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22nd out of 242 books
—
315 voters
Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy
by
Jane Leavy
Nobody ever threw a baseball better than Sandy Koufax. He dominated the game -- and the ball, making it rise, break, sing. Then, after his best season, in 1966, he was gone, retired at age thirty, leaving behind a reputation as the game's greatest lefty and most misunderstood man. The Brooklyn boy whom the Dodgers signed as "the Great Jewish Hope" will forever be known for...more
Paperback, 336 pages
Published
September 2nd 2003
by Harper Perennial
(first published September 17th 2002)
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This one surprised me. Harper Coliins' cheap packaging and the uninspired title (A Lefty's Legacy?) screamed formulatic hagiography. You know the genre: lots of stats, cheesy writing, exclamation points...
Instead this is as subtle, probing, smartly written as any biography could be. Jane Leavy is a skillful researcher with a relentless drive to get at her subject from every angle. And she knows how to tell her story. She is a masterful writer, able to draw us in to her quest. We are led to disc...more
Instead this is as subtle, probing, smartly written as any biography could be. Jane Leavy is a skillful researcher with a relentless drive to get at her subject from every angle. And she knows how to tell her story. She is a masterful writer, able to draw us in to her quest. We are led to disc...more
Mar 23, 2008
Ben Wilson
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
pitchers, Jews, baseball fans of any age
Shelves:
baseball
4 stars for this excellent biography of a man - not merely a ballplayer. There is little pretense here and little classic narrative structure - leading to more a study of a man's impact on those around him than to any meteoric rise or tragic fall that he might have encountered. Not the typical baseball book by any means, but according to Leavy, Koufax wasn't the typical ballplayer.
In the end, I figure it is very Koufaxian - it made me respect the man much more than it made me stand in awe of him...more
In the end, I figure it is very Koufaxian - it made me respect the man much more than it made me stand in awe of him...more
A friend insisted that I read Jane Leavy's biography of Sandy Koufax. I agreed to, vaguely hoping, because I have my own long list of books waiting to be read, that he would forget about it. He didn't and even bought a copy and mailed it to me. So, had no choice.
I remembered Koufax as part of the Drysdale/Koufax tandem that led the Los Angeles Dodgers to a couple of world series in the first part of the 1960s. Of course, I never gave a flip about the Dodgers and had no warm feelings for either...more
I remembered Koufax as part of the Drysdale/Koufax tandem that led the Los Angeles Dodgers to a couple of world series in the first part of the 1960s. Of course, I never gave a flip about the Dodgers and had no warm feelings for either...more
I’ve read a few page-turners in my time, but this is the first biography that I’d put into that category. I was enthralled from cover to cover. The narrative is so strong and compelling—helped in part by Koufax’ decision to retire at the top of his game and not endure a dwindling twilight—that it only strengthens the legend of a man who’s already a living legend.
Even though I didn’t start attending Dodger games (at the league’s best ballpark :-) until a half-decade after Koufax retired, the Dodg...more
Even though I didn’t start attending Dodger games (at the league’s best ballpark :-) until a half-decade after Koufax retired, the Dodg...more
Jun 14, 2012
mark
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
baseball fans, sports fans, cultural studies
Shelves:
nonfiction
I finished this book a few weeks ago but was putting off writing it up because I didn’t want it to end – which a review does—puts a period on the book and then you move on to the next one. This is a story about a man, a baseball player, a pitcher, Sandy Koufax, who pitched in the major leagues for the Brooklyn/LA Dodgers for just twelve years, 1955-1966. He was the most dominant pitcher the game has ever seen for four years, 1963-66. On September 9, 1965 he pitched a perfect game, which he won 1...more
Jane Leavy has written a fine work on Mickey Mantle recently. She authored this work in 2002. It is a fascinating examination of one of the best pitchers that I have ever watched (on TV only, I'm sorry to say).
The book begins with Koufax working with the Dodgers in 1997. The book goes back and forth in time--and it doesn't seem distracting to me. The perfect game that Koufax authored against the Cubs cuts in and out as Leavy relates the early years and developing career of Koufax. We get a bette...more
The book begins with Koufax working with the Dodgers in 1997. The book goes back and forth in time--and it doesn't seem distracting to me. The perfect game that Koufax authored against the Cubs cuts in and out as Leavy relates the early years and developing career of Koufax. We get a bette...more
Starting tonight after work - perhaps. Something light after "Canada".
And done in a couple of days. It'a an enjoyable "puffy" kind of look at a short-term great pitcher. No mysteries about Koufax are cleared up, such as whether or not he's a closeted gay man(not that there's anything wrong with that). She never mentions it. I was never a big fan because he was in the National League and because of my Red Sox I was American League all the way. Still, I have to admit that by reading this I'm more...more
And done in a couple of days. It'a an enjoyable "puffy" kind of look at a short-term great pitcher. No mysteries about Koufax are cleared up, such as whether or not he's a closeted gay man(not that there's anything wrong with that). She never mentions it. I was never a big fan because he was in the National League and because of my Red Sox I was American League all the way. Still, I have to admit that by reading this I'm more...more
Jane Leavy's biography of Sandy Koufax is outstanding; she does a great job of following the dramatic highlights of his career while examining the significance of his accomplishments to baseball fans. Leavy carefully examines the tired, old refrain that Koufax is an "enigma" and brushes it aside with ample proof from his fellow ballplayers. She analyzes the Dodger games of the early sixties as a backdrop to the major cultural and political changes that were taking place in America. Chapters alte...more
Jan 05, 2012
Samuel
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Baseball Fans (esp. Dodger Fans)
Recommended to Samuel by:
Ross H. Palfreyman
Jane Leavy employs a method of story-telling that nearly resembles the movie "For Love of the Game" with Kevin Costner, which I thoroughly enjoyed as well. As she chronicles the legacy of lefty, she alternates every other chapter with the telling of an inning from Sandy Koufax's perfect game on September 9, 1965 (his fourth no-hitter in four seasons). Dodger fans and baseball fans will especially enjoy this well-written and extensively-researched book. Although I would imagine someone without an...more
Sandy Koufax was one of the best pitchers to ever play the game of baseball. Thebiography “Sandy Koufax - A lefty’s legacy” by Jane Leavy is one of the better books I haveread. I play baseball and also pitch so I can relate a lot to this book. This book isexplaining Sandy’s journey through baseball and the Major leagues. When you read thisbook you get hooked into it very fast if you like baseball. The Author’s descriptive writingstyle of Sandy and everything he did to prepare for his journey ma...more
So,so. Could have been much better. The author has way to much unimportant goings on at the time in pop culture. It was aggravating at times and totally detracts from the book. For instance she has Bob Costas in the book. Who cares about Bob Costas? What does he have to do with Sandy Koufax? Absolutely nothing. Oh wait, he watched the World Series game when he was in elementary school. Who cares? Not me. She fills the book with stuff like that. It is just redundant. Also she jumps around so bad...more
I love baseball, and I remember Sandy Koufax during his greatest years. I was pretty young then, and couldn't appreciate just how dominating a pitcher he was, the injuries he overcame, or the values and sensibilities that he held. Plus, when the Dodgers and Koufax swept the Yankees 4 games to none in the 1963 World Series, I was devastated.
His accomplishments on the baseball diamond were epic (contrary to today's norms, this is not a word I toss around...I put it in the same category as 'awesome...more
His accomplishments on the baseball diamond were epic (contrary to today's norms, this is not a word I toss around...I put it in the same category as 'awesome...more
I was very let down by this book. Sandy Koufax was a great pitcher, an inspirational human being, and is a hero to many people (including myself). But this book is just a big heaping mess of hero-worship (hagiography). It was a one-dimensional look at a man who is very complex and enigmatic.
I thought the structure of the book was interesting, alternating the innings of Koufax's perfect game with more biographical chapters. But that’s about it. I know there's some other Sandy Koufax literature o...more
I thought the structure of the book was interesting, alternating the innings of Koufax's perfect game with more biographical chapters. But that’s about it. I know there's some other Sandy Koufax literature o...more
This is a pretty good book. It really tells you what a pitcher has to do to throw those perfect games or pitches. You can read about the mindset of Sandy Koufax, plus the damage he did to his arm in trying to put everything into each pitch. You can understand why his career was short. But it made me wonder how Warren Spahn managed to pitch so long. Always have been a big Warren Spahn fan. Anyway, this book is an easy read and moves along, especially for a baseball fan. I ended up admiring Sandy...more
This was a great read about quite possibly the best left-handed pitcher to ever play baseball. For a five year strech, from the 1962 season through the 1966 season he was as dominant as anyone we have ever seen. Some pitchers can only dream of doing as well in their entire career as he did during that span. The book took me awhile to read just because of outside circumstances, but I really did enjoy it. It tells the story of his life and goes in depth into those five seasons, along with intertwi...more
The Greatest
My Dad started taking me to Dodger games when I was about seven. The Dodgers had not yet moved to Chavez Ravine & I thrilled to the Dodgers those first few seasons at the Coliseum, home of the LA Rams & USC Trojans. The Coliseum was not designed for baseball. Dimensions were all wrong.You could lift a home run over the left field fence a mere 241 feet away. To compensate for the short distance the Dodgers installed an unusually high fence that inspired the catcall: "Hit it to...more
My Dad started taking me to Dodger games when I was about seven. The Dodgers had not yet moved to Chavez Ravine & I thrilled to the Dodgers those first few seasons at the Coliseum, home of the LA Rams & USC Trojans. The Coliseum was not designed for baseball. Dimensions were all wrong.You could lift a home run over the left field fence a mere 241 feet away. To compensate for the short distance the Dodgers installed an unusually high fence that inspired the catcall: "Hit it to...more
When Sandy Koufax is your subject, two courses of action become very easy: tripping over yourself and falling flat attempting to distill his genius, or merely standing back and letting his art infuse your prose with its uncanny beauty. Fortunately, Leavy mostly sticks with the latter. Her first chapter easily ranks among the best pieces of baseball writing I've ever read. The later chapters stumble a bit as she weaves between time periods, back and forth between performances, but she stays on co...more
May 30, 2008
Peter
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
John Gutierrez, if he could pay attention that long.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Did Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax even enjoy playing baseball? As one of baseball's all-time best pitchers (and arguably the best left-handed pitcher), Koufax grew up wanting to play basketball. Instead, he turned in eight so-so years and four ridiculously remarkable ones in his second-favorite sport.
The book "Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy" by Jane Leavy alternates chapters between Koufax's perfect game, the last of four no-hitters he pitched. Many people do not realize that Cubs pitcher Bob Hen...more
The book "Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy" by Jane Leavy alternates chapters between Koufax's perfect game, the last of four no-hitters he pitched. Many people do not realize that Cubs pitcher Bob Hen...more
Jan 31, 2008
Matt
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
baseball fans, dodger fans, nostalgia fans
as a lifelong dodger fan, i'm always interested in reading about dodgers past and dodgers present. i wasn't around to witness sandy koufax and don drysdale pitch in person [though i'd give just about anything to experience it!], so what i do know about the brooklyn/los angeles dodgers prior to 1978-ish is limited to what i've read in books and magazines and the occassional black and white news footage.
when the dodgers moved west and broke a million brooklyn hearts, sandy koufax was on the verge...more
when the dodgers moved west and broke a million brooklyn hearts, sandy koufax was on the verge...more
In-depth, lively, and intelligent memoir of the almost immortal southpaw pitcher, Sandy Koufax, who retired from the game at the peak of his powers. But his left arm was also pretty much shot. Many familiar names--Frank Howard and Ken McMullen to name two--from the baseball world crop up for me. Interestingly, the private Koufax didn't supply the biographer with any new material. Enjoyable read for all baseball fans that gives you a new appreciation for Sandy Koufax's unique athletic talents.
For the most part, a well told tale of Koufax. I really liked the structure that the author chose and I enjoyed her writing style. I felt there were a few spots where the author was unclear, e.g. with antecedents or just assuming the reader knew or remembered which person was which. Besides all that, I really felt that the author made a strong presentation on who Koufax is, while also delivering vivid descriptions of the seasons and game(s) of the past.
Overall, I liked the book and it certainly deepened my interest in and knowledge of Koufax. The chapter on Koufax and his Jewish identity was, to no one's surprise, the most interesting of the book. The chapter that covers the last inning of his perfect game was thrilling. I think Leavy did a good job of showing us Koufax's character. Clearly not an easy guy to get a read on, but she gets him into the book without it devolving to an 'as-told-to' or a 'tell-all'. Nevertheless, I didn't care for L...more
I picked up this book because 1)the only biographies I've ever managed to finish were sports biographies and 2)I grew up influenced by the love of my father and older brother for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
I found the book very interesting and certainly learned a lot. Jane Leavy's style is a trifle ADD at times, which was a bit confusing, but overall I felt that it was a lovely (and loving) portrait of a fascinating (and complicated) man.
I found the book very interesting and certainly learned a lot. Jane Leavy's style is a trifle ADD at times, which was a bit confusing, but overall I felt that it was a lovely (and loving) portrait of a fascinating (and complicated) man.
Sandy Koufax' story does not rank with Jackie Robinson's but the Koufax story is important nonetheless. Robinson was breaking a color barrier. Koufax was breaking a religious barrier. Minnesotans remember: Sandy Koufax refused to put his left arm into action for the opening game of the 1965 World Series because the opener fell on Yom Kippur. (Alas, Sandy won the seventh game of the Series; Minnesota lost 2-0.)
In the years of Koufax's ascendancy, my family was still reeling from the Dodgers' desertion. So we ignored them as much as we could, which meant that apart from a vague impression of a super pitcher, I did not know much about Koufax until reading this book. An excellent account of his career and a valiant attempt to capture the essence of a complex man who tends still to be put into convenient boxes.
This was my first Jane Leavy read, and it was hard to put down. The courage of Kofax, with a better understanding of why he didn't pitch on that famous Saturday Sabbath, alone make for a fine read. For those interested in collective bargaining and civil rights in baseball, this is quite a surprise for it describes much of the bigotry and virtual plantation ownership mentality of MLB owners.
Simply put, a great biography. I came away from it feeling like I knew as much about Sandy Koufax as I could possibly know without knowing him personally, like I knew where he came from and how he got where he got to, and how he felt about the journey. With (generally) stylish writing as part of the mix, a better achievement in biography seems difficult to imagine, particularly for a subject as elusive as Koufax. This is a splendid book.
This book switches back and forth between Koufax's life story and his Sept 9 1965 perfect game. This aspect makes for a fun read. Being Jewish and growing up in New York in the 40s and 50s is what you learn about here. Being that Koufax was my Dad's athletic hero, I felt very close to him the 2 times I read this book. This book would make a great Bar Mitzvah gift :-)
It’s not easy being a baseball fan in New Mexico. The Triple-A Isotopes play in Albuquerque, but the nearest major leagues teams, the Rockies and Diamondbacks, are at least a six hour drive from my home. So I make do with DishTV and the occasional exceptional baseball book, like this biography by Jane Leavy.
Published in hardcover by HarperCollins.
Published in hardcover by HarperCollins.
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Jane Leavy is the author of the New York Times bestseller Sandy Koufax: A Leftys Legacy and the comic novel Squeeze Play, which Entertainment Weekly called the best novel ever written about baseball. She was a staff writer at The Washington Post from 1979 to1988, first in the sports section, then writing for the style section. She covered baseball, tennis, and the Olympics for the paper. She wrote...more
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Aug 01, 2010 03:47pm