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This digital document is an article from Midstream, published by Theodor Herzl Foundation on September 1, 2008. The length of the article is 323 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Sandy Koufax, Baseball's Jewish Star.(Poem)
Author: Leo Haber
Publication: Midstream (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 1, 2008
Publisher: Theodor Herzl Foundation
Volume: 54Issue: 5Page: 25(1)

Article Type: Poem

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

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A biography of Hall of Fame baseball player Sandy Koufax, the greatest left-handed pitcher in Dodgers history. ... Read more

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Chapters: Hank Greenberg, Sandy Koufax, Ryan Braun, Kevin Youkilis, Ian Kinsler, Jason Marquis, Scott Feldman, Gabe Kapler, Shawn Green, Moe Berg, Brad Ausmus, Jason Hirsh, Craig Breslow, Scott Schoeneweis, Ken Holtzman, Sid Gordon, Mike Lieberthal, Al Rosen, Steve Stone, Ron Blomberg, Scott Radinsky, Lou Boudreau, Jimmie Reese, Mike Epstein, Bob Melvin, Larry Sherry, Norm Sherry, Ryan Karp, Jeff Newman. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 301. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Ryan Joseph Braun (born November 17, 1983, in Mission Hills, Los Angeles, California), nicknamed The Hebrew Hammer, is an American right-handed Major League Baseball All-Star left fielder with the Milwaukee Brewers. He won the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 2007, after leading the National League (NL) in slugging percentage. He also won the Sporting News NL Rookie of the Year, the Baseball America Rookie of the Year, the Baseball Prospectus Internet Baseball NL Rookie of the Year, and the Players Choice NL Most Outstanding Rookie Awards. Over the prior decade, the only other NL hitter to win all five awards was Albert Pujols, in 2001. Braun was a starting NL All Star outfielder in both 2008 and 2009, won the 2008 and 2009 NL Outfielder Silver Slugger Awards, and was the starting left fielder for the USA team in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. In 2009 he was named to the Sporting News' list of the 50 greatest current players in baseball, ranking No. 32 on the list, and led the NL in hits for the season. In 2010, he was moved up to number 22. Braun was a four-year letterman on the Granada Hills High School baseball team, and three-year team captain and MVP. He played shortstop, and until his junior year he also pitched. As a sophomore in 2000 he recorded the highest batting average of his prep caree...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=3891233 ... Read more

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No immortal in the history of baseball retired so young, so well, or so completely as Sandy Koufax. After compiling a remarkable record from 1962 to 1966 that saw him lead the National League in ERA all five years, win three Cy Young awards, and pitch four no-hitters including a perfect game, Koufax essentially disappeared. Save for his induction into the Hall of Fame and occasional appearances at the Dodgers training camp, Koufax has remained unavailable, unassailable, and unsullied, in the process becoming much more than just the best pitcher of his generation. He is the Jewish boy from Brooklyn, who refused to pitch the opening game of the 1965 World Series on Yom Kippur, defining himself as a man who placed faith over fame. This act made him the standard to which Jewish parents still hold their children. Except for his autobiography (published in 1966), Koufax has resolutely avoided talking about himself. But through sheer doggedness that even Koufax came to marvel at, Jane Leavy was able to gain his trust to the point where they talked regularly over the three years Leavy reported her book. With Koufax′s blessing, Leavy interviewed nearly every one of his former teammates, opponents, and friends, and emerged with a portrait of the artist that is as thorough and stylish as was his command on the pitching mound.

Customer Reviews (113)

Buyer Beware!
I read this book a while ago and pretty much put it out of my mind until I saw that the author was getting press for her new Mantle bio, in which this book was cited as an "achievement".I was hoping for the definitive biography of one of baseball's great characters; I'm not sure what I ended up with.One other reviewer called it "disjointed", and I guess that sums it up.Try as I might, I could not finish this book.Koufax is a great subject and I didn't think it would be possible to write a bad biography about him, but I was wrong.I hope the Mantle book is better, but after reading the Koufax book I have low expectations.

In Tribute to a Tribute
I'm in the process of immediately turning around and rereading this book.The author layers her story slowly and allows Sandy's perfect game to take place, inning by inning, through the eyes and ears of his teammates, contemporaries, and fans, as it is a perfect vehicle for examining Koufax the athlete.But this book is not about Koufax the athlete; it is about Koufax the man, the human being, the essence outside the image.

For a true fan of the game, there is no rush, only moments in time, with those of the Koufax era, alas, neither widely nor dynamically recorded on either radio or television, but here captured by Jane Leavy.You want to savour the details.Here Koufax becomes palpable and eminently graceful in athelticism and humanity.Here he is honored from force of his actions.Here he is as a human being, beyond the mythological creature we are guilty of having constructed and all too often forcing upon him. Here Sandy Koufax, the human being, stands forth.And THAT is why I'm rereading this book.

Perfect.Great for all audiences.
Insanely good.This is the kind of book even non baseball fans will love, it covers the game and the man in a very compelling voice.I couldn't put it down.Next to The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America, this is #2 on my list of baseball books.

The Einstein of Baseball
By creating her own rules on the fly, after being forced to operate within the rigid constraints imposed by Koufax, Jane Leavy has thrown a few fastballs into the annals of sports reporting and biography herself. With this very revealing biography of one our most enigmatic sports heroes she has immortalized him in a way befitting his elevated and elegant status and demeanor.


As a dyed in the wool "Dodger fan for life," frustrated physicist, survivor of the 1965 LA Watts Riots, and general sports enthusiast, this book about Koufax hit my palate's "sweet spot." Her description of 1955 Brooklyn New York, the excitement of the Dodger Yankee rivalry, the changes in the game itself, and how Koufax intuited the perfect mechanics of the optimum pitch is unexcelled in sports writing. That picture of the body being a single muscle coiled and anchored to the ground as it unfurls like a medieval catapult at the release of a pitch, for many reasons will be an enduring image in my mind.


But that is just the preliminaries, in the intro. The best part is the tension her narrative creates in the lead up to Koufax's own "game of a career," in the 1965 pennant final with the Chicago Cubs. With LA still smoldering in the background from the "Watt's Riot," Koufax's old and weary arm (at the very young age of 30), "came again in the stretch run," and it was a beautiful sight to behold.


But more than this, her interleaving of scenes and scenery from his life with the nine innings of the most famous and electrifying game of any era, the descriptions of his technique, the comments of his teammates, the awe in which he and his talents were held, and the utter modesty of the man himself, makes this book a rich offering of sports biography of an important sports icon; a proper portrait of the rarest of human beings; and an excellent description of what grace and elegance looks like under pressure.


If what Ernie Banks said about Koufax is true that "It is like being in the ballpark with Jesus," then this, Jane Leavy's book is the bible with nine innings of scriptures, chapter and verse. Five stars

Sandy Koufax--A Jewish Baseball Hero
If you were Jewish and loved baseball in the 1960s, chances are, Sandy Koufax was your hero.If you were Jewish and lefthanded, chances are even greater that Koufax was your hero.
Sandy Koufax had stopped pitching the year before I started following baseball and I got to know him by watching himas acommentator on NBC's game of the week.He had a certain charisma that really came across on the "small screen".The first baseball book that I read was about Sandy Koufax and much of the information, I had already known.However, I think this book filled in many of the details of his life and career, while still keeping the "Koufax Mystique" alive.
... Read more

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In this striking picture book biography, an old-timer tells us what made Sandy Koufax so amazing. We learn that the beginning of his career with the Brooklyn Dodgers was rocky, that he was shy with his teammates, and experienced discrimination as one of the only Jews in the game. We hear that he actually quit, only to return the next season—different—firing one rocket after another over the plate. We watch him refuse to play in the 1965 World Series because it is a Jewish high holy day. And we see him in pain because of an overused left arm, eventually retiring at the peak of his career. Finally, we are told that people are still “scratchin’ their heads over Sandy,” who remains a modest hero and a mystery to this day.

Accompanied by sidebars filled with statistics, here’s a book sure to delight budding baseball fans. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Disappointing
I am a huge Koufax fan and was looking forward to this book because of the positive amazon reviews. But it is odd, and not in such a good way.The drawings are unusual, and not in such a good way.Abstract, but not successfully so. And the text is just so-so. I wish it were otherwise.There is a feel for Koufax's gentleness in some of the text, but the artwork makes him appear to be a brute.

Winter Gives Us History and Entertainment with SANDY KOUFAX
I have to be honest and say that I REALLY had never heard of Sandy Koufax before reading this book. I'm not a person that normally follows sports, but this book made me want to go and find out more about the man that made such a mark on American sports.

Jonah Winter was able to take this man and make him personal and also fascinating for sports lovers and those who just loved a great story of success. Everything from the illustrations to the way the story was written was just perfect, not just for young people but for adults as well.

Entertaining, engaging and very educational, this is one book that I must ensure more hear about.

Sydney Taylor Honor Book for Younger Readers - 2010
Sandy Koufax will always be known as the left-handed Jewish pitcher that did not play in the first game of the 1965 World Series because it was Yom Kippur. But his career entailed hard work and dedication, facing anti-Semitism, and knowing when to retire. Koufax's rise from a Jewish boy in Brooklyn to one of the all-time greats of baseball as a Los Angeles Dodger is told through a narrator associated with the team.

The conversational style is accessible to young readers, and the excitement and respect builds through the narration. Koufax's story will hold the attention of non-baseball fans and non-Jews. The illustrations are magnificent--the contrast of colors and the motion of the players bring the story to life without overwhelming the text. Thank you for a glossary with baseball terms explained clearly enough for a non-fan to appreciate Koufax's statistics. - KATHE PINCHUCK - CLIFTON, NJ

Once upon a time Sandy Koufax's pitching was wild and crazy, but his personality wasn't!

Sandy was a Jewish kid that grew up in Brooklyn. He was one of those kids who was fabulous at any sport he tried, including baseball, and rumor had it that he could "throw as hard as a pro." It wasn't long before scouts came down to see what this whippersnapper was all about. When Al Campanis invited him to join the Brooklyn Dodgers his answer was faster than his pitch.

His pitching was wild and crazy, but his personality wasn't. Now Sandy Koufax was a guy that could make a church mouse sound loud. Even though Don Drysdale and Don Newcombe tried to get him to relax, he still couldn't manage it. At the end of the season he got so disgusted he took his uniform and chucked it right in the trash and "says nothin' to nobody, just leaves. Quitsville." He eventually became the "greatest lefty who ever pitched in the game of baseball," but how did he make a comeback from being a guy who couldn't even control his pitches?

This book has a lot of panache and the first person point of view, spoken with a Brooklyn accent, makes this brief baseball biography much more interesting. The full color lenticular cover has a moving illusion of Koufax throwing a strike when you move the book. Sidebars with baseball information and stats are scattered through the book and a concise glossary of baseball terms is in the back.

Almost perfect, but BIG MISTAKE!
Fabulous 3-d cover. Beautifully illustrated. Baseball fans of all ages will love the way the narrator makes the story come alive and the baseball stats, BUT... BIG HISTORICAL INACURACY!! Newcombe was not on the 1960s Dodgers. ... Read more

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"Richly layered....An entertaining and informative portrait of two underappreciated teams in an unforgettable time."--Boston Sunday Globe

The most surprising World Series ever? Many baseball fans would agree that it was the epic 1966 clash between the reigning champion Los Angeles Dodgers and the perennial underdog Baltimore Orioles.

The godlike Sandy Koufax had led the Dodgers to victory in two previous World Series, and had finished the season with twenty-seven wins, a personal best. Few outside Baltimore gave the Orioles - slugger Frank Robinson leading a young team of no-name kids and promising prospects - more than a fighting chance against such series veterans as Koufax, Don Drysdale, Maury Wills, and the rest. Experts were betting that Los Angeles would sweep it in four. What transpired instead astonished the nation, as the greatest pitching performance in World Series history capped a redemption beyond imagining.

"Guaranteed to score a home run." -Essence

"Astonishing. . . . Adelman goes way past the box scores to get information that makes the players more human and the games more dramatic." -San Diego Union-Tribune

"Black and Blue delivers good baseball action, ownerly perfidy, and social context." -Boston Globe ... Read more