 "Sandy Koufax--A Jewish Baseball Hero" | 2009-04-09 |
| - Reviewed By mdbarer2 |
If you were Jewish and loved baseball in the 1960s, chances are, Sandy Koufax was your hero. If you were Jewish and lefthanded, chances are even greater that Koufax was your hero.
Sandy Koufax had stopped pitching the year before I started following baseball and I got to know him by watching him as a commentator on NBC's game of the week. He had a certain charisma that really came across on the "small screen". The first baseball book that I read was about Sandy Koufax and much of the information, I had already known. However, I think this book filled in many of the details of his life and career, while still keeping the "Koufax Mystique" alive.
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| "I don't understand any low ratings on this book." | 2009-04-05 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1VFBUMWE4RBIS |
| As a former pitcher and a person who loves inside aspects of the game, I thought this book was great. I am sorry if some of the reviewers feel they didn't get past the "enigma" of Mr. Koufax. I frankly find it even more interesting to not know some of his intimate personal details. I think more telling is how others interviewed for the book feel about Koufax. He is universally respected and loved - maybe due to the way he carries himself and treats others. That has so much more meaning than titilating details. Class has its own reward. Finally, Koufax's analysis of pitching mechanics is possibly the most insightful such discussion as has ever been put to paper. |
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| "Great book about the great Koufax" | 2009-01-18 |
| - Reviewed By User: A32NR5QPDZSD5D |
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. |
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 "A GOOD BOOK ABOUT THE GREAT LEFTY" | 2008-08-23 |
| - Reviewed By iwantu1007 |
| 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. |
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| "Baseball in a different world" | 2008-01-30 |
| - Reviewed By joycekj |
| 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. |
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| "Readable & Revealing" | 2007-04-30 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3OJFPKMCXKOM0 |
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.
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