Sandy Koufax

Sanford Koufax is an American former professional baseball left-handed pitcher. He pitched 12 seasons for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1955 to 1966. Koufax, at age 36 in 1972, became the youngest player ever elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He has been hailed as one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history.

Koufax joined the major leagues at 19 years old, and never pitched a game in the minor leagues. His career peaked with a run of six outstanding years from 1961 to 1966, before arthritis in his left elbow ended his playing days prematurely at age 30. He was an All-Star for six seasons[1] and was the National League's Most Valuable Player in 1963. He won three Cy Young Awards (1963, 1965, and 1966) by unanimous votes, making him the first three-time Cy Young winner in baseball history and the only one to win three times when a single award was given for all of Major League Baseball instead of one for each league. Koufax also won the NL Triple Crown for pitchers those same three years, leading the NL in wins, strikeouts, and earned run average.

Koufax was the first major league pitcher to pitch four no-hitters and the eighth pitcher to pitch a perfect game in baseball history. Despite his comparatively short career, Koufax's 2,396 career strikeouts ranked 7th all-time as of his retirement, trailing only Warren Spahn (2,583) among left-handers. Koufax is the first of just five pitchers elected to the Hall of Fame who had more strikeouts than innings pitched.

In four trips to the World Series Koufax won three rings, twice being named the Series' Most Valuable Player.

He is also remembered as one of the outstanding Jewish athletes in U.S. sports. His decision not to pitch Game 1 of the 1965 World Series because it fell on the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur garnered national attention as a conflict between religious calling and society, and remains a notable event in U.S. Jewish history.