodgers signed as "the Great Jewish Hope" will forever be known for his refusal to pitch the opening game of the 1965 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur. Forty years later, Koufax stands apart and alone, a legend who declines his own celebrity. In Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy, Jane Leavy dispels the mystery to discover a man more than worthy of the myth.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 102 more reviews...
 A GOOD BOOK ABOUT THE GREAT LEFTY August 23, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I HAVE READ MANY BOOKS ABOUT SANDY KOUFAX AND THIS ANOTHER THAT IS PRETTY GOOD. THE AUTHOR JANE LEAVY, DOES A GREAT JOB FOLLOWING HIS CAREER AND EARLY LIFE, BUT I FELT THERE WASN'T ENOUGH MATERIAL ABOUT HIS LIFE AFTER HIS CAREER ENDED IN 1966. SAND KOUFAX IS THE GREATEST PICHER I HAVE SEEN. I ALWAYS TRIED TO SEE HIM ON TV ON SATURDAY GAME OF THE WEEK, ALL STAR GAME OR WORLD SERIES. WE HAD NO CABLE OR SATELITE TV THEN. LOOK AT HIS STATS, AND YOU WILL SEE THAT HE JUST DOMINATED ALMOST EVERY GAME HE PITCHED. I FOUND IT VERY INTERSTING TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HIS RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND HIS FAILED MARRIAGES ALONG WITH THE HIGHLIGHTS OF HIS FABULOUS CAREER. I KNOW SANDY IS A VERY PRIVATE PERSON AND THAT MAYBE WHY THE READER DOESN'T GET MUCH INFO ABOUT HIS LATER LIFE. BUT ALL IN ALL I RECOMMEND THIS FOR ALL DODGER AND BASEBALL FANS.
 Baseball in a different world January 30, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I'm not a baseball, or even a sports fan, but a good biography is worth reading no matter how the subject spent his or her life. I was drawn to reading this because I happened to see Koufax pitch one of his last games. It was in Chicago, and he lost to the Cubs. I've seen maybe half a dozen pro baseball games, and that's the only one I remember at all. Leavy is a fine writer; her prose is energetic and highly readable. Any really good biography is also history, and she made the historical setting, of the days when Koufax was actively pitching, come alive. Baseball, like the rest of the world, has changed a lot in the last forty years, but if Koufax made an impression on me way back then, he must have been some phenomenon! A fine read from any angle.
Readable & Revealing April 30, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This admirable biography mixes a little baseball history with its revealing insight into one of the game's greatest pitchers. Readers learn much about Sandy Koufax, from his Brooklyn childhood, to his college basketball days, to his modest-then-stellar career with the Brooklyn/LA Dodgers from 1955-1966. As these pages show, Koufax was highly intelligent player who marched to his own drum. He also emerged from several years as a struggling southpaw into the game's most dominant hurler. During the five seasons (1962-1966) that he dominated baseball Koufax sported a phenomenal 111-34 won-loss record and 1.95 ERA - far eclipsing the game's other top hurlers. Sadly, painful arthritis in his pitching arm led him to retire (at age 30) after the 1966 season, when his superb record (27-9, 1.73 ERA) helped lead his team to another pennant. As a Jewish player, Koufax endured occasional Anti-Semitic taunts, and he made headlines by electing not to pitch the opening game of the 1965 World Series due to a major Jewish holiday. Still, many teammates thought him quite cool, and Pirates slugger Willie Stargell said that hitting against Koufax was like trying to drink coffee with a fork.
Author Jane Levy interviewed hundreds of teammates, friends, etc., in writing this book, although Koufax himself declined to participate. His absence leads to a slight feeling of incompleteness, but this remains a very interesting and revealing effort.
It's about the great stories April 5, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I'll agree with the author that Sandy was a terrific pitcher and an introvert in a sport where it seems like all the really big stars were all capitalizing on their fame. But the really great thing about the book were all the personal stories...between catcher and pitcher, Drysdale and Koufax, kids and coaches who grew up with Sandy, opposing players and managers who played against the Dodgers, etc.
Certainly there was some myth-making going on...by the author as well as many of the teammates who played with Sandy. I think that's what happens when you meet up with an extraordinary talent who enjoys his privacy on his terms.
Loved the little quotes by Ernie Banks and the one story when Mickey Mantle faced him in the world series. Baseball isn't just a fun game to play...it's the stories that are fun as well and this book tells them very well. You'll enjoy it.
A Story that Surpasses the Title! January 19, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I really do not know much about the history, stats, or events of baseball. This book was so much more than that. It makes you wish you had either known or met Mr. Koufax. This is a story that both men & women from all walks of life would love. It was a reminder that truly complex, compassionate,non-conforming men are out there. Who are not so much impressed by WHAT they do, but more about HOW they do it. Today's athlete would never make the choices and sacrifices that Mr. Koufax did. Sadly, those days are long gone.
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