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Review
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Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy, by Jane Leavy. New York:
HarperCollins Publishers, 2002. 304 pages, $23.95 cloth; 336 pages,
$13.95 paper; $25.95 audio.
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In Sandy Koufax, Jane Leavy recreates the life and world
of Sandy Koufax, the left- handed, Hall of Fame pitcher for the
Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers. On September 9, 1965, Koufax pitched
his fourth and final perfect game. Leavy uses this game as the thread
around which to weave her argument that Koufax represented a time,
a place, and a quality that has been lost in today's era of baseball.
Sandy Koufax was born in Brooklyn, New York on December 30, 1935.
He gained the respect of the baseball community by dominating the
National League with his pitching. He still commands the respect
of people today for his unflappable, yet private character. The
impact of Koufax goes beyond baseball alone. In addition to pitching
a perfect game in 1965, Koufax chose to sit out the opening game
of the World Series in 1965 because it fell on the High Holy Day
of Yom Kipper. His quality playing made him a baseball icon. His
decision to not play a game made him a religious icon.
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Leavy describes herself as a Jewish
kid who grew up in New York City as a Yankee fan. Her connection
to Koufax as a child and her relation to him as an adult shows through
in her writing. First, she is a girl from Brooklyn writing about
her youth. The simpler life of the 1950s is referred to again and
again. Leavy uses Koufax "as a way to measure where we've been,
what we've come to and what we've lost." Compared to the players
and the game of today, Koufax and his era are described over and
over again by the author as a better time and one that does not
compare to today. Second, she is a Jewish person who respects his
religiosity. Koufax's religion is prominent in her analysis and
respect for him as a player. Although she did not root for Koufax
as a girl, Leavy patterned herself after his decision to not work
on the High Holy days as an adult.
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Leavy is a former sportswriter. Her
book is presented as a social history of baseball rather than a
biography of one player. As traditional baseball histories focus
on a player's statistics, Leavy adds to the story of numbers by
mentioning events surrounding the time and place of events in Koufax's
life. However, when compared to other social histories, the book
falls short. Leavy lists historical events or cultural references
which happen around Koufax, but there is no deeper analysis of those
events. For example, when she opens her chapter, "The Pregame
Show," she says, "The lights were on at Dodger Stadium,
obliterating the last vestiges of smog and smoke lingering over
Watts some ten miles away." This reference to the Watts riots
places the game in temporal context and stirs images for those who
may have knowledge of the event, but does not analyze any relationship
Koufax or the Dodgers may have had to the riot or its aftermath.
Leavy does not define or explain historical events as she discusses
them. There is an assumption that the reader has certain knowledge
of the subject already.
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As biography, it is "unauthorized."
Koufax gave permission to friends and former colleagues to speak
to the author, but he never provided a formal interview. The author
says she conducted over 500 interviews, but footnotes do not appear
in the text and the printed list of interviews is limited to those
at the September 9, 1965, game. The book is full of quoted statements
with no attributed source. There is no bibliography. Some photos
appear in the book. Because it does not define or analyze historical
issues it would not be suitable for lower level students expecting
to gain factual information about the events surrounding Koufax.
For a reader who has historical and cultural knowledge about Koufax
and the time in which he lived, however, it certainly offers a perspective
on the kind of person Koufax was as well as demonstrating changes
in the sport of baseball. It could be used in comparison with other
kinds of biographies. This book could also be used as part of a
discussion on the use of oral histories and interviews as sources.
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Claremont Graduate University
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Amy Essington
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