SubscribeSandy Koufax: A ‘Neyer’ moment?
Koufax with Dodgers manager Joe Torre. Photo by Jewish Journal
The Los Angeles Jewish Journal published this piece on Sandy Koufax’s appearance at a Feb. 27 fund-raiser for Joe Torre’s Safe at Home Foundation.
Koufax seems to be stepping out more recently. He’s always good for a visit to the Dodgers’ spring training camp, as well as the Mets, owner Fred Wilpon being an old friend. Then there’s his participation in the upcoming film documentary about Jews and baseball, due out this summer.
Maybe he’s changed his philosophy, like fellow Hall-of-Famer Willie Mays. For decades, Mays declined to authorize an “official” biography. But with the advancing years, he decided the time was right to share his story with his legion of fans, the result of which is James Hirsch’s excellent new book, Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend.
Koufax shared an interesting anecdote with the audience in which he
spoke of one famous start that never actually happened. In 1964, Phillies manager Gene Mauch called off a game, allegedly due to the light rain that fell that morning. Legend says Mauch actually called the game because Koufax was set to start. And as Koufax explained to the audience, the next time the Dodgers would be in Philadelphia that year was on Yom Kippur, when Mauch knew he wouldn’t play.
So that got me to thinking: Pretty much every Jewish baseball fan knows that Koufax skipped his assignment in Game One of the 1965 World Series against the Minnesota Twins. But how many other late-season assignments did he miss because of the High Holy Days?
Seems like a trip to baseball-Reference.com/Retrosheet.org is in order.
Working with those sites and Hebcal.com, a perpetual Hebrew calendar website, I learned that Koufax, in fact, actually pitched twice on Yom Kippur.
In 1960, he tossed the seventh and eighth innings in a 10-8 loss to the Cubs on Oct. 1, a meaningless contest on the last day of the season. The next year he took his regular turn on Sept. 20 to beat the Cubs 3-2 in 13 innings, striking out 13, when the Dodgers were still in the hunt for the N.L. pennant. He might have taken off for Yom Kippur in 1966, his final campaign, but it’s difficult to make that attribution just from the paperwork, since he alternated between three and four days off that year. He beat the Phillies 11-1 on Sept. 20 and lost to the Cubs on Sept. 25, 2-1. Yom Kippur fell Sept. 23-24.
Perhaps he felt badly for pitching on the holiest day of the Jewish year; perhaps he took a lot of flack for it. Maybe it was the exaggerated spotlight of the World Series that made him decide not to take the ball for Game One.
Koufax appeared in four World Series: two games in 1959 against the Chicago White Sox; two in 1963 against the Yankees; three (!) against the Twins in ’65, including the crucial 2-0 clincher on two days’ rest; and his last in 1966 against the Orioles. Other than Game One in ’65, there were no holiday conflicts.
But hang on a minute, what’s this? Do we have a Neyer moment?
It seems questionable the event Koufax mentions could have taken as described.
The Dodgers had a poor season in 1964, and Koufax had his share of woes. According to Jews and Baseball, Volume 2 by Burton and Bonita Boxerman (McFarland), in an Aug. 8 game against the Milwaukee Braves
Koufax jammed his pitching arm while diving back to second base to beat a pick-off throw. He managed to win two more games in 1964. The morning after his nineteenth win, a shutout in which he fanned 13 batters, he could not straighten his left arm. The Dodgers’ team physician diagnosed his ailment as traumatic arthritis, and Koufax did not pitch the rest of the year. [emphasis added]
So here’s the thing: The morning after Koufax’s 19th win was Aug. 17, almost a month before Yom Kippur. So he would not have played when the Dodgers hosted a three-game series against the Phillies on Sept. 7-8 (doubleheader and single game) and visited Philadelphia for four games, Sept. 17-20 — just after Yom Kippur. (The Phillies hosted the Dodgers for a three-game set July 31-Aug. 2; Koufax beat the Pirates on Aug. 4. But there were no rainouts. Even if there had been, it’s hard to believe Mauch would have been ruminating the Dodgers’ pitching rotation more than a month ahead of time to see when Koufax’s turn would fall.)
So, as much as I hate to say it (damn you again, Neyer), and unless someone can show me otherwise, I have to call out Koufax on his claim.
Of course, Koufax does preface the anecdote with “Legend says….”
Regardless, his decision in 1965 remains the highlight of Jewish fans to this day.
Ron,
I’m not saying you are or aren’t right, but did you remember to check the TIME of the games? For example, if Yom Kippur is listed as being on October 1st, then Sandy is well within his rights to pitch in any night game that occurs after sundown on that date. Maybe that game he tossed the last couple innings of, he just did so because the sun had set in the middle of the game, and it was no longer Yom Kippur at that point. Conversely, he WOULDN’T be able to pitch the night before YK, if it were a night game (though a day game would obviously be fine). Just wanted to make sure you double checked that!
Do you mean whether games were played during the day or at night on Yom Kippur day (neither was erev YK). Good point. According to Retrosheet, both were night games. The first was in relief, the latter as a starting assignment. But the fact remains that Koufax went to “the office” fully prepared to go to work, which he did on both occasions. In fact, who knows if on those days he didn’t actually appear in a YK game — especially earlier in his career when he was used as a reliever — that he didn’t warm up in the bullpen? (One of these days, they’ll keep track of that.)
“Who knows if… he didn’t…”
Is that a joke? Are you trying to incriminate a man for something that he may or may not have ever done?
And going to “the office” is not the same as working – sorry.
I think you’re splitting hairs here. Why go to the “office” if you’re not going to work? Had Alston called on him, do you think he would have refused at that point?
And the “who knows” comment refers to warming up. If he did, he was working, even if he didn’t actually get into the game.