Sandy Koufax (born December 30, 1935) is a former American Major League Baseball (MLB) left-handed pitcher….who pitched 12 seasons for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers from 1955 to 1966…..when at age 36 in 1972….became the youngest player ever elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame….and has been hailed as one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history.
Sandy Koufax’s career peaked with a run of six outstanding years from 1961 to 1966….before arthritis in his left elbow ended his career prematurely at age 30. He was an All-Star for six seasons….along was being the National League’s Most Valuable Player in 1963. He won three Cy Young Awards in 1963, 1965 and 1966….who by unanimous votes, making him the first three-time Cy Young winner in baseball history….as well as the only one to win three times when one overall award was given for all of major league baseball instead of one award for each league. Koufax also won the NL Triple Crown for pitchers those same three years by leading the NL in wins, strikeouts, and earned run average.
Koufax was the first major league pitcher to pitch four no-hitters….plus being the eighth pitcher to pitch a perfect game in baseball history. Despite his comparatively short career, Koufax’s 2,396 career strikeouts ranked 7th in history….when as of his retirement, at the time trailing only Warren Spahn (2,583) among left-handers. Koufax, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martínez, and Nolan Ryan are the only four pitchers elected to the Hall of Fame who had more strikeouts than innings pitched.
This video highlights the great Nolan Ryan tying Koufax’s 4 no hitters record….as Lynn Nolan Ryan Jr. (born January 31, 1947), nicknamed The Ryan Express and Big Tex, is a former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher and a previous chief executive officer (CEO) of the Texas Rangers. He is currently an executive adviser to the owner of the Houston Astros.
Ryan enjoyed a major league record 27-year baseball career that spanned four decades….from 1966 to 1993….as he pitched for the New York Mets, California Angels, Houston Astros, and Texas Rangers. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999. Ryan, a hard-throwing, right-handed pitcher that threw pitches that were regularly clocked above 100 miles per hour (161 km/h). He maintained this velocity throughout his career….even into his 40’s….who was also known to throw a devastating 12–6 curveball at exceptional velocity for a breaking ball. His 5,714 career strikeouts is an MLB record by a significant margin and will be difficult for any future pitcher to surpass….as he leads the runner-up, Randy Johnson, by 839 strikeouts. Similarly, Ryan’s 2,795 bases on balls lead second-place Steve Carlton by 962 while walking over 50% more hitters than any other pitcher in MLB history. Ryan is the all-time leader in no-hitters with seven…. three more than any other pitcher….plus he is tied with Bob Feller for the most one-hitters with 12….as he also pitched 18 two-hitters. Despite the seven no-hitters, he was never the winning pitcher of a perfect game, nor did he ever win a Cy Young Award.
