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A portrait of record-breaking pitcher Sandy Koufax chronicles a twelve-year pitching career tragically cut short by severe arthritis and profiles a man who went on to become the youngest player ever elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Sandy Koufax
A biography suitable for chapter book readers, this look at the famous baseball pitcher's life focuses almost entirely on his professional baseball career from the late `50s to the mid-60s.Koufax came to sports from a Brooklyn Jewish home.His grandfather Max influenced his upbringing and instilled Jewish values and religion.Koufax came to the major leagues from success in several sports.His college career highlighted the blazing speed of his pitches, but shaky control.Once signed to the major leagues, the rules at the time forced the Brooklyn Dodgers, to keep him on the major league roster before he was ready for it.The result was several frustrating, inconsistent, and far from successful years in Brooklyn.After Koufax established his control, he became perhaps the premiere pitcher of his time.He maintained that status for a relatively few years before injuries forced his premature retirement after his team moved to Los Angeles.At the beginning of one of his team's World Series appearances, Koufax' refusal to pitch on Yom Kippur brought his commitment to his faith into the public eye.The facts are presented clearly, accurately, and chronologically and with notes that help baseball novices understand its terminology.The information appears to be only public record and conjecture about the feelings of this quiet, non-public man's life.Frequent boxed sidebars bring helpful details and tidbits to the story.
For ages 8-12.
Reviewed by Steve Silverman ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 616 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Signed essays ranging from 500 to 2,500 words, written by subject experts and edited to form a consistent, readable, and straightforward reference. Entries include subject-specific bibliographies and textual cross-references to related essays. ... Read more

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WHAT...was the advice given to Sandy Koufax that turned him from a "wild man" into baseball's greatest pitcher? WHY...did the Dodgers beat the Yankees so decisively in the '63 World Series-and will it happen again this year? HOW...much longer can Mickey Mantle last as a dynamic home run hitter? WHO...of the present day hurlers may turn out to be the greatest pitcher of all time-and his name isn't Koufax? WHEN...big league clubs start thinking of trades, who would they rather have-Kaline, Mays, Aaron, Killebrew or Tommy Davis? The answer to these and hundreds of other up-to-the-minute diamond questions are found in BASEBALL STARS OF 1964. Here are the thrilling, unforgettable moments of the '63 season-and some surprising predictions about the 1964 baseball campaign. All this plus the exciting inside stories and records of today's diamond stars. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Notable Sports Figures, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 1977 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Takes a close look at the people in sports who have captured attention because of success on the playing field, or controversy off the playing field. This work features biographies on more than 600 people from around the world and throughout history who have had an impact not only on their sport, but also on the society and culture of their times. It also includes not only the record-breakers that dominated and changed their sport, but also the controversial figures that made headlines even apart from athletic events. ... Read more

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Chapters: Cy Young, Sandy Koufax, Jim Bunning, David Wells, Perfect Game, James Bunning, Randy Johnson, Mark Buehrle, Kenny Rogers, Don Larsen, John Montgomery Ward, David Cone, Catfish Hunter, Tom Browning, Addie Joss, Dennis Martínez, Len Barker, Mike Witt, Charlie Robertson, Lee Richmond. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 190. 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: A perfect game is defined by Major League Baseball as a game in which a pitcher (or combination of pitchers) pitches a victory that lasts a minimum of nine innings and in which no opposing player reaches base. Thus, the pitcher (or pitchers) cannot allow any hits, walks, hit batsmen, or any opposing player to reach base safely for any other reasonin short, "27 up, 27 down". The feat has been achieved only 19 times in the history of major league baseball17 times since the modern era began in 1900. By definition, a perfect game must be both a no-hitter and a shutout. Since the pitcher cannot control whether or not his teammates commit any errors, the pitcher must be backed up by solid fielding to pitch a perfect game. An error that does not allow a baserunner, such as a misplayed foul ball, does not spoil a perfect game. Weather-shortened contests in which a team has no baserunners and games in which a team reaches first base only in extra innings do not qualify as official perfect games under the present definition. The first confirmed use of the term "perfect game" was in 1908; the current official definition of the term was formalized in 1991. Although it is possible for multiple pitchers to combine for a perfect game (as has happened nine times at the major league level for a no-hitter), to date, every major league perfect game has been thrown by a single pitcher. Lee Richmond, pitcher of the first perfect game in major le...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=186058 ... Read more

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In a landmark work that continues the tradition established fifty years ago by the legendary Tom Meany, sports analyst David Shiner fills in the last fifty years with portraits of modern baseball’s Greats. From Aaron to Yastrzemski, Dave tells the stories of how and why the greatest players achieved so much. Filled with thrills and insights into what made them tick, Baseball’s Greatest Players is a hit in its own right. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Linking Baseball's Best
As we share Shiner's nostalgia, we rediscover Aaron, Mays, McCovey, Mantle, and Gibson, old heros, old memories. Baseballs Greatest Players, The Saga Continues is more than a Who's Who of baseball, it's a way of life, a catalog of events, a collection of memories. As Shiner reveals the greatest players, we, who are old enough to remember, bask in their glory and relive our own unachieved ambitions.

But Shiner does more than take us back, he bundles the past with the present and into the future, tyingthe memories together forever in our minds. McGuire's record-setting season rekindles other home run hitters: Roger Maris, Reggie Jackson, Mickey Mantle, even Babe Ruth. We connect to the present, even anticipate the future. McGuire's 70 home run season triggers a vision of people diving into San Francisco Bay to retrieve the balls Barry Bonds his in 2001, the year he surpassed McGuire's record.

Baseball fans will love this book, others will like it. It's clearly, simply, and accurately presented and guaranteed to stir a memory or two.

One For The Books
With the writing of Baseball's Greatest Players, author David Shiner takes a serious risk.The only thing a sports fan loves more than making a "greatest list" is arguing voluably about why the other guy's list is WRONG!One read of this book will shut down most any other greatest list's chances, and it does so with style, wit, and a healthy dose of readable fact.

In its text, Shiner's book fulfils both the needs of casual fan's interest and the SABR-members desire for solid, quantifiable statistical evidence.But it goes beyond just fact and storytelling to get to the intangibles that separate the players truly great between the white lines from those whose personality and dedication supported not just their teams, but the game itself.

Baseball, more than any other sport (though Canadian hockey fans will rightly take exception to this) carries its past with it.This continuity, this love of the game that both transcends and unites generations is served well by Shiner's writing.Buy Baseball's Greatest Players, and take it to a sports bar near you.You won't go wrong.

50 Years of Baseball's Best Players--Fun and Interesting!
It's hard not to enjoy this well written, easily readable book on baseball's best players of the past 50 years.Lively anecdotes plus comprehensive (but not boring) analysis shows exactly why these are the best players of the game.I got a kick out of remembering a lot of things I had almost forgotten, like just how good Bob Gibson was.Some of the facts are amazing, like that in the last two years Sandy Koufax pitched, there were 8 games where the Dodgers only scored one run for him--but he won 4 of them.This book also avoids wallowing in sex and drug garbage.It's a baseball book, not National Enquirer.Balanced, interesting, a really solid piece of work.

Fun & Interesting Book on Baseball
Brief synopses of baseball's best players during the past 50 years.Fun and informative.Enjoyed reading this, think others would also.

GREAT BOOK ON BASEBALL'S GREAT PLAYERS!
What an enjoyable book!I loved it.Great short biographies of the greatest baseball players from the past 50 years.For the serious baseball fan or the novice (or anyone who wants to know the story behind legendary players like Mantle and Mays, or why Ricky Henderson really IS one of the greatest players ever).Whether you are ten or eighty, this book is fun, interesting, and helps explain why millions love baseball--and their heroes!Makes a great gift for kids or adults.Exciting stories, well written. ... Read more

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Magazine published monthly ... Read more

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The inside stories behind the headlines. World Series heroes and how they are made. Over 100 action photos. Chapters include Yogi Berra: Mr. World Series; Babe Ruth: Only Player to Hit Three Homers in One Game; Sandy Koufax: 15 Batters Bit the Dust; Alexander's Unforgettable Hangover and more. ... Read more

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The Incomparable adn Mysterious Sandy Koufax ... Read more

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In Koufax, the first book in more than 30 years on thelegendary baseball player, Edward Gruver tells the life story of theman many consider to be the greatest left-handed pitcher of all time.

For five seasons, from 1962-1966, Sandy Koufax of the Los AngelesDodgers wowed fans with his hard-throwing talent and dominated thegame as no pitcher had before or since.In the 1963 season alone, hewent 25-5 with a 1.88 ERA, struck out a major league record 15 Yankeesin a game one win over New York in the World Series, and was named theMost Valuable Player of the series.

Also an observant Jew, Koufax inspired a generation of youths toembrace their religious identity. He refused to pitch the opening gameof the 1965 World Series since it fell on Yom Kippur, the most solemnof Jewish holidays, and he gained lasting admiration among Jewishpeople for observing other religious occasions. For all his athletic brilliance, however, Koufax held the nationalspotlight for a relatively short time.His dazzling career was marredby severe arthritis in his throwing arm.A shy and private man, heretired in 1966 at the young age of 30 while still at the height ofhis game.After a brief stint as a national broadcaster, he went intoself-imposed exile from the media and lived in relative seclusion.

Koufax includes extensive interviews with childhood friends; Dodgerteammates, opponents, and front office personnel; and sportsjournalists who covered his career. Koufax will reacquaint fans with alegendary player from their youth and introduce a new generation toone of baseball's greatest pitchers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

Not a great book
Although there are parts of all of Sandy's life in the book, it seemed to revolve too much around the 1965 World Series.I'm still waiting for a good biography on Sandy.

Koufax Acquaintance From N.Y.
"Koufax", as written by Ed Gruver, is a highly focused book that covers the life and times of this most private man with flair and tact.

The strength of this book is the combination of the author's narrative with the insightful quotes from interviews he conducted with Sandy's friends and former teammates.

Gruver covers Koufax's life and career through the spectrum of one game - Game 7 of the 1965 World Series. It's an interesting approach, and it works here since this game is regarded as the defining game in Koufax's great career. (Interesting that Jane Levy's book, published one year later, uses the same format, though with a different game).

"Koufax" is a wide-ranging story of the life and career of the man many consider the greatest left-handed pitcher in history. It's filled with interesting anecdotes and brings to life a highly private individual.

Overall, I found it an accurate portrayal of one of sports' most enigmatic figures.

As boring as football fans claim baseball is!
Sandy Koufax is frequently described as a shy, introverted, and very private man.Perhaps because of this truth, it's hard to really get to know the real man... and even a biographer has trouble shedding any light on Sandy.

Gruver's book doesn't offer any new insight into Sandy's personality or private life.And the book frequently repeats several phrases over and over again!His pitching motion is described at least five times using the same description, and everyone interviewed for the book chimes in with the same description of his private side.Very repetitive!Lacking any real depth or anything new to say about Sandy Koufax, I guess the author decided to pad the book with repeated phrases.Sandy threw a great curve because of his "long fingers and overhead delivery."Sandy's lack of a good curve in the World Series forced him to "rely almost entirely on his fastfall."I can't tell you how many times I read this same information within the space of this short book.

Taking up the rest of the book is a pitch-by-pitch retelling of Game 7 of the 1965 World Series.Koufax was amazing to see pitch, and his dominance over other players was exciting to watch.But retold by Gruver in minute detail doesn't recreate the drama, it only puts us to sleep.Football fans have long said that "baseball is boring," and Gruver helps prove them right.

The author attempts to frame Koufax's story on the aforementioned 1965 World Series game 7, and jumps forward and backward between that game and the rest of Koufax's life and career.It's a literary device that doesn't work; I found myself confused about what year it was and what important game was being played.Also, Gruver's segue phrases between the 1965 World Series and moments earlier in Koufax's career are forced... moving from the eighth inning of Game 7 to an earlier Koufax pitching start, Gruver might say, "It was just like that time in San Francisco in 1962,"and - BOOM - now he's recounting the details of a game played three years earlier.And then back to the 1965 World Series for the bottom of the eighth.And so on.

Hopefully, that newer Koufax biography ("Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy") is better and more exciting than this one.I don't think I've ever read a more boring baseball book, and certainly never one as monotonous as this one.

Doesn't do justice to the man
Koufax was the greatest, he deserves a better book. I suspect that some of the more positive reviews posted are more a reflection of the reviewers' feelings about Koufax, rather than the book. This book is poorly written and incredibly boring. How any writer could make the subject of Sandy's brilliant career boring is beyond me. But Gruver finds a way. The writing is dry and disorganized, there is little flow to the material, too many meaningless quotes from others are included without sufficent editing, and a plethora of unimportant details not only overwhelm the narative but are frequently repeated, sometimes three or four times. I've just ordered Jane Leavy's book, it's got to be better.

Koufax, Martinez, Walter Johnson
Sandy Koufax, Pedro Martinez, and Walter Johnson are the three greatest pitchers in history. This book makes a strong case for Koufax as THE greatest. Certainly others -- Cy Young,Christy Mathewson,Lefty Grove, Bob Feller,Warren Spahn,Tom Seaver,and today's Maddux and Clemens,among others -- have had greater lifetime careers than Sandy,but has anyone been as good as he at their peak years? Maybe Martinez, maybe the two Johnsons,Walter and Randy.It's probably a flat-out dead heat. However, Koufax finished most of his games,something even the great Pedro and Randy seldom do. Also, Koufax frequently went extra innings -- 11,12,13 innings,something Pedro and Randy NEVER do.Koufax pitched for one of the weakest hitting championship teams of all time. From the time he matured into greatness, he became the sole deciding factor as to whether the Dodgers won the pennant or not;in 1962, with the Dodgers on top, Koufax goes out with a circulatory ailment sometime around midsummer and misses most of the rest of the season and the Dodgers lose the pennant.In '63, with a healthy Koufax all year, they win it.In '64, he goes out again in mid-summer with an arthritic arm, and again the Dodgers lose the pennant. In '65, a healthy Koufax leads them to another pennant. In '66, once again with a healthy Koufax, the Dodgers win the pennant. Do you start to see a pattern here? If the greatest measure of an athlete is how he helps his team win, then surely Koufax has to be at the top of anyone's list. If he'd been able to continue pitching,like Nolan Ryan he'd no doubt have been able to pitch at a master level til he was past 40 due to his work ethic and commitment to conditioning. With that scenario, how many games might he have won? How many pennants for the Dodgers? How many no-hitters? Let's see, at a conservatve estimate of 24 wins a year for 10 more years, that would give him 405 lifetime wins, more than anyone except Walter Johnson and Cy Young, both DEAD BALL pitchers. He pitched 4 no-hitters in his last 5 years.At that rate, he'd have pitched 8 more over the next ten years, for a total of 12, obliterating Ryan's mark of 7. He was the greatest clutch pitcher of all time. His World Series lifetime E.R.A. of 0.95 is the best ever for starting pitchers,eclipsing even the Dead Ball guys! When he retired, he was unbelievably still getting BETTER! He had just reached his all-time personal high in wins(27) and his personal best E.R.A.(1.73). In the last 26 days of his career, he started seven times, threw five complete-game wins, and had an E.R.A. of 1.07! Bill James's all-time favorite pitcher,Lefty Grove, can't match up with Koufax, Martinez, or either of the Johnsons; sorry, Bill. The all-time dream game: Koufax vs. Martinez in the seventh game of the Series. Result? The Dodgers in 13 innings,1-0.
More even than all this, Sandy Koufax is one of the most modest,unassuming athletes ever, a true gentleman. It's a shame today's kids don't have such role models. ... Read more

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Chapters: Hoyt Wilhelm, Cy Young, Darryl Kile, Nolan Ryan, Christy Mathewson, Sandy Koufax, Jim Bunning, Fernando Valenzuela, Eddie Cicotte, Dave Stieb, Bob Gibson, Carlos Zambrano, James Bunning, Tom Seaver, Gaylord Perry, Walter Johnson, A. J. Burnett, Dwight Gooden, Juan Marichal, Warren Spahn, Hideo Nomo, John Clarkson, Mark Buehrle, Jim Bibby, Amos Rusie, Kenny Rogers, John Montgomery Ward, Dennis Eckersley, Ken Holtzman, Clay Buchholz, Bert Blyleven, Bob Feller, Jim Palmer, Derek Lowe, George Mullin, Milt Pappas, Hugh Daily, Jon Lester, Lew Burdette, Justin Verlander, Carl Hubbell, Wes Ferrell, Kevin Brown, Jack Morris, Phil Niekro, Al Leiter, Aníbal Sánchez, Smoky Joe Wood, Bret Saberhagen, Bob Lemon, Vida Blue, Dock Ellis, Adonis Terry, Jim Abbott, Ray Caldwell, Charles Radbourn, Tom Browning, Ed Walsh, Bo Belinsky, Dave Righetti, Bill Singer, Dutch Leonard, Bill Dinneen, Carl Erskine, Addie Joss, Burt Hooton, Dave Stewart, Matt Kilroy, Clyde Wright, Tony Mullane, Rick Wise, Joe Horlen, Don Wilson, Mike Scott, Chief Bender, Dazzy Vance, Howard Ehmke, Jonathan Sánchez, Ted Breitenstein, Terry Mulholland, Dean Chance, Allie Reynolds, Jerry Reuss, Rube Marquard, Sal Maglie, Kevin Millwood, Steve Barber, Ed Cushman, Eric Milton, Ted Lyons, Charlie Ferguson, Don Cardwell, Earl Wilson, Dick Bosman, Gus Weyhing, Scott Erickson, Claude Hendrix, Sam Jones, Stu Miller, Wilson Alvarez, Pud Galvin, Al Atkinson, Larry Dierker, Sad Sam Jones, Virgil Trucks, Larry Corcoran, George Bradley, Blue Moon Odom, Bill Monbouquette, Lon Warneke, Tom Phoebus, Ben Sanders, Vic Willis, Bill Stoneman, John Candelaria, Jay Hughes, Dick Burns, Ed Lafitte, Kent Mercker, Bullet Joe Bush, Jim Tobin, Earl Hamilton, Deacon Phillippe, Jim Colborn, Ewell Blackwell, Steve Busby, Nap Rucker, Guy Hecker, Rube Foster, Mel Parnell, Johnny Vander Meer, Ray Washburn, Lee Richmond, Henry Porter, Dave Morehead, Ramón Martínez, Bill Hawke, Bumpus Jones, Walter Tho...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=84625 ... Read more