by Jane Leavy
First published 2002
Sandy Koufax dominated baseball like few pitchers ever have. The left-handed Dodgers ace won three Cy Young awards and reached the sport's highest peaks. Then he walked away from it all, retreating into a privacy that lasted decades. Jane Leavy, an award-winning former Washington Post sportswriter, takes readers inside the mind of this baseball legend. She examines what propelled Koufax to such extraordinary success on the mound. More importantly, she reveals the forces that led him to abandon his career at its height and disappear from public view. This biography goes beyond statistics and game summaries. Leavy investigates how America builds its athletic heroes and what made Koufax different from other great players. She shows how his self-perception set him apart from his contemporaries. The book offers a complete portrait of a man who became synonymous with pitching excellence, then chose solitude over celebrity.
Genres: biography, 20th-century, american, sports, baseball
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: celebrity, self-perception
Setting: Dodgers
Period: 20th-century
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