Koufax, Sandy

Koufax, Sandy (Sanford Koufax) kōˈfăks [key], 1935–, American baseball player, b. New York City. A superb pitcher, he played (1955–66) with the Dodgers, remaining on the team when the franchise was moved from Brooklyn, N.Y., to Los Angeles. Three times he received the Cy Young Award for his outstanding pitching (1963, 1965, 1966), and he pitched in four World Series (1959, 1963, 1965–66). A left-hander with overwhelming speed and a brilliant curve, Koufax struck out 2,396 batters between 1955 and 1966, when he was forced into premature retirement by an arm ailment at the peak of his career (he won 26 and 27 games his last two seasons). In 1972 he became the youngest player ever elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

See his autobiography (1966); biographies by E. Gruver (2000) and J. Leavy (2002).

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