* Happy birthday, Sandy Koufax

December 30, 2009

The poster-boy for Jewish sports of the boomer generation turns — wait for it — 74 today! Hard to believe he’s been away from the game for more than 40 years, but his legacy goes on. Even today, parents invoke the Hall of Fame pitcher: “If Sandy Koufax could miss the World Series for Yom Kippur, you can skip the movies for a day.”

And don’t you think all the Jewish pro athletes who followed are peppered by the press come High Holy Day time with questions about their plans to play or sit? Must get a bit tiresome.

There are thousands of articles you can read about Koufax, but here are a few of books to get a hold of:

  • Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy, by Jane Leavy
  • Koufax, by Edward Gruver
  • You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?, Jonah Winter (juvenile)
  • Then there’s Koufax’s eponymous book, written with Ed Linn in 1966, following his retirement. Haven’t read it, but willing to guarantee it’s nothing like the tell-alls of today.
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