Word: koufax
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Dead Aim. Best of them all is the Los Angeles Dodgers' Sandy Koufax, 27. So far this season, Koufax has pitched one no-hitter (against Manager Dark's Giants), two two-hitters and four three-hitters. His earned run average is a lean 1.64, and he leads both major leagues with 163 strikeouts. He started last week by blanking the Cincinnati Reds on three hits, 4-0. Five days later, he picked up another shutout (his ninth) at the expense of the New York Mets, 6-0, and became the first pitcher in either league...
...sturdy (6 ft. 2 in., 205 Ibs.) lefthander, Koufax has a baffling overhand motion and a bewildering arsenal of pitches. His fastball comes in like a 20-mm. cannon shell; his curve breaks so sharply that it acts, says Dodger Catcher John Roseboro, "like a chair whose legs suddenly collapse." Control? "When an umpire calls my pitch a ball," says Koufax casually, "that means it is either high or low. It's never outside or inside." All in all, agrees St. Louis Cardinals' Slugger Ken Boyer, "Koufax is just too damned much...
...Problem. Sanford Koufax is a lawyer's son who stumbled into baseball by chance. At Brooklyn's Lafayette High School basketball was his game; he won a scholarship to the cage-crazy University of Cincinnati, turned out for baseball just to liven up a dull freshman spring. "I have one problem," Sandy told the coach. "I can't hit." "Well," said the coach, "maybe you can pitch." In his first two games, Koufax struck out 34 batters, and big-league scouts began pounding on his dormitory door. The Dodgers got there first, with a contract that called...
...losses. Finally, one night in 1960 before a Dodger-Giant game, he buttonholed General Manager Buzzie Bavasi. "I want to pitch," stormed Sandy, "and you guys aren't giving me a chance." Inquired Bavasi: "How can you pitch when you can't get the side out?" Yelled Koufax: "Who the hell can get the side out sitting in the dugout?" Taking it all in was San Francisco's Willie Mays. "Listen to 'em go," chuckled Mays. "Maybe they'll get mad enough to trade him. I just hope they trade...
Pitching is always hard to evaluate, but it seems certain that Juan Marichal (13-3), Jim O'Toole (13-6) and Sandy Koufax (13-3) will hurl some scoreless innings. The American League lacks such impressive and tested starters but Boston's Dick Radatz (8-1) might very well be able to kill any National League enthusiasm long enough for the American bats to establish a permanent superiority...