Koufax, Sandy (redirected from Sanford Braun)

Koufax, Sandy (Sanford Koufax) (kō`făks), 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.

Bibliography

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

---

Koufax, Sandy

 in full Sanford Koufax orig. Sanford Braun

Koufax, 1966

(credit: AP)

(born Dec. 30, 1935, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. baseball pitcher. Koufax's mother divorced when he was young, and he took the name of his stepfather. In his youth he played sports at the Jewish community centres in his native Brooklyn, and in high school he was known more as a basketball player than as a baseball player. He attended the University of Cincinnati on a basketball scholarship before joining the Brooklyn (later Los Angeles) Dodgers in 1955 as a left-handed thrower with a blazing fastball and a sharp breaking curveball. Once he gained control of his pitches he set several season records for strikeouts (including 382 in 1965), and his career average of one strikeout per inning is a rare accomplishment. In 1965 he pitched his fourth no-hit game, until 1981 a major-league record; the fourth no-hitter was also a perfect game (no player reached first base). Despite his early retirement in 1966 because of arthritis, he is regarded as one of baseball's greatest pitchers.

---

Koufax, (Sanford) Sandy (1935–  ) baseball pitcher; born in New York City. One of the greatest left-handers in the history of baseball, he won the Cy Young award three times (1963, 1965, 1966) and pitched four no-hit games during his 12-year career (1955–66) with the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers. A strikeout artist (2,396), he was forced to retire because of an arthritic left elbow. He was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame in 1972.