Word: koufax
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...experienced reader of baseball biographies would know that when Jane Leavy began her book about Sandy Koufax, she was already behind in the count. Strike one: most baseball biographies are about as interesting as foul balls. Strike two: in the 36 years since he last threw his atomic fastball, Koufax has accommodated the intrusions of reporters about as frequently as he used to accommodate opposing hitters...
Even so, Leavy has hit it out of the park. Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy (HarperCollins; 282 pages) is a lot more than a biography. It's a consideration of how we create our heroes, and how this hero's self-perception distinguishes him from nearly every other great athlete in living memory. But it's also a remarkably rich portrait of an intentionally elusive man. (Joe DiMaggio, notes Leavy, "marketed his privacy; Koufax cherishes his.") Leavy doesn't give us intimate details about her subject's life--his two marriages rate just three sentences--but still makes...
...finds the National Baseball Museum, the National Baseball Library and the Hall of Fame. Within the cathedral silence of the Hall visitors meet past greats, gazing mildly from bronze plaques mounted on the walls. Gathered there are the greatest ball players ever: Ruth and Gehrig, DiMaggio and Mantle, Koufax and Mathewson. The effect is stirring; unfortunately, U.S. baseball's racist past has been underplayed. It is as if we were reading a fine authorized biography, solid in many respects but edited by the subject, in this case Major League Baseball...
...older folks, Opening Day is another chance to criticize current players and remember the true greats of yesteryear. For some, the feats of Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire will never really compare with those of Ted Williams, Willie Mays and Sandy Koufax. In this era of monster hitters and astronomical contracts, they say, everything is distorted, and baseball will never be the same...
...older folks, Opening Day is another chance to criticize current players and remember the true greats of yesteryear. For some, the feats of Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire will never really compare with those of Ted Williams, Willie Mays and Sandy Koufax. In this era of monster hitters and astronomical contracts, they say, everything is distorted, and baseball will never be the same...