Editor’s Note: Loren Kantor often chooses Jews and Jewish themes as topics for his woodcuts. He’s agreed to share images from his work–and the stories behind them– with San Diego Jewish World. Dodger pitching great Sandy Koufax is the second in this series.
By Loren Kantor
STUDIO CITY, California — Hitting against Sandy Koufax is like trying to eat soup with a fork.”–Willie Stargell (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Sandy Koufax was an American Jewish Baseball Legend. Known as the “man with the golden arm,” he possessed a 100-mph fastball and a ferocious curveball.
From 1963-1966, he had the best four year span of any pitcher in the history of baseball. His statistics were mind-boggling. Four no-hitters, a 97-27 record, 1.99 earned run average, 1,200+ strikeouts, 1 MVP Award, 3 Cy Young Awards and 2 World Series Championships. He struck out 15 Yankees in Game 1 of the 1963 World Series to set a record that still stands.
On October 6, 1965, he refused to pitch Game 1 of the World Series against the Minnesota Twins because of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur. This made him a hero to Jewish baseball fans and a villain to many others. Fan letters to the LA Times were filled with anti-Semitic invectives. After losing Game 2, Koufax pitched a complete game shutout in Game 5 then came back on just two-days rest to pitch the deciding Game 7.
Koufax was wild in the first inning. Catcher John Roseboro came to the mound and asked Sandy, “You have no curveball today. What are we going to do?” Koufax uttered the immortal words of a sports legend. “We’re just going to have to blow them away.”
Koufax went on to pitch a 3-hit shutout and the Dodgers were World Champions. Koufax retired in his prime after the 1966 season due to a painful arthritic elbow that caused his pitching arm to hemorrhage. At age 36, he became the youngest player ever elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Ex-Dodgers General Manager Al Campanis once said of Koufax: “There are two times in my life the hair on my arms stood up; the first time I saw the Sistine Chapel and the first time I saw Sandy Koufax throw a fastball.”
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Loren Kantor is a woodcut artist based in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles. To see works he has for sale, visit http://woodcuttingfool.blogspot.com/