Koufax [Hardcover]

Edward Gruver (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2000

In Koufax, Edward Gruver tells the life story of Sandy Koufax, a man many consider to be the greatest left-handed pitcher of all time. Gruver includes extensive interviews with the player's childhood friends, Brooklyn Dodgers teammates, opponents, front office personnel, and sports journalists who covered his career.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This is the biography of legendary L.A. Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax, who for half a decade mesmerized hitters as few have ever done. Described by many as the greatest left-handed pitcher of all time, Koufax dominated batters in the National League, establishing a benchmark that most hurlers only dream about. Consider these stats: from 1962 to 1966, he won 111 games, lost only 34, tossed a no hitter, and also pitched a perfect game. His 1963 season was brilliantDan impressive 25-5 record with a 1.88 ERA, a world series championship, and an MVP award. It's too bad arthritis ended Koufax's playing days prematurely, at age 30. Award-winning sports writer Gruver (The Ice Bowl) has compiled what the publisher touts as the first book on Koufax in 30 years. Drawing on childhood friends, teammates, opponents, journalists, and Dodger management, Gruver has written a compelling story, complete with appendix of notable statistics. Recommended for all libraries. (Index not seen.)DLarry R. Little, Penticton P.L., BC
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax may have had the best consecutive years of any pitcher ever from 1961 through 1966, winning 149 games while losing just 47 with a miniscule earned run average and more than one strikeout per inning. He retired at age 30 because of severe arthritis in his pitching arm. The reverential mystique enveloping Koufax to this day is based in equal parts on his magnificence; his retirement, caused by a tragic condition; and his subsequent Garboesque public persona. Gruver, the award-winning author of The Ice Bowl (1997), relies on mostly secondary sources to re-create Koufax's career and postretirement life. Older fans familiar with Koufax will learn little that wasn't common knowledge but can vicariously relive some of those great performances. Young fans can learn how a star could be humble, self-effacing, and gracious while still being as fierce and courageous a performer as the game has known. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing (April 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878331573
• ISBN-13: 978-0878331574
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #811,326 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars First-rate Subject But a Fifth-rate Book, December 30, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Koufax (Hardcover)

The main thing that comes to mind when I think of this book is three words: boring, boring and BORING!

If this book were not about one of my childhood idols (as a 12-year-old girl I had a terrific crush on the 19-year-old Sandy Koufax), I would have stopped reading it after a few pages. The prose is flat and colorless, the pages of statistics numbing, the repetitions annoying (where are editors when you need them?), the constant shifting around between different times and places confusing, and the lack of anything but the most superficial information about Koufax the man is extremely disappointing.

Gruver offers an occasional vivid anecdote or quotation, such as Tom Seaver's wonderfully perceptive and generous observation that Koufax seemed to have "come down from another league, a higher league." A second one is borrowed, significantly enough, from the incomparable Roger Kahn--a REAL baseball writer of genius. Gruver reports that Dodger exec Al Campanis told Kahn that there had been only two occasions in his life when the hair on the back of his neck literally stood on end. One was when he first saw Michelangelo's paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and the other was the first time he saw Koufax throw a fastball. Now THAT's what I call a great comparison! Too bad it wasn't Gruver who made it or even first reported it.

As an ardent Brooklyn Dodger fan who is also female, I wish Gruver had included more details on Koufax's marriage. (OK, I can hear the guys groaning at this one!) All Gruver provided was the wedding date and the bride's name, then two paragraphs later he reports that the couple divorced. Why? After how long? If Koufax himself refuses to talk, surely somebody else must know SOMETHING! I wonder if Gruver even attempted to interview Koufax's ex-wife, Anne Widmark?

The last part of the final chapter is fairly good in demonstrating how Koufax has become a standard of excellence against which other players are measured. Overall, however, the book was a major league disappointment.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Where have all our heroes gone?, June 11, 2000

By 

Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Koufax (Hardcover)

On a balmy, summer's evening in Southern California during the mid-60's, I tune my transistor radio to KFI, and loop the handstrap around my bicycle's handlebar. Peddling aimlessly through the darkening twilight, my thoughts are solely on the vision conjured up by the Voice of the Dodgers, Vin Scully. I remember as if it was only yesterday...

"On the mound tonight for the Los Angeles Dodgers ... number 32 ... the great left-hander... Sandy Koufax".

"Koufax", by Edward Gruver, brings it all back. It's more than just a straightforward biography. The backbone of the book is a narrative of Sandy's gutsy, phenomenal performance in the seventh game of the 1965 World Series with the Minnesota Twins, relived batter by batter and pitch by pitch, at roughly one inning per chapter. The author fleshes out each inning's action with the story of Koufax's life: parents, childhood, education, religion, early baseball career, peak baseball career, teammates, adversaries, pitching style, injuries, retirement, and post retirement. And enough pitching stats to satisfy even the most hardball of fans. My only criticism might be that the author's evident hero worship of his subject is almost slavish. However, who am I to criticize considering the knuckle-biting attention I paid to Sandy's every outing, every pitch and every decision? This is a must-have book about a truly great gentleman and ballplayer.

Thirty-four years after my hero's final walk to the mound, I'm no longer a baseball fan, much less a follower of the Dodgers. Nowadays, star baseball (and football, and basketball) players seem to get more media attention when they abuse drugs, commit felony assault or rape, or are just downright obnoxious. Yes, I suppose professional athletes have always had their darker side, but the paying fans rarely heard about it, and the reputation of The Game was the better for it. For me, there are no present-day heroes. But, if I surrender to memory on a balmy, Southern California, summer evening, I can still hear Vin Scully across the decades ...

"Sandy looks in to Roseboro for the sign ... He goes into his wind-up ... Now the pitch... FASTBALL! ... Swung on and missed! Strike three!... Oh, my!"

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This review isn't helpful but I really don't care., July 27, 2001

By 

mateo52 "invisible man" (State College, Pa.) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Koufax (Hardcover)

While thinking about what to say in this review I was reminded of some commentary written about Miles Davis where a jazz critic I have long since forgotten observed, "Miles plays for himself. The listener's appreciation is merely an irrelevant by-product." Under no circumstances do I consider myself to be the literary equivalent of the musician (and artist) that was Miles Davis however the spirit of the quote is a fair assessment of the following review.

If Ed Gruver had written a biography of commensurate quality about any other baseball player, at most I would have rated it four stars. Imposition of the name Koufax, establishes an entirely unique dynamic for me. Throughout my childhood, every member of my family and basically every adult I knew well were Dodger fans, nevermind the fact the team was initially 600, and eventually 3000 miles removed from where I lived. I must have been enveloped by a steel industry induced rust belt fog for my pre-teen, adolescent and young adult years because up to the point of Jackie Robinson's death the basis for our unwavering support never occurred to me. No one ever said a thing, it was just the way it was. My family would gather around and listen to Bob Prince's call of Pirates' games just so we could find out how the Dodgers were doing. If the Dodger's were on NBC's game of the week, it became an event comparable to today's Superbowl parties.

As a lefthanded kid who fancied himself a future major league pitcher and a Dodger fan to boot, Sandy Koufax was the embodiment of perfection. I'm forced to smile in consideration of my now obvious hypocrisy when I think about the number of times I admonished my children regarding adulation of sports figures, chiding them to remember the athlete should be admired for accomplishments on the field but heroes should be sought from other disciplines. This coming from a man who a few years ago came across an old elementary school autograph book where some erstwhile friend had written, "to the boy who thinks he's Sandy Koufax but is not and never will be," thereby terminating our friendship on the spot. Not only did I consciously attempt to emulate the Koufax delivery, but while recently watching some tapes of my son, I realized when I taught him to pitch, his delivery became a right-handed version of the Koufax form.

My first job was hawking newspapers in the stands of Forbes Field during Pirates games. I found out that way I could get in for free. In 1965, I was fortunate enough to be at a doubleheader where the Dodgers starting pitchers were Koufax and Drysdale. Koufax gave up first inning homers to Bob Bailey and Donn Clendenon, then he shut down the Pirates, went all nine (naturally) and the Dodgers won 5-2. I don't have the slightest clue what happened with Drysdale in the second game. Without question, baseball is the american sport with the most time-tested adages and overwhelming conventional wisdom. The book says a fastball cannot rise and in the late innings, hitters will catch up with the pitcher who depends on the fastball. The book didn't factor in Sandy Koufax. He even affected my perceptions of historical significance. Two people I promised myself I would never forget were Michael Collins and Bob Hendley. The former did not get to walk on the moon, and the latter only gave up one hit, one walk and no earned runs, but found himself on the short end of the Koufax perfect game against the Cubs in 1965.

Mr. Gruver transported me back to an era of pleasant memories. It is hard to get younger fans in the present era to comprehend just how dominating a player was Sandy Koufax. Comparisons between eras are always difficult however rating Randy Johnson, Martinez, Clemons or Maddox against the man I consider to be the greatest seems so inadequate, particularly when you consider the physical challenges he had to overcome the last two seasons he played every time he picked up the ball. The guidelines have changed but this is a man who completed as many games in those two seasons as today's 5 man rotation pitchers start.

I only wish the authors' style and format had been as inspiring as his subject matter. The storyline of Koufax's life takes place around the backdrop of a pitch by pitch account of the 7th game of the 1965 World Series. Mr. Gruver seems to suffer from short term memory loss as time after time he repeats the same information, occasionally in successive paragraphs. Anyone who knows anything about Koufax knows his legendary reclusiveness would inhibit any author writing an unauthorized biography, so the absence of input from Mr. Koufax was not surprising. Mr. Gruver, however, fails to adequately compensate.

Nevertheless, KOUFAX is still a book any baseball fan will enjoy. It's been said there will never be another Ruth, Brown, Laver, Ali, Nicklaus, Jordan, only time will tell. But in the case of Sandy Koufax...