Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy

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.

Leavy almost had it. Not Koufax's cooperation, that is clear, but the right approach to the man. Among the understandable and justifiably hero worship for her subject, she diminished him by writing far too much about a Jew who played baseball rather than a baseball player who happened to be Jewish (by heritage but, largely, not by religion). It's too bad that Koufax didn't intervene and (1) give us some insight into his greatness, and (2) squelch the unfortunate theme of the "Big Jew." He deserves better.

The book was excellently written, and brought back memories of my time growing up in Brooklyn, as I am just a few years older than Sandy. Tickets to Ebbetts Field, centerfield bleachers were $.50, and I walked to the park from my Williamsburg residence.

would have enjoyed the book better if his life had not been framed within 1 game....though short, his career was far more than just this one game, and was not epitomized by this game. This is the author's perrogative to do so; it is my opinion that I didn't necessarily like it.

This easy-to-read, very well researched book is a real winner, just like Sandy himself. If you are a New Yorker who grew up in the fifties, you will not only love this opus, but, no doubt, recognize one or more people, places and events that touched you. A book worth reading.

This well written, well researched book accurately portrays Koufax's impact on the game and his lasting legacy. It is the best book written to date that bridges the Dodgers' Brooklyn and Los Angeles eras. For baseball fans of any age, it is a must read.

I found the book to be tedious at times, bringing in details that I felt were overdone. Sometimes the length of the chapters bothered me. It is very carefully researched and if one can spend the time sifting through the unnecessary, it is very informative.

I found the book to be tedious at times, bringing in details that I felt were overdone. Sometimes the length of the chapters bothered me. It is very carefully researched and if one can spend the time sifting through the unnecessary, it is very informative.

Love Sandy Koufax....the book? Not so much. It was interesting at times....Thought it might have dealt with his religion too much? I can't put my finger on it....but it kept me from buying her Mantle book.

During six magical consecutive seasons, Sandy Koufax arguably set the bar for pitching excellence in the sport's "live ball" era. Those six brief seasons put him in baseball's Hall of Fame. The second reason Koufax is still venerated, at least in some circles, is that he was (and is) Jewish; to learn why that matters to many people like Jane Leavy, read her interesting but problematic "Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy."

I wanted to like this book. As a boy, I was a huge fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers. When the Dodgers moved to L.A., my young heart was broken. I wasn't alone. Then along came Koufax. OK, he was there before, but his manager didn't play him. The author, Ms. Leavy, has firm opinions about that and about many things, and regularly not benign opinions. She's quick to find fault - but never with Koufax. What he does is always right or always readily explainable.

Which gets to my first objection to "Koufax": the writer seems to have an unseemly affection for her subject. (I would not go so far as at least one reviewer, who believes she's "in love with" Koufax. Proof of that is lacking.) The athlete's two marriages are dismissed in a few sentences. (One might wish to know more, in particular, about his first marriage of 13 years duration. This was to Anne Widmark, the actor's daughter, whom Koufax seemed to have deeply loved.)

This Sandy-focus makes it a great book for the die-hard fan, the true believer. But it detracts from the book's capacity to objectively introduce Sandy to younger generations, plural. (My son, now 44, was born three years AFTER Koufax retired from baseball). In writing the book, Ms. Leavy appears to have a Jewish audience in mind. At many points in the book, the gentile reader may feel lost or excluded. When something doesn't go right for Sandy, something or someone else is to at fault -- and anti-semitism is a regular bad actor.

This is the book's second problematic feature - not because Jews don't deserve books, but because Sandy belonged to all of us. (As an old product ad insisted, you needn't be Jewish to enjoy their kosher hot dogs.) That Sandy Koufax, a Jew, had a warm following among Jewish fans is to put it mildly. But, as the writer acknowledges, Koufax himself was neither religious nor observant in matters of religion. Again, the biography's "faith"-centricity might alienate young people, and especially young players who could learn what it takes to be a great major league player. (George Will, in "Men At Work," puts it best: "Some people work harder than others, a lot harder.")

Nevertheless, in one chapter (unapologetically titled "King of the Jews"), Leavy writes "In the Talmud, it is written that some attain eternal life with a single act. On Yom Kippur, 5726 [sic], a baseball immortal became a Jewish icon." This "single act" was his postponed appearance in the World Series, which fell on the Jewish holy day. It was a position based on principle, and it became very public and a very big deal for Jews. But it was hardly martyrdom, and it is not at all to detract from Koufax or his "act" to observe that the author's depiction of this will strike some as wildly over the top. Perhaps if the athlete had cooperated with the author in this book's genesis, so to speak, such pratfalls might have been avoided.

Possibly to defend Koufax from criticism, Leavy writes, "Koufax was 3D--his essence elusive." Well yes, we all are "3D"; but when Koufax retired from baseball (at age 30), he retired completely. He and his rotation-mate, Don Drysdale, gave broadcasting a shot. But, while "Drysdale thrived ... Koufax shriveled when the red light came on." That seems to be the extent of Sandy's post retirement professional strivings. Even his friends acknowledge that Koufax was and is retiring, even a "clinical introvert" (teammate Don Sutton).

There is no shame in being a ballplayer and not a renaissance man or a playboy; especially not when, for a half-dozen consecutive years, you're the best pitcher on the planet. But it doesn't help a writer write a biography, and Leavy desperately wants to write a good one. In many ways she succeeds, since many will be entertained and the true-believers will be mollified. And yet, the reader may be left wondering how much of this tale is really credible. The book falls short of good biography, and so fails to serve a great ballplayer. Our Sandy deserves better, but legit biography may be the wrong vehicle for that. For the present, maybe it would be best to grant Koufax his well-deserved elusiveness.

Anyone who watched baseball in the five year period between 1962 and 1966 will tell you that the best pitcher during that stretch was Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers. There are so many stories about how good he was, and many of them are shared in this excellent biography of the pitcher written by Jane Leavy.

The format of the book is not the typical format for a sports biography. The chapters alternate between Koufax stories and the innings of the most spectacular game of his career – a perfect game thrown against the Chicago Cubs on September 9, 1965. That game was also marked by the fact that the Cubs pitcher, Bob Hendley, threw a great game as well, allowing only one hit, but ended up as the losing pitcher. No matter whether the chapter is about that game, Koufax’s teenage years in Brooklyn, his struggles early in his career, his meteoric rise to greatness or his post-baseball life, the reader is sure to not only be engrossed in the material, but will also learn something new about the pitcher.

All of the legendary stories about Koufax are covered – his decision to not pitch on Yom Kippur when it fell on the same day as game 1 of the 1965 World Series is described in great detail and what it meant to Jewish people across the country is just one of them. Later in that series, he shut out the Minnesota Twins in game 7 with just two days’ rest.

Leavy covers the famous holdout against the Dodgers that he and fellow Los Angeles pitcher Don Drysdale executed in 1966. She makes a case that this action was just as important to the eventual abolishment of baseball’s reserve clause as was Curt Flood’s legal case that was heard by the Supreme Court. She states that had Koufax and Drysdale had not held out, then Flood’s case could not have happened. While I agree with her argument, it is hard to see how they are connected.

Leavy writes about Koufax’s early troubles with the Dodgers as part of a bigger issue that all teams had with “bonus baby” players, which Koufax was. If a player was offered a bonus to sign his first contract about a certain threshold, he had to remain on the major league roster for at least two years. This rule was in effect until the amateur draft began in 1965, and many clubs let these players languish on the bench or only gave them sporadic game action. The latter was the case for Koufax, as he didn’t get a lot of innings until the decade changed to the 1960’s. Ironically, once it was seen how dominant a pitcher Koufax became, the same manager (Walter Alston) who used him so little early in his career now seemed to overuse Koufax.

The last topic this review will mention that the author wrote about in depth was the extent of his arm pain, which led to his retirement after the 1966 World Series when he was at the peak of his performance. The description of his arm during off days, rubdowns on game day and the lotion used to relieve his pain runs the gamut from funny (the reaction of a kid who put on a game-used jersey by Koufax that still had the ointment on the sleeve was hilarious) to the grotesque (just about any description of the swelling of the arm after a game).

There is much more to this book but these are just a few snippets of the wonderful stories that Leavy weaves together to make this a book that every baseball fan, especially fans of the game in the 1960’s, will want to pick up.

Sandy Koufax is thought to be an enigma. However, Jane Leavy takes you inside to show you there isn't anything enigmatic about the greatest left-handed pitcher of all time. He is kind and considerate, and simply has no desire to whore himself out to the world. Today where celebrities rattle off tweets for everyone to see, Koufax does not stand on a table and announce his opinions. He was old-school before the term existed.

The book is well-researched as Leavy spoke to numerous people who know Sandy. His enormous impact on the Jewish community is expounded upon in great detail. The book's chief drawback is the grandiose prose. As another reviewer pointed out, it seemed like Leavy was trying to impress someone. Also, throughout the book the World Series is always spelled "world series." I've never in 36 years on this Earth seen it spelled like that. And there's a reason for that: World Series is supposed to be capitalized. That said, it's a fast, informative read.

Whether you are a Dodger fan or not, Sandy Koufax is an indisputable baseball legend. There are mythical tales that merely describe his wind up.

Before the days of universal baseball coverage and ballplayers watching endless hours of tape, the myth of a pitcher's curve or batter's swing frightening. Everyone in the ballpark would stop to watch, not knowing if they would ever see something so magical again.

We may never have players like Koufax ever again thanks to visual media. Today we can replay every mistake and error a player makes. Unlike days past, when folks would only reminiscence about the time Koufax threw so hard that umpire couldn't see the baseball.

Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy is less about Mr. Sanford Koufax but more about the impact he had on the nation during his amazing yet short lived pitching dominance. The first half of the book is rather slow as the author tries to pin together several narratives at once. The odd chapters are a combination of Koufax's life, the country he grew up in, and the individual stories. The even chapters recount Koufax's fourth no-hitter in September 1965. The book is much like the Kevin Costner movie For the Love of the Game, which premiered years before this book's publication.

The second half of the book picks up rather nicely. The intensity of the no-hitter gets interesting and the author begins to focus more on Koufax the person starting with the historical joint holdout with fellow Dodger pitcher Don Drysdale.

This book is well-researched and obviously it is written by a fan. The style of writing was not my favorite but I did enjoy the book and I enjoyed learning more about the reclusive lefty.
Go Dodgers!

Although my admiration for Sandy Koufax as the game's greatest pitcher has not dimmed, I'll say that I should have read the subtitle more carefully as it would have made my expectations of this book, less disappointing. Leavy seems far too intent on forcing Koufax's Jewishness not just on us, but on him as well as she repeatedly casts herself as the social commentator and arbiter of his impact on Jewish life. Her projections and revisitations of anti-semitism and Judaic significance on Koufax, seemed the primary intention of the book at more than a few points as she came back to the issue(s) again and again. Given the almost blank canvas that Koufax seemed content to persistently present on the subject, this was presumably easy for her to do. Ultimately, this book suffers from the fact that Leavy can't really decide on whether she wants it to be a sports biography or a sociologist's review of Judaism in sports or on the impact of Jewish heroes on the Jewish people. Mind you, I'm not arguing that Koufax's being Jewish didn't belong in the book in some detail. It's just that past a certain point that she manages to exceed again and again, it becomes tiresome to sports fans or to those fans of Koufax who are presumably the greatest percentage of those of us who bought the book, hoping to read primarily about Sandy Koufax instead of what the Jews thought about Sandy Koufax.....

This is the first of two biographies Jane Leavy has written about the most iconic baseball players of the 1950s and 1960s - Sandy Koufax and Mickey Mantle.

This book follows Koufax's remarkable career in chapters that alternate with an inning by inning recap of Koufax's perfect game against the Cubs on Sept. 9, 1965

This is actually a pretty effective build around for what must have been Leavy's most pressing problem in writing the book - Koufax almost never actually appears. Leavy does not appear to have been able to directly interview him. He agreed to let her talk to friends and family, which is an accomplishment on her part, but there is no indication of a lengthy interview with Koufax. Mantle clearly sat for mulitple interviews in his book. Leavy does do an excellant job in recapturing the era and distinguishing how Koufax differs from other athletes.

In the end, while the book certainly is entertaining, Lerary simply fawns over the Dodger ace too much. A pretty good case can be made the Dodgers took 80 or more wins off his Koufax's career, with manager Walter Alston's mismanagement of him as a young phenom and then overuse when he was in his 30s and pitching through injuries.

The book is very well written and Leavy is to be applauded for his hybrid skills as a sportswriter and historian.

She did a fine job here on Koufax, but I will say I thought the Mantle book was superior, perhaps because the Mantle book was her second of this type and she knew the drill by then. But also, it feels as if Mantle was simply more open and talkative than the guarded Koufax.

I saw Sandy Koufax pitch once during his career. It was on August 8, 1964, in Milwaukee against the Braves. My memory of that game is Sandy Koufax diving back into second base on a pickoff attempt. When he reached third base, he was twirling his left arm around. Shortly thereafter he received the diagnosis of arthritis in his left elbow. Koufax was built with huge muscles in his back and arms and this very build made it possible for him to throw as well as he did, but it also meant he was due to break down earlier. Sports medicine was still in the future and pitchers pitched until they were worn out and then the owners got somebody else. Pitchers were disposable and since players weren't paid very much no attempt was made to protect them. Sandy had a contentious relationship with manager Walter Alston who, for whatever reason, wouldn't pitch Koufax early in his career even in years the Dodgers weren't involved in any pennant race. Pitchers weren't placed on pitch counts during the 1960's and there were seasons when Koufax logged over 300 innings and pitchers pitched every fourth day. Can you imagine pitching a complete game during spring training? Where was the common sense of managers during this time? Think about this for a minute. The total Dodger payroll for the fifteen years Buzzie Bavasi was general manager equals Kevin Brown's $15 million annual salary. When Koufax pitched his perfect game against the Cubs, Dodger Owner Walter O'Malley let the moths fly out of his wallet and gave Sandy a $500 raise. Prior to the start of the 7th game of the 1965 World Series against the Twins the Dodgers had a meeting in which Manager Walter Alston announced to the team who would start the game on the mound. Dick Tracewski remembers Alston saying, "We're going to start the left-hander. After that we have Drysdale and Perranoski in the bullpen." Tracewski noted that Sandy felt he should have called him by name instead of simply referring to him as "the left-hander." I agree. It appears that Alston wanted to maintain that distant relationship he had with Sandy. Many people consider Koufax somewhat of a recluse, but he shows up at Dodger fantasy camps, Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, and funerals of former teammates such as Joe Black and Pee Wee Reese. A prize possession of Cubs' pitcher Bob Hendley, who was Sandy's pitching opponent in the perfect game and who gave up only one hit himself and lost 1-0, is a baseball signed by Koufax with the simple inscription, "What a game." The book is really two stories alternating between the innings of the perfect game and Sandy's career. If you're a sports fan, this book should have a permanent place in your bookcase.

There are those 'superstars' who never fail to amaze us. They do what they do in a way which seems ' superhuman' beyond everyone else. In sports it is those like the Babe, and Michael Jordan. Sandy Koufax was one of these kinds of greats. He was just so good , that his very best he seemed unhittable. I can remember Maris and Mantle in the sixty- five series seeming almost pathetic when the fast balls whipped by them.

Koufax who Casey Stengel said was 'better than Walter Johnson' was for a very short time , I believe four seasons or five, one of the greatest pitchers the game had ever seen. His career was shortened by an injury to his pitching arm, and he went home relatively early at thirty , a legend .

This biography tells his story in baseball while doing its best to skirt his personal life. It gives a rousing Vin Scully play- by-play account of a Koufax no - hitter against the Chicago Cubs. It tells of his life in baseball, including the frustrating first years on the bench. It includes interviews with four - hundred people in more including many of his fellow - players. Koufax it seemed especially teamed up with and was friendly with black - players whose minority status he understood.

One legendary moment in his career was when he chose to not pitch in the opening game of the series because it fell on Yom Kippur- the most sacred day of the Jewish calendar in which one is not supposed to work. He made himself beloved to the Jewish community through this action though he had not a few fans in it before.

Koufax loved the game and pitching and was a true student of it. After he finished he became a pitching coach and remained close to the game.

He was off- the- field modest and quiet, one kind of model for young people.

The book captures the spirit of its time, shows a great knowledge and love of the game of baseball. And should be a real treat to anyone who loves the game.

Jane Leavy had a daunting task -- writing a biography of a living ex-ballplayer who would not let her interview him. Sandy Koufax is famous for many things including: (1) pitching ability -- including one of the best 4-5 year stretches in baseball history; (2) retirement at a young age [30] to prevent additional damage to his already debilitated arm, which led to induction in the Hall of Fame at 35 (the youngest inductee ever); (3) his refusal to pitch game 1 of the 1965 World Series because it took place on Yom Kippur; (4) winning game 7 of the '65 Series in a three-hit shutout on two days' rest with only his fastball; (5) his reputation as the sporting world's reclusive equivalent of Greta Garbo or J.D. Salinger.
Leavy approached this book the right way -- she did a great deal of research, interviewed his former teammates and contemporaries, interviewed the players who have met and learned from him since his retirement and researched his background. Moreover, this is not a straight biography because Koufax is so intensely private despite his larger place in baseball history -- a Jewish icon, a superstar who struggled for the first 6-7 years of his career, a minority white who helped bridge the racial divide in the first decade-plus after baseball's racial integration, a reluctant labor leader who held out for more money during the players-as-chattel era when players were bound to their teams and could not become free agents. Leavy is able to show Koufax's integrity, professionalism, work ethic and honesty through the numerous Koufax contemporaries she interviewed.
Leavy's work is highly readable and innovatively structured: the chapters detailing Koufax's life are separated by three-four page interlude chapters recalling, inning-by-inning, Koufax's perfect game against the Cubs in 1965 (his 4th no-hitter and the 4th-straight season in which he pitched a no-hitter). Leavy is a sportswriter and some of the stylistic quirks in her writing are annoying, but inconsequential (quote attribution can be confusing, sliding from direct quotes to non-quoted vernacular) traits that many sportswriters have. She also soft-pedals the anti-Semitism of Walter Alston, Koufax's manager, that both ESPN's and Sports Illustrated's Koufax retrospectives detailed.
All told, this is a fine book that places Koufax in perspective of his sports era, his religion, and the culture of the country as baseball expanded during the transition from the 1950s to the 1960s.

To really know someone like Sandy Koufax, who prized privacy in a media-obsessed age, would be damn near impossible. No straight-ahead biography could do him justice. That's where Jane Leavy comes in: rather than write a boring "life of" with dates and games and life off the field, she disects Koufax's essence through the recapulation of his perfect game versus the Cubs, on September 9, 1965.

The book is daring in that regard, and through the context of this one game (a technique also used effectively by Buster Olney for his "Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty"), Leavy gives us as indepth a portrait of the man as we are likely to ever see. In descibing Koufax's career through the prism of this one magical game, she also lets us see the world around him as Koufax develops from a neglected "bonus baby" with a supposedly erratic arm into the legendary force of nature he became during 1961-1966.

We get a look at Koufax's origins and other such minatinue that most biographies would cover as well, but Leavy uses Koufax as a mirror on the culture and society that evoloved around him at this time. She reminds us from the beginning that the night of Koufax's perfect game follows some of the most intense racial rioting in Los Angeles (Watts had erupted in flames just a few weeks earlier), and that Koufax himself faced the subtle and not-so-subtle manifestations of anti-Semitism that plagued baseball as much as society during that era.

Through it all, we get a sense of the player that Koufax was, the special aura that he projected. But Leavy also sifts through the myths of this modern-day Hercules of the diamond to get at the truth, or what she can manage in the face of the man's wall of privacy. This is as true a portrait as we're likely to get of the man behind the legend, the most important lefty in baseball history.

"Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy" should be required reading for anyone seeking to pen the biography of baseball figures of his stature. Rather than take the easy route and accuse Koufax of being "difficult to pin down", Leavy does the footwork to come up with a compelling, endearing, and above all interesting portrait of the most storied pitcher of the modern game. For that, she deserves a place among the best sportswriters to ever cover the game. And "Koufax" deserves to be the most engaging book you'll ever read about the best pitcher ever.

Jane Leavy has really transcended sports biography with this outstanding account of baseball great Sandy Koufax. Framed in a "between innings" format, the reader gets Koufax's career discussed in parallel with his monumental September, 1965 perfect game against the Chicago Cubs. At the same time, we get a sort of "social" history of the times (mid 1960's) that adds depth and immediacy to this story thats lacking in other more celebrated biographies.
From early childhood to his still current adulation, Leavy attempts to myth-alize and at the same time de-myth the Koufax icon...all the time with minimal cooperation from the subject. And even with this roadblock, she has achieved a major success! With the advantage of hundreds of interviews of Koufax intimates, she has managed to succeed in portraying the "real" Koufax where many before her have failed. His legendary career is celebrated at the same time his legendary "aloofness" is picked apart, showing that Koufax ultimately achieves what he always wanted to be be: a regular guy.
There is no shortage of baseball talk here though...we hear Koufax explaining the mechanics of pitching in almost doctoral detail; why these mechanics ruined his pitching elbow and ultimately led to his early retirement. We get numerous funny and informative anecdotes from the afore-mentioned interviews, as well as some darned good game coverage...Leavy obviously was (is) an excellent sports writer and her passion for the game and the subject are obvious.
The undeniable thread throughout this work, however, is the decency and "down to Earth" manner in which Koufax carried himself throughout his career. Whether it was his practice of hanging out with his "lesser" teammates (as opposed to Don Drysdale, who comes across as sort of "star-seeking") or refusing to pitch on the opening game of the 1965 World Series (which occured on Yom Kippur), Koufax's humility and class are ever-present in the narrative and gives the reader that fleeting "personal" side that has been missing from many other descriptions of Koufax's career. The social climate of the mid-to-late 1960's is interspersed with the games and gives a perspective and context that's not normally found in most sports biographies...it's this feature of the book and Koufax's personal makeup that make this book so appealing.
Whether looking for a sports biography or a discussion of how sports fit into the late 60's culture, "Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy" is an excellent source. Extremely readable and highly entertaining, this book should be considered a watershed in these subjects as well as a definitive account of Sandy Koufax's career and I recommend it very highly.

It's never easy to write a thorough biography when your subject is an uncooperative recluse, but Jane Leavy does an excellent job nonetheless. Speaking with hundreds of friends and former teammates, she is able to weave a beautiful tapestry of one man's unforgettable career.
Each chapter, cleverly alternating with a play-by-play account of his perfect game, paints a wonderfully realistic portrait of Koufax's ascent from a wild southpaw to one of baseball's greatest pitchers. The tale of this reluctant hero is set against the times in which he played, and this book is as much a history of baseball during the 50s and the tumultuous 60s as it is about Koufax's accomplishments.
More so, Leavy succeeds at explaining this personality, this cult icon who has been a mystery to sportswriters and fans (and even his friends and teammates!) for over 50 years. While she respects his privacy and doesn't venture anywhere near his personal life (practically nothing is written about his marriages or family, and the longtime rumors surrounding his sexual orientation is respectfully never brought up), after reading this book, you get the strong sense that you understand him better. Or at least, you can appreciate better the pain he went through-both emotionally as an outsider in a very public arena who longed for normalcy when expected to be a legend, and physically as he forced his body to the uttermost limits.
I would be lying if I said I didn't hope for more juicy tidbits. Maybe it's our tabloid/Hollywood Access culture, or our inexplicable sense of entitlement, but deep down we want to learn every little personal detail of our celebrities. Leavy, in a rare act of decency and self-restraint largely unknown to journalists, doesn't bow to our greedy desires and offers up only a classy, professional tribute to one of our classiest, most professional figures. For that reason, her book will feel incomplete to many, but for real fans of Sandy, a biography that preserves his mystery is the most honorable biography that he deserves.

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.

I enjoyed Jane Leavy's biography on Sandy Koufax. Using interviews with childhood pals, teammates, opponents, and other associates, Leavy pieced together an intriguing portrait of a man that the press has over-analyzed for being "enigmatic," "aloof" and "reclusive."
I liked how the chapters alternated between Koufax' perfect game in September 1965 and the story of his life. Leavy did an excellent job of painting the picture around the life, with details of Brooklyn in the fifties, and life in the Dodgers organization. The perfect game of 1965 was woven into the fabric of the turbulence that had occurred in Los Angeles that summer and with what was to come.
Koufax had six so-so years, then six years where he was the best pitcher in baseball, and established records that were all the more amazing when one considers the state of his left arm. The man used his time, and used it well, and when he had to, he walked away from the game, at only thirty years old.
The book covers primarily his teen years and baseball career, with a final chapter or two on his life after baseball. If you're looking for a "behind the scenes" glimpse into Koufax' life, this is not that kind of book. It is an attempt to separate myth and legend from reality, and to show that Mr. Koufax was just a great pitcher, and a person like the rest of us.

The big wide world of sports has produced an elusive array of legends that have spanned generations. Jane Leavy takes a compassionate look at the life of legendary baseball pitcher, Sandy Koufax, in her definitive biography, SANDY KOUFAX: A LEFTY'S LEGACY. She shows reader the sports legend as well as the individual. From Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York, to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California, Koufax led the Dodgers through several successful wins throughout his baseball career as the so-called pitcher with golden arm. And his looks and his demeanor, personally and athletically, did not hurt him to gain admirers and fans alike; his fellow teammates often called him "the game's Cary Grant and Fred Astaire and compared him to the Mona Lisa and David...He looked like Michaelangelo," Ernie Banks said. "Pitching, walking, whatever he did was kind of a rhythm with life, stylish" (2).

One of the interesting aspect of the book is how Leavy comments on the social and cultural climate of the mid-late '50s and early-mid '60s. She intertwines Koufax's life with the the pivotal events and people who helped shaped this part of popular American culture. Indeed, Leavy immerses readers into Koufax's life and the people who knew him the best.

After reading this fascinating biography, it makes one wonder, are there any legends anymore?

Mr. Koufax retired just before I started playing ball, so all I've had to go on were old reels of his pitching. This book gave me more background on him, including the fact that he was a tremendous athlete to the extent that he was an excellent basketball player as well.

What I found fascinating was how he broke down his mechanics to show that he generated so much of his velocity from his stride on the mound. It's not that that was unknown, but how he broke it down himself was interesting.

I think that whatever complaints there may be about this book are overcome by the subject himself and the information this book provides. I recommend it especially to anyone who, like me, never got to see him pitch while he was playing.

Jane Leavy has constructed a nice book that manages to transcend the world of sports and give context to a man who is mythical for many things, some of which include baseball.
Since I was born after Koufax ended his career, all that I have heard about the Dodgers pitcher was in the context of the man's greatness. I had heard how he just quit at the top of the game for no apparent reason. I had heard that he was a hero to Jewish people, but I could't understand why exactly(just because he was Jewish?). He is a storied Dodger in the midst of so many other gifted players in that storied franchise. Koufax was a mysterious person , an aptly named shooting star across the baseball pantheon.
In reality, like every other sports star, Koufax played until he couldn't function anymore. His arm was giving out. His decision to retire at 30 from the Dodgers, after a run of six incredible years, was forced upon him. Koufax was a Jewish kid from Brooklyn who played for the Dodgers in Brooklyn and Los Angeles. Leavy is wonderful in explaining why he is so revered as a figure of Jewish acceptance in America. It is not because he was Jewish, but because helped in making being Jewish a more regular part of American life. Obviously being Jewish in the period when Koufax grew up was a very different time in America (read anti-Semitic). Public discrmination against certain people was not only accepeted, but almost a birthright in some quarters. Koufax helped break down (in his own small way) some barriers by playing baseball -well.
Koufax famously didn't pitch on Yom Kippur in 1965 at the start of the World Series. The Jewish high holy days were being acknowleged by a leading sports star. In the context Leavy provides, I was able to understand why this was important to the Jewish identity in America. I was able to understand how a seemingly small act of selfishlessness became a symbol for the Jewish disapora in America to feel that in a small way it was being acknowledged as part of the American tableau (rightly so!).
The book is not so much a sports biography, but rather a reflection of the times Sandy Koufax inhabited, and his meaning to baseball, and to larger issues as well.
Interestingly, Koufax was not a great pitcher at that start of his career. Rather, he grew to greatness after being in the league for a while (six plus years), and rose to heights never before (or rarely scaled). For example, he was the only pitcher to pitch four no-hitters in four consecutive seasons.
He had great individual statistics, but he was a great team player. He won multiple championships. He pitched through pain.
However, Leavey provides a way to see Koufax as a symbol to Jewish people in effect. He grew up in Brooklyn. In mid-century America, it was a heavily Jewish enclave, with many recent Jewish dispora located there. Like many Americans would in mid-century America, he moved to the West Coast when the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles. Los Angeles became a center of the Jewish disapora. Sandy Koufax was a symbol of the movement west. He became more accepted for what he accomplished rather than being known solely for his religious and community beliefs. His experience became more accepted, rather than scorned. In this way, Leavy helped me to understand Koufax and his times. I though her use of Don Drysdale as a counterpoint in explaining Koufax was brilliant. Drysdale represented everything Koufax was not. Again, Leavy provides great context to the Koufax story.
If you are looking for a more traditional sports biography, this is not your book. Koufax doesn't discuss how he felt about this game or that pitch (at least not in the excrutiating detail that I find boring in most sports biographies). As I mentioned, it is more of a book about a symbol ( the subtitle is "A lefty's legacy). Do I understand Koufax? Not really, but I think I understand why so many people revere him. He conducted himself with a rarely seen comportment. He was 'class.' No, I don't think Koufax is a perfect person. I get the sense that Leavy lefty out details wherein the reader may get the idea Koufax was sometimes a jerk, or self-absorbed. But, who cares, I do understand the overall charecter of the man, the myth and the legend. In each case, Koufax is certainly interesting, Koufax attained greatness, and he was one hell of a pitcher for six magical years.
If a book can make me understand these things about its subject, then I think the author has done her job. If you have the slightest interest in Koufax, you won't be disappointed in reading this book.

Jane Leavy's biography of Sandy Koufax is like that box of baseball cards in your garage, attic or basement that you have held on to for the last 25 years - something to be treasured. Although Koufax pitched in era far different from today's world of major league baseball, his brillant career sparkles throughout the pages of Leavy's writing. This is a well researched effort that rekindles the memories of a talented, classy, ball player who wore Dodger Blue, refused to pitch on the Jewish holy days, pitched 4 no-hitters, including the perfect game in 1965, staged a salary holdout with teammate Don Drysdale, retired at 30 and kept a private life that was important to him.
Baseball is just a game. Sometimes there are players who epitomize the purity of the game; players who master their position; players who are so good that everyone has at least heard of them. Everyone has heard of Sandy Koufax; some know he was a Dodger; some know he was a lefty; some know he was a Jew; some know he threw a perfect game. With Leavy's book, you will get to know just how good a player Koufax was; and you get to know about Koufax's life - a lot more than you could get by reading the back of his baseball card you keep in your box in the garage.

Did Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax even enjoy playing baseball? As one of baseball's all-time best pitchers (and arguably the best left-handed pitcher), Koufax grew up wanting to play basketball. Instead, he turned in eight so-so years and four ridiculously remarkable ones in his second-favorite sport.

The book "Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy" by Jane Leavy alternates chapters between Koufax's perfect game, the last of four no-hitters he pitched. Many people do not realize that Cubs pitcher Bob Hendley pitched a one-hitter, losing 1-0 on an error.

But that's not the only thing people fail to realize when reviewing Koufax's career. During a time period when African-American players were just starting to play in the majors, there was also discontent from allowing Jewish individuals to compete. While Koufax did not go through all the same hardships as some of his teammates, he was scorned for various reasons, including his religion, his penchant for being a recluse and, essentially, his statue among the greatest.

Leavy does a wonderful job alternating between the perfect game and Koufax's life. This book is one of the better baseball biographies I've read, and I've read a ton of them.

Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy is not your standard bio chronology. The centerpiece for the book is Koufax's perfect game against the Chicago Cubs, September 9, 1965. Rising action, climax, denouement.
Sandwiched around commentary & factoids (by that night, Koufax had not won a start since Juan Marichal slammed his bat down on Koufax's battery mate John Roseboro) are accounts of his high school days, his early struggles in the bigs, & the cultural storms that whirled around him (JFK, the Beatles, the Watts riots). Also unlike the standard bio fare, Ms. Leavy approaches something close a dialectical investigation when she cites the increasing number of ball games on TV as usurping the club beat reporter's play-by-play account & leaving reporters to hunt for the "angle," i.e., a player's or players' personal slant on the game. From this mid-60s crucible burst forth ESPN, PTI, & Best Damn...
Ms. Leavy is not blaming TV, any more than 50s schizophrenia researchers were blaming mothers. Call it a counterfinality, to use Sartre's term. It was just not predictable. But then, neither was Sandy's metamorphosis into the game's most dominant pitcher, one that players did not fear (they FEARED Don Drysdale & Bob Gibson) as much feared being embarrassed by.
Having more or less come of age during Koufax's last years (I saw Ken Holtzmann outduel him in 1966--on TV, of course), I found this book riveting. It some ways it reminded me of Tom Meany's Babe Ruth book--a world of vignettes swirling 'round a central axis.

Sandy Koufax was my first athlete hero and I have waited a long time for a definitive bio of him. This is as much of an appreciation of the former Dodger great as it is revealing biography, but it's a wonderful book that I recommend highly. There is a great deal of insight into Koufax and what made him such a pitching marvel. Without saying so directy, we see how even Dodger management didn't know what to make of his being Jewish and I conclude from reading this book that Walt Alston and the Dodgers didn't deserve Koufax. .... Sandy was a tough, competitive as hell pitching God who simply was a nice guy and valued his privacy and ordinariness as much as his career, if not more. He really was and is a class guy who stands out among our star ball players almost as much for that characteristic -- and I say almost -- a he did for his awesome abilities. Organizing the book around his perfect game aganst the Cubs was a masterstroke and if you're a baseball fan and would like to read about an athlete who was also a truly good guy, you'll love this book. The writer did an excellent job with a very difficult subject. Along with Hank Greenberg, Sandy is the Jewish Jackie Robinson and you'll enjoy reading this as much for social commentary as you will for the baseball it captures.

Koufax remains as mysterious and elusive a public figure as ever, despite an admirable attempt by Jane Leavy.

This book documents the inning-by-inning account of his perfect game, using it as a framework to relate Koufax's biography and probably more importantly, his "legacy" to baseball, celebrity and to the Jewish population of America.

Apparently, "unprecedented" access was given to those intimately involved with his baseball career, and to those tangentially involved with his public life. This because there were hundreds of people involved with his career who were willing to talk. Yet those who know him best, either continue to protect his privacy, or are in the same boat as the rest of us. The words "reclusive" and "private" are too superficial to use as adjectives towards Koufax.

I believe he remains a singular figure in the world of celebrity athletics. I think we know everything we are supposed to know about him. He's generous with autographs; seems terrific with his legions of fans. But there is little "tabloid" information of him. If he were competing today, it's as if all his publicity would come through Sportscenter and Baseball Digest, and nothing from Entertainment Tonight or Regis & Kelly. The way it should be.

It is fair to compare Koufax's stature among the Jews to Jackie Robinson's amongst the black population of the country. That sort of "hero."

You can learn a lot from this tome. Koufax is almost casually referred to as one of the greatest pitchers ever, but here you get a real sense of his epic stature during his white-hot, meteoric stay in the majors.

Teammates were also fans. Opponents were also fans.

I will always love Mickey Mantle's comment in regards to a pitch delivered during a World Series match-up, which uses language I can't reprint here.. He spoke for thousands of ballplayers who had faced the great pitcher.

The book is not idolatrous. His personality appears admirable and decent, but clearly not "perfect". You get the feeling he takes "Sandy Koufax: The Legend" very seriously, but he doesn't take "Sanford Koufax: The Man" very seriously at all. He knows he's just a guy who happened to have a supernatural talent in throwing a ball. Ask him about his hitting.

The book itself is nicely written...somewhat repetitive, an inelegant phrase here and there...but for the most part a terrific read.

If it means anything, the day after I finished this book I put a down-payment on a Koufax rookie card.

For over thirty years, Sandy Koufax has eluded the intense media scrutiny reserved for our cultural icons. He retired from baseball at the age of 30, and vanished from the scene as quickly as his patented fast ball. But through the excellent efforts of Ms. Jane Leavy to write this biography with an initially uncooperative Mr. Koufax, the reader will realize that he never was far away from baseball as we imagined. Or our memories of his excellence and tremendous character.

This wonderfully written and researched biography is one of ironies. A Yankees fan (the author) succeeded to write a book about the hated rival Brooklyn Dodger legend. A Brooklyn boy who grew up with a love of basketball, but later played baseball for the hometown Dodgers. And in the twilight of his career, he returned triumphantly to set a World Series strike out record at Yankee Stadium to a standing ovation. A man that was reluctant to cooperate at all for this book, but who would describe the biomechanics of pitching with incredible passion and detail. A man who hurled a perfect game, and a month later, became a cultural icon for refusing to pitch the opening game of the World Series due to religious beliefs. A pitcher with five mediocre years, but who then finished with five of the best years of the modern era.

The author paints a very clear picture of the protagonist through countless interviews with former teammates and others who competed against him. Her knowledge of baseball is excellent, and she is an engaging writer. The theme is consistent: Sandy Koufax was well-respected by colleagues and competitors alike. He was the consummate team player and clubhouse leader, although the public rarely saw this side of him. The numerous comments from his contemporaries are illuminating. I can't recall one negative thing said about him, and as Willie Stargell so eloquently stated, "Hitting his fastball was like drinking coffee with a fork." Or from John Roseboro, "He was cool before anyone knew what it meant."

What impressed me was the work ethic of Mr. Koufax. For the last two years of his career, he pitched with intense pain to his arm. Pregame preparations consisted of hours of massage, painkillers, and gobs of hot linament applied with tongue depressors by his trainers. After the game, he soaked his arm in a tub of ice for the time it took to drink three beers. Yet he never missed a turn, or publicized his travails. During his last campaign in 1966, he won 27 games. The last five years of his career he lead the National League in earned run average (ERA). It is a record that still stands. "The definition of a competitor is the guy who keeps coming back. It's the difference between the grass and the oak tree. Cut the oak tree, and it dies. Cut the grass, and it grows back." "The art of pitching is instilling fear." Sandy Koufax

This book transcends the sport of baseball. It is about a private man who shunned the public limelight during and after his brief career, but whose contributions far exceeded the baseball diamond. In 1966, the first game of the World Series between the Dodgers and the Baltimore Orioles fell on the holiest Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur. Mr. Koufax, by his own admission, was not a devout Jew. When he refused to pitch the opening game, he became a symbol of character and integrity throughout our country. Here was a man with the courage and conviction to recognize the difference between a ball game, along with more important things.

They said that Sandy Koufax only had two pitches: A fastball and a curve. But nobody threw those pitches with more masterful effectiveness before or since. Few athletes have ever demonstrated the spirit of unselfishness, character, and team spirit as Sanford Koufax.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this excellent biography.

Heard and loved SANDY KOUFAX: A LEFTY'S LEGACY by Jane Leavy . . . it is the biography of Koufax, arguably the greatest left-hander who ever pitched.

But that's not why the book meant so much to me . . . it also reminded me of my childhood days when I followed Koufax so closely . . . in fact, I was even at one World Series game that was described in much detail (when he outpitched Whitey Ford and Frank Howard hit the hardest line drive I've ever seen).

I also enjoyed being reminded about how Koufax made headlines by refusing to pitch on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

Leavy obviously did much research in putting this book together . . . I liked how she quotes so many of Koufax' contemporaries, including:

Willie Stargell: To hit Koufax was like trying to drink coffee with a fork.

Earl Battey: I accused him of being black. I told him he was too cool to be white.

Koufax, when asked what his best pitch was: Strike one.

Mickey Mantle [looking at a third strike in the 1963 World Series]: How the f*ck are you supposed to hit that sh*t?

The narration by Robert Pinsky, former Poet Laureate of the United States, added to my enjoyment of SANDY KOUFAX . . . he was assisted by the author, Leavy, who gave broke up parts of the book by a thrilling account of the September 9, 1965 perfect game Koufax pitched against the Chicago Cubs.

I would just like to echo the many positive reviews of Jane Leavy's biography of Sandy Koufax. The author has crafted a well-written account of the life and times of the former Dodger great. I was particularly taken by the way the book is organized, with chapters presenting a fairly straight-forward biography alternating with chapters dealing, inning by inning, with Koufax's perfect game in 1965.
Koufax, in Leavy's assessment, is a very private man, but not the aloof individual that so many perceive him to be. This supposed aloofness, together with his perceived "intellectualism" (the man read books, go figure) is pointed to as reflective of the subtle antisemitism that Koufax had to deal with throughout his career (and afterwards), an argument that Leavy makes effectively. Also convincing is her interpretation of Koufax's continuing symbolic importance to the Jewish community.
This book is a must-read for anyone interested in Koufax, the Dodgers, and baseball and its social context in the 1950s and 1960s.

If you enjoy going behind the scenes and learning about the lives of great athletes you will enjoy this book. Sandy Koufax is shown as a man with discipline and principles beyond most of us. It is too bad that he threw a baseball so hard that he had to cut short his brilliant career because of a sore arm. I saw Koufax pitch in Wrigley Field in Chicago and it was a great thrill. He and Don Drysdale brought so much to major league baseball and helped establish baseball west of the Mississippi river. The author does a nice job of explaining what kind of a person Koufax was and her account would be a good book for any aspiring athlete to read. Norman Jones,Ed.D-author of Growing up in Indiana:The Culture & Hoosier Hysteria Revisited and Main St. vs. Wall St: Wake-up Calls for America's Leaders.

Jane Leavy does a fantastic job of seeking Sandy Koufax's contemporaries to allow us into the most dominating four years that any major league pitcher has ever had.

What comes across is the sheer physical will over pain like Lou Gehrig, dominating the game from his position like Lawrence Taylor, not taking needed rest similar to Chuck Bednarik, great humility like Wayne Gretsky and down to earth rationality like some many great retired athletes that we never hear of.

If it wasn't for Leavy's book we may have never heard about the private side of Koufax nor the four years of consecutive no-hitters that culminated in a perfect game.

If is amazing that in 1965 right outside of Hollywood only one teenager decided to record Vin Scully announce that game. The Dodgers opponent, the Cubs happened to lose after only allowing the Dodgers one hit more.

Jane Leavy's account of the perfect game is worth the price of admission.

Sandy Koufax was and is a role model and a hero to boys and men alike. Jane does not pry too much, nor would Sandy let her in but we find out more about this very special man.

Simon and Garfunkel said "Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio" but after Lefty's Legacy I cry out for role models like Sandy Koufax today. This is mythology!

Sandy Koufax was a shooting star. A brilliant, explosive wonder, he appeared on the baseball scene of the mid-60's virtually without warning, dominated the game as no lefty ever had and, after a short, extraordinary brilliance, was gone in an instant, leaving behind a grateful, awed and largely befuddled multitude.
Koufax is an extremely private man. He had no role in the preparation of this book. However, Jane Leavy appears to have interviewed virtually everyone who ever knew or worked with Koufax to any significant degree and, through painstaking research has penned the definitive-though totally derivative-biography of Koufax we are likely to ever see.
Unfortunately-and this is no criticism of Leavy, just a reflection of the enigma that is Sandy Koufax-in the end the only truly salient fact that emerges is that Koufax remains as much a mystery today as he was in his prime. Leavey may have conducted over 400 interviews and provided an avalanche of detail, background and speculation but the fact is that Koufax himself remains unavailable, unassailable and, in the final analysis, apparently unknowable. One of his former teammates once observed that "Sandy Koufax is the most misunderstood man in all of baseball". Leavy has, through this entertaining and valiant effort, established that fact to be as true today as it was 35 years ago.

Was Sandy Koufax the greatest lefty ever? If you go to the MLB web site and click on history, he does not even rank in any meaningful statistic. Better than Warren Spahn? That can best be answered by those more qualified than I.
Author Leavy paints an adoring picture of Koufax and never fails to point how the difference between Koufax the Jew and Drysadale the goy. She insists on hitting us over the head with Koufax's Jewishness, a role in which he was not so comfortable.
The book is structured in chapters that alternate between his 1965 perfect game and a linear exposition. Not particularly inventive. This kind of thing has been done before. But in a sense, she had no choice since Koufax did not cooperate in sharing a lot of biographical information and her hands were tied in being able to speak with certain people. Much of the book is interesting, but too much of it is repetitious and tedious. How many times do we have to know that he didn't pitch on Yom Kippur? Enough already! How many times do we have to hear about the kid whose tape recorder didn't go on until his father turned it on in the second inning? She beats us over the head with the same information (in case you forgot).
Because of the paucity of real biographical information, this cannot properly be called a biography. At any rate, authors have to be able to keep a distance from their subjects and she just kvells over him on every page. Many interesting things I didn't know are in here, but the book is weak in structure (something Koufax never did on the mound) and poorly written in a sophomoric, "gee whiz" style. I adored Koufax when I was growing up and more than a great pitcher, he is a true class act, but I think he needed a better writer. NB: I often find myself in the minority. I hated Les Miserables (the musical, not the book).

I bought this book in hopes of gaining some insight into my late father's baseball allegiances. He was a Dodger fan and a Koufax devotee. Growing up in the suburbs of Washington D.C. I was never sure why that was so.
Leavy does a great job in allowing the reader to get a grasp, albeit a loose one, on this enigmatic and utterly unbelievable athlete. As a baseball fan I had always known about Koufax's legacy as a player.
In reading this book I got a better idea about the attitudes in baseball and society during that era. I also discovered what my father could never quite explain to a young boy growing up playing baseball. That there is so much more to this game than the game and Koufax knew that and somehow my dad knew Koufax had that awareness.
This book will shed a lot of light on Sandy Koufax for most readers but it will be even more illuminating about an era for those who did not live in it. This should be required reading for every major leaguer today.

Sandy Koufax an enigma? Not necessarily according to Jane.Just a man who enjoys his privacy.Unlike so many of our modern atheletes who crave attention,Sandy preferred to let his game speak for itself.And what a wonderful game.Jane digs out numerous bits of information and lays it out quite well.Sandy's childhood are recalled here along with his feats of baseball glory.Leaving sensationalism alone,thanks Jane,she tackles the very private life of Sandy with a respect that Sandy earned.I loved the flow of the book and how she presented Sandy's perfect game,not all in one piece but like a baseball game.I really enjoyed it and hats off to Jane Levy for a well written bio of Mr.Maximus Supreme Sandy Koufax.

This one surprised me. Harper Coliins' cheap packaging and the uninspired title (A Lefty's Legacy?) screamed formulatic hagiography. You know the genre: lots of stats, cheesy writing, exclamation points...

Instead this is as subtle, probing, smartly written as any biography could be. Jane Leavy is a skillful researcher with a relentless drive to get at her subject from every angle. And she knows how to tell her story. She is a masterful writer, able to draw us in to her quest. We are led to discover aspects of this man through a process that mirrors her own.

As others have noted this is more than a simple biography of Koufax. It really uses Koufax as a lens to do some significant social history. In the process we are led through some critical reflections on Jewish identity, baseball, physiology, American values, etc.

Truly one of the most compelling things I have ever read. It really deserved a better title, and pages that don't yellow on teh edges after just three years.

Sandy Koufax was an enigma even to those closest to him, so what hope does a biographer have? Koufax's reserved personality evidently hindered Jane Leavy's study of her subject, and the result is an adequate chronicle of Koufax's career but a mediocre exegesis of the man and his legend. Most of the book consists of reconstructed play-by-play accounts of key games, and promiscuous quoting of Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully contributes a sizable portion of the narrative of Koufax's perfect game on September 9, 1965, around which the book is structured. But barely able to glean much insight into Koufax's career beyond the data one finds on the back of a baseball card, Leavy simply gives up writing about Koufax early on in the book and instead writes about his fans and teammates. I imagined her suffering from the same frustration trying to comprehend an inscrutable man that Reagan biographer Edmund Morris encountered composing /Dutch/, although Leavy at least does readers the service of not inserting herself into the Dodger infield.
Two chapters manage to overcome these serious problems. Chapter 1 is essential reading for the baseball fan who would rather watch a pitchers' duel than a barrage of home-runs. These fifteen pages detail how Koufax, years before scientists subjected game video to laboratory analysis, somehow intuited the physics and biology underlying the mechanics of pitching. He calibrated his body into a machine for delivering a baseball past the plate without the slightest tremor of superfluous motion, extracting the optimum power from every muscle. Chapter 17, a study of the reverence for Koufax nurtured by generations of Jews and the city the Dodgers left behind, should have been titled "Why Koufax Matters." It's a noble attempt to divine why so many include Koufax among the Patriarchs. Even so, Leavy seems not to grasp that Koufax is beloved not because he declined to take the mound on Yom Kippur, but because he was the most dominant ballplayer who ever lived.

So there really isn't much mystery about Sandy Koufax. Shortly after he retired he married twice, each marriage being relatively long lasting, and he led a quiet life. He attended various baseball ceremonies, raised some money for charities, and coached a bit. Leavey demolishes the "recluse" nonsense.
She also sets out clearly why Sandy had to retire early. He like other starting pitchers of his era were exploited by their teams. Throwing fastballs for nine or more innings per game game after game would have ruined anyone's arm. Baseball had not yet appreciated the middle reliever and the closer. Had Sandy pitched 6 or 7 innings per game, his career would have lasted another 5 years easily. I have to admire his and Drysdale's work ethic though.
The book recalls the late 50's and early 60's well and makes you realize how much society and baseball has changed. It is a fun book to read.

Very worthwhile read especially for any one (like me) who remembers Sandy Koufax and his legacy from their childhood when he was pitching. Jane Leavy did a commendable job of documenting the person that he was, considering that she was working with a subject that was reluctant to have his personal life story documented. As a result, the reader is often times left with only shadows of insights provided by those friends and associates interviewed by the author. Jane Leavy does an excellent job of weaving those shadows and Koufax's remarkable accomplishments into a coherent and entertaining documentation of Koufax's legacy. But we are left with wanting to know so much more. For example, we are told that Mr. Koufax was married and divorced two times. We want insights into the marriages and the nature of these relationships and why they failed. Yet this subject was obviously put off limits by Mr. Koufax. That there is so much in his life that is "off limits" is of course, also part of his legacy.
There is enough of his remarkable athletic accomplishments and the incites into his (and our) times provided by Jane Leavy to make this book an entertaining and worthwhile book. I read it in three sittings. I came away feeling that Sandy Koufax was an extraordinary athlete, and just a regular guy with strengths and weaknesses, many still unknown and undocumented. Mr. Koufax is an interesting person but not extraordinary, at least not from any thing provided by Jane Leavey in the book. I think Mr. Koufax would agree with that as well. If that's his legacy, then the book is exactly as advertised.
A+ to Jane Leavy