THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – Friday, September 6, 2019 Page 11 Leaving early By The Old Sachem, Bill Stewart R ecently Andrew Luck decided to leave professional football while still relatively healthy. The quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts retired at 29 years old because of the wear and tear on his body. This reminded me of three others who decided to retire while still able to live life in the best of terms. The next three weeks I will write about Sandy Koufax, the lefty pitcher of the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, Jim Brown of the Cleveland Browns and Barry Sanders of the Detroit Lions. Sandy Koufax pitched in the major leagues from 1955 to 1966 and retired at 30 years old. He told the world after the 1966 season that he had an arthritic pitching elbow, his left. He had just finished a season where he had won his third pitching Triple Crown: wins, ERA and strikeouts. Sandy was born December 30, 1935, in Brooklyn, N.Y., to a Jewish family. He was born to Evelyn (Lichtenstein) and Jack Braun, and his parents divorced when he was three years old. Evelyn later married Irving Koufax and Sandy was raised in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn. When Evelyn remarried, Sandy was nine years old and the family moved to the Long Island suburb of Rockville Center. While in high school the family moved again, this time back to the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn. He attended Lafayette High School in Brooklyn, but was unable to play – the teachers at the time refused to coach school sports because of the lack of payment. He ended up playing basketball at the Edith and Carl Marks Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst. AT 15 years old he joined a local youth baseball league as a catcher, then as a first baseman and finally as a pitcher. As a senior he pitched for Lafayette High School and was scouted by Milt Laurie, who recruited Sandy to pitch for his Parkviews in the Coney Island Sports League. After high school he went to the University of Cincinnati and became a walk-on for the freshman basketball team. In the spring of 1954, he became a pitcher for the varsity baseball team and went 3 and 1 with an ERA of 2.81, 54 strikeouts and 30 walks in 32 innings. This impressed a scout for the Dodgers, Bill Zinser, but the club didn’t move on Koufax. He tried out for the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds and was ignored. Sandy tried out for the Pittsburgh Pirates and was also ignored. Al Campanis, a scout for the Dodgers who had seen Sandy pitch at Lafayette, invited him to Ebbets Field, the home of the Dodgers, and with the front office people watching as Koufax tossed a workout. Sandy was signed for a $6,000 salary, a bargain that included a $14,000 signing bonus. Because of his signing bonus amount, the Dodgers were required to keep him on the roster for two years, and optioned Tommy Lasorda to the minor leagues. Koufax had a slow start in the majors: His first start was on July 6, 1955, and only lasted four and two thirds innings, giving up eight walks. He waited almost two months before facing the Cincinnati Reds and won, 7-0, only allowing two Settipane Insurance Agency Of Boston |Since 1969 209 Broadway, Revere 781-284-1100 Auto • Homeowners Call for the Lowest Quote! “Experience Makes the Difference” Tenants • Commercial Se Habla Español * Free Parking Bill Stewart The Old Sachem hits, and his career was destined. In the offseason he enrolled in Columbia University School of General Studies to study architecture, evenings. He didn’t pitch for the Dodgers in the postseason in which the Dodgers won the World Series, and after the final out of the last game in Brooklyn, he immediately travelled to a class at Columbia. The 1956 season wasn’t much different, and the Dodgers sent him to Puerto Rico to pitch in winter ball. The management wanted to see if he was now worth the cash they had spent on him, and on May 26 he started against the Chicago Cubs in Wrigley Field. He struck out thirteen and tossed a complete game – yes, pitchers did that in this era. For the next three seasons he occasionally was picked to start and the results were mediocre. He asked the Dodgers to trade him in 1960 because he wasn’t getting enough playing time. He thought about quitting baseball and spending time with a company that he had invested in, an electronics company. He spent time working out after the season and reported in 1961 in the best condition of his young life. He had an 18 and 13 record in 1961 and led the league in strikeouts with 269, setting a new record surpassing Christy Mathewson’s 267. He was an all-star between 1961 and 1966. His last appearance was on October 2, 1967, for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who had migrated from Brooklyn previously. Koufax had a won-loss record of 165 and 87 in Major League Baseball. He pitched for four World Series Champions and was selected the Series MVP in 1963 and 1965. Sandy pitched to three Triple Crowns while securing the MLB winningest pitcher in 1963, 1965 and 1966, and was selected as the Cy Young Award winner all three times. Koufax was the National League MVP in 1963. In the 1966 season he pitched three starts in eight days, the third was the second game of the World Series against the Baltimore Orioles. The Dodgers were swept in four games. While most pitchers throw with a three-quarter motion, Koufax preferred the throw over the top, which increases velocity but varies the moveOLD SACHEM | SEE PAGE 14
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