Arts

ntertainment

Baseball's
`Most Misunderstood Man'

New book reveals insights into
Jewish pitching great Sandy Koufax.

TODD LEOPOLD

inning-by-inning description of
Koufax's perfect game in 1965, as
told by fellow players, fans and
friends.
But as she crafts the biography,
Leavy makes it clear that she is just as
interested in the light that Koufax's
life sheds on U.S. history in the
1950s and 1960s -- as a Jewish ath-
lete emerges as one of America's
greatest sports heroes.

Special to the Jewish News

jr

ane Leavy grew up a baseball
fan and a Jew, but she did
not grow up a fan of one of
the greatest Jewish players
ever, Sandy Koufax. Her grandparents
lived in the Bronx. How could she
love a Dodger like Koufax? It was
impossible.
"I was a Yankee fan. I went to syna-
gogue on High Holy Days at the
[Bronx's] Concourse Plaza Hotel,"
Leavy said in a recent interview. "I
prayed every year that Koufax would
not do to the Yankees what he did to
them in 1963."
That was the year the left-hander
struck out 15 Yankees in Game 1 of
the World Series. John Roseboro hit a
three-run homer in the second
inning, the Dodgers won 5-2, and
the Angelenos swept the Bombers in
four straight games.
(Never say that God does not
answer prayers. After a last-gasp 1964
pennant, the Yankees were about to
spend a floundering decade out of the
winner's circle, and Koufax never
faced them again.)
Life takes strange turns. Koufax --
originally signed as "the great Jewish
hope" by the Dodgers when they
were still playing in heavily Jewish
Brooklyn -- retired after the 1966
season, just 30 years old, his left arm
worn out and arthritic. His statistics
put him in the Baseball Hall of Fame:
165 wins, a .655 winning percentage,

Todd Leopold is the entertainment sec-

tion editor of CNN.com, where this article
originally appeared in a slightly different
form. Peter Ephross ofJewish Telegraphic
Agency contributed to this story

12/27
2002

60

Private Figure

Sandy Koufax pitches at Wrigley Field in Chicago on June 20, 1961. Koufax struck
out 14 batters and allowed two hits in beating the Cubs 3-0.

a 2.76 earned-run average, four no-
hitters.
Leavy grew up to become a sports-
writer and ended up writing a biogra-
phy about the pitcher, Sandy Koufax:
A Lefty's Legacy (HarperCollins;
$23.95); it has been on best-seller
lists since it came out in September.
But the Washington-based author's
book isn't a typical biography.
Leavy details the outlines of

Koufax's life -- his childhood in
Brooklyn and nearby Long Island; his
mediocre early years with the
Dodgers, as he struggled to control
his wild pitching; and his outstanding
years between 1961 and 1966, when
he had five of the greatest years any
baseball pitcher has ever enjoyed.
As part of her novel approach to
the craft of biography, Leavy alter-
nates chapters of Koufax's life with an

Leavy thought it would be hard.
There's an aura around Koufax. He's
thought to be the J.D. Salinger of
baseball, the pitcher's version of Joe
DiMaggio.
"I knew what the established wis-
dom was," Leavy said. "He's a recluse.
He's dour, taciturn, aloof."
But it's not true, Leavy said. "As
one teammate told me, 'He's the
most misunderstood man in base-
ball.'"
What emerges is a man who simply
likes his privacy but who committed
the cardinal (no pun intended) sin for
a celebrity: When he was done with
his career, he just walked away.
"The only mystery is why we find
it surprising that someone opted
out," said Leavy. "It makes him dif-
ferent."
But, Leavy discovered, Koufax was
one of the most respected players in
the game, by teammates and com-
petitors alike.
-
She interviewed 469 people for A
Lefty's Legacy, from former teammates
to sportscasters to classmates to a
man who had held on to a recording
of Koufax's perfect game.
Not one of them had a bad word to
say about the title subject, she says.