Sandy Koufax: An Enduring Legacy

Sandy Koufax speaks at the Baseball Writers Association of America dinner in 2014. (Photo: Arturo Pardavila III from Hoboken, New Jersey.)

 

Just two years after Sandy Koufax’s shocking retirement from baseball, the headline in The Sporting News on April 20, 1968, read: “New Koufax? It Could Be Cubs’ Holtzman.”1

“Holtzman is regarded by many baseball observers as ‘another Koufax,’” Edgar Munzel wrote. “This, perhaps, is the critical year for him, the year he’ll prove it or not.”

Ken Holtzman was left-handed, he threw hard, and he was Jewish. And while he did have some good seasons–a two-time All-Star, with 174 wins,2 a 3.49 ERA, and two no-hitters–it turned out he was not, indeed, “another Koufax.”

But then again, who could be?

Koufax set a high bar not just on the mound, but also when to be off it. Two generations earlier, famed slugger Hank Greenberg of the Detroit Tigers sat out a game on Yom Kippur in 1934. When the 23-year-old “Hebrew Hammer” walked into temple on that solemn day, he was stunned and embarrassed to receive a standing ovation.3

Twenty years later, Cleveland third baseman Al Rosen told his manager he couldn’t play in Game Five of the 1954 World Series because of the holy day–but it was a moot point as the Indians were swept in four games by the New York Giants.4

But the most famous example was Koufax–“The Left Arm of God”–sitting out Game One of the 1965 World Series against the Minnesota Twins because it fell on Yom Kippur. Don Drysdale took the mound and the Dodgers lost, 8-2. (Drysdale gave up seven runs in 2â…” innings; when the manager came to take him out, Drysdale supposedly quipped, “Hey, skip, bet you wish I was Jewish today too.”)5

Koufax pitched in Game Two and the Dodgers lost again, 5-1. But they won the Series in seven games, with Koufax throwing a four-hit shutout in Game Five and a three-hit shutout in Game Seven.

The following year, Koufax again sat on Yom Kippur in a game against the Cubs … as did Holtzman, Chicago’s scheduled starter. The Jewish left-handers instead faced off the following day, and Holtzman outdueled Koufax, giving up one run on two hits, while Koufax gave up two runs (one earned) on four hits in a 2-1 Cubs victory.6

The precedent had been set. Five years later, Mike Epstein followed in their footsteps when he sat out the Oakland A’s final game of the season–September 29, 1971–because it fell on Yom Kippur. The A’s, 100-60, had a 15-game lead over the second-place Kansas City Royals. (Oakland won the game anyway, 8-7.) Billed as “a Kosher Lou Gehrig” and “Mickey Mantle bred on blintzes and gefilte fish,”7 Epstein was an imposing, muscular 6-foot-3, 230-pound first baseman nicknamed “Superjew” after hitting a monster home run in the California League.8 At the end of the 1971 season, Holtzman was traded to Oakland, and teammate Rollie Fingers dubbed the 175-pound Holtzman “Regular Jew.”9

In 2022 Shawn Green recalled how more than 20 years earlier–for the first time in his career–there was a game on Erev Yom Kippur10 and another on Yom Kippur itself.11 And those games were against the archrival San Francisco Giants, battling with the Dodgers as they chased the Arizona Diamondbacks for the NL West title. Just to make it more interesting, Green had the longest active consecutive games streak in the majors at 415 games.12

To play or not to play? It was the question Koufax had asked himself prior to Game One of the 1965 World Series … and before him, Hank Greenberg in 1938 and Al Rosen in 1954.

Now Green was wrestling with the same dilemma faced by the Jewish ballplayers who came before him. He said it was the first time in his career that Yom Kippur coincided with a game he was scheduled to play.13

“If I missed both games, I’d say, ‘Well, I’m not super observant. So that doesn’t seem right,’” Green told Forward in 2022. “And if I didn’t sit out either game, as someone who embraced being Jewish, and being a Jewish role model, I didn’t feel that was right.”14

So Green reflected on a conversation he once had with–who else?–Koufax. “[Green’s] earliest memories of Judaism are attending Passover seders at the table of his grandparents–and hearing about Koufax,” Steve Springer wrote in the Los Angeles Times in 2001.15

Later, after he became a Dodger, Green got to meet the legend and asked him why he hadn’t pitched that day.

“I did what I felt was right,” Koufax told him.16

“He really set the standard for me,” Green told the Washington Post in 2001. “He set a great example for all Jewish people. The first thing I always comment on about Sandy Koufax was that he was the great pitcher who did not pitch on Yom Kippur. It was something that always stood out for me.”17

And ultimately Green decided to play on September 25, Erev Yom Kippur, but not on the Day of Atonement itself.

“There is nothing I would rather do than play against the Giants in a pennant race, but some things take precedence over that. I think it’s important as a Jewish athlete to set an example for kids, even kids who are not Jewish, to show them that there are certain priorities in life. Baseball has been a huge part of my life. To put my religion before it I feel is a good example to set,” Green said. “Whether we like it or not, we as athletes are role models.”18

On September 25 Green went 2-for-5 with a home run in a 9-5 win, and announced he would donate that night’s salary, about $70,000, to a charity assisting families affected by the terrorist attacks on 9/11.19 The following night, it was Marquis Grissom in right field. (Grissom went 0-for-4 in a 6-4 loss.) Green wasn’t at the ballpark that night, but didn’t say where he would attend services, if he did. “That’s personal.”20

Of course, some Jews do play on Yom Kippur. One was Jesse Levis, a backup catcher for the Milwaukee Brewers who was sent to the plate as a pinch-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles on Yom Kippur in 1996. “It’s not like I’m Sandy Koufax. I don’t have that kind of leverage,” Levis said. “I hope God forgives me.”21

Levis struck out against Mike Mussina in the top of the seventh inning, then remained in the game. He grounded out twice but the Brewers won it, 8-7, in 10 innings.22

Norm Miller, a Jewish outfielder for the Houston Astros, was quoted by Jim Bouton in Ball Four as saying he’d never play on a Jewish holiday … but not because of Koufax.

“I play on one and go 0-for-4 and the next day go 0-for-5 and that’s it,” Miller said. “I’ll never play on a Jewish holiday again.”23

CRAIG GARRETSON was born and raised in New Jersey, but his father-in-law is a Brooklyn native who as a boy in the 1950s would have much rather been at the ballpark than in Hebrew school. Craig, a member of SABR since 2019, makes his third appearance in a SABR publication following his contributions to Yankee Stadium 1923-2008: America’s First Modern Ballpark and Willie Mays: Five Tools.

 

Notes

1 Edgar Munzel, “New Koufax? It Could Be Cubs’ Holtzman,” The Sporting News, April 20, 1968: 7. Joe Becker, the Cubs’ pitching coach, who had previously coached Koufax when he had the same job with the Dodgers, said Holtzman and Koufax had similar personalities. “This young man has too much pride to settle for anything less than the best,” Becker said. “In that respect, he’s the same as Sandy. And the similarity doesn’t end there. Because they both have such great pride, they also are inclined to fight themselves when they’re out on the mound. I constantly had to remind Sandy that it’s tough enough battling nine men without adding a tenth–yourself. And now I’ve had to use the same arguments on Ken. Both men also are in the habit of registering disgust after making a bad pitch. That’s bad because it builds confidence in the hitter.” In terms of stuff, Becker said, “Ken’s fastball is just as good as Sandy’s and he has better control of it than Koufax did at first. However, Ken’s curve at this point isn’t as good as Sandy’s was. Ken obviously still has a good way to go to reach Sandy’s top form. But he does have one advantage. When Sandy came up with the Dodgers in 1955, they were a pennant contender, and they remained one. Koufax had such poor control that we just couldn’t afford to use him, and he was around for five years, until 1959, before he finally started coming. With Holtzman, it’s different. He came up with a second-division team in 1966 and he immediately got the opportunity to pitch.”

2 “Holtzman would end his career with 174 wins, nine more than Koufax. He also racked up 1,601 strikeouts, second to Koufax’s 2,396 strikeouts among Jewish pitchers, and a 3.49 ERA.” Jacob Gurvis, “Ken Holtzman, Who Had the Most Wins of Any Jewish Pitcher in MLB History, Dies at 78,” The Times of Israel, April 16, 2024.

3 Howard M. Wasserman, “When They Were Kings: Greenberg and Koufax Sit on Yom Kippur,” Tablet, October 11, 2016.

4 Murray Chass, “At Yom Kippur, Green Opts to Miss at Least One Game,” New York Times, September 23, 2004.

5 Larry Stewart, “Drysdale Didn’t Quite Have It This Day,” Los Angeles Times, November 4, 2003.

6 Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Chicago Cubs box score, September 25, 1966.

7 Jason Turbow, “How Two Jewish Baseball Players Processed the 1972 Munich Massacre,” Moment, September 7, 2017.

8 Ted Leavengood, “Mike Epstein,” SABR Baseball Biography Project. His nickname appears as “Super Jew” and “Superjew” in various publications. Asked which he preferred, Epstein told The Sporting News: “Well, you spell Superman with one word.”

9 Turbow.

10 Erev Yom Kippur is what the non-Jewish world considers to be the evening before Yom Kippur. The Jewish religion, citing biblical evidence, considers the day to begin at sunset the night before. Genesis 1:5: “And there was evening and there was morning, one day.”

11 Louis Keene, “Jewish in the big leagues: Power Hitter Shawn Green Dishes at White House Event,” Forward, May 19, 2022.

12 William Gildea, “Green Will Sit For Yom Kippur,” Washington Post, September 26, 2001.

13 Keene. Green recalled a moment earlier in his career when he played a game a few days after Rosh Hashanah. He was with the Blue Jays, and he came to the plate while Jesse Levis was catching for the Brewers. Green greeted the Jewish catcher with the traditional Jewish New Year greeting, “Shana Tova.” Not only did Levis respond, but so did the umpire, Al Clark, who also is Jewish. “It’s probably the first time three Jews stood at the plate at the same time,” Green said. (On a related note, according to research by SABR’s Bruce Harris, the first time a Jewish pitcher faced a Jewish catcher with a Jewish batter at the plate was May 2, 1951, with the Detroit Tigers’ Saul Rogovin on the mound and Joe Ginsberg behind the plate, and at bat was Lou Limmer of the Philadelphia A’s.)

14 Keene.

15 Steve Springer, “Dodgers’ Green Keeps the Faith,” Los Angeles Times, September 26, 2001.

16 Springer.

17 Gildea.

18 Springer.

19 Gildea.

20 Springer

21 Merron. Levis said he did fast that day. “I was OK,” he said. “I was just really thirsty.”

22 Baltimore Orioles vs Milwaukee Brewers box score, September 23, 1996.

23 Merron.