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(Jewish Group) The day Sandy Koufax became one of the greatest pitchers of all time
Sandy Koufax in front of a chalkboard summary of his first no-hitter on June 30, 1962. Photo by YouTube screenshot
By the time Sandy Koufax threw his first no-hitter 60 years ago, he had experienced his share of baseball tsuris.
Koufax, the pride of Jewish sports fans the world over, failed to hit his stride early in his career. When he took the mound at Dodger Stadium against the New York Mets on June 30, 1962, in front of 30,000 fans, he was coming off his first excellent season, setting a new National League record with 269 strikeouts in 1961, while going 18-13 with a 3.52 ERA.
Before that, Koufax had battled control problems for a half-dozen years, walking lots of batters and throwing a league-high 17 wild pitches in 1958, the Dodgers’ first year in Los Angeles after moving there from his home borough of Brooklyn. He said the low point came in 1960, when he went 8-13 while walking 100 at the age of 24.
“From the time I broke in with Brooklyn in ’55 I’d progressed a little each year, but in ’60 the roof fell in,” Koufax recalled in 1962. “I got pretty disgusted with myself, but I never considered quitting. I was too young to quit, and besides, I didn’t know much else to do but play baseball.”
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