Sandy Koufax - Legend and Luminary

What They Said About Sandy Koufax
1. "A foul ball was a moral victory." - Don Sutton

2. "Career highlights? I had two. I got an intentional walk from Sandy Koufax and I got out of a rundown against the Mets." - Bob Uecker

3. "Either he throws the fastest ball I've ever seen, or I'm going blind." - Richie Ashburn

4. "He throws a 'radio ball,' a pitch you hear, but you don't see." - Gene Mauch

5. "I can see how he won twenty-five games. What I don't understand is how he lost five." - Yogi Berra

6. "The day I got a hit off (Sandy) Koufax was when he knew it was all over." - Sparky Anderson

7. "Trying to hit him was like trying to drink coffee with a fork." - Willie Stargell

8. "We need just two players to be a contender. Just Babe Ruth and Sandy Koufax." - Whitey Herzog


What Sandy Koufax Said
1. "A guy that throws what he intends to throw, that's the definition of a good pitcher."

2. "I became a good pitcher when I stopped trying to make them miss the ball and started trying to make them hit it."

3. "I can't believe that Babe Ruth was a better player than Willie Mays. (Babe) Ruth is to baseball what Arnold Palmer is to golf. He got the game moving. But I can't believe he could run as well as (Willie) Mays, and I can't believe he was any better an outfielder."

4. "In the end it all comes down to talent. You can talk all you want about intangibles, I just don't know what that means. Talent makes winners, not intangibles. Can nice guys win? Sure, nice guys can win - if they're nice guys with a lot of talent. Nice guys with a little talent finish fourth and nice guys with no talent finish last."

5. "I think it's incredible because there were guys like (Willie) Mays and (Mickey) Mantle and Henry Aaron who were great players for ten years... I only had four or five good years."

6. "If I could straighten it out (his golf swing), I'd be pitching at Dodger Stadium tonight."

7. "If there was any magic formula, it was getting to pitch every fourth day."

8. "I've got a lot of years to live after baseball and I would like to live them with the complete use of my body."

9. "People who write about spring training not being necessary have never tried to throw a baseball."

10. "Pitching is the art of instilling fear."

11. "Show me a guy who can't pitch inside and I'll show you a loser."

12. "The game has a cleanness. If you do a good job, the numbers say so. You don't have to ask anyone or play politics. You don't have to wait for the reviews."

13. "The only time I really try for a strikeout is when I'm in a jam. If the bases are loaded with none out, for example, then I'll go for a strikeout. But most of the time I try to throw to spots. I try to get them to pop up or ground out. On a strikeout I might have to throw five or six pitches, sometimes more if there are foul-offs. That tires me. So I just try to get outs. That's what counts - outs. You win with outs, not strikeouts."

14. "There is among us a far closer relationship than the purely social one of a fraternal organization because we are bound together not only by a single interest but by a common goal. To win. Nothing else matters, and nothing else will do."

Courtesy of Baseball-Almanac