Rating: 
Summary: The life of the Greatest Lefty to take the mound
Review: When I first picked up this book I thought it was going to just talk about his life. But it is different it takes you through his no-hitter in 1965 and his life from a small child in Brooklyn to when he was the Dodgers biggest prospect. She did a great job in writing what the players of the time thought about Sandy Koufax and it brings you back to the time when he took the mound throwing the heat or the giant slow curve. It also shows the aspects of the time, for example, racism towards Koufax because he was Jewish. I highly recommend this book for any baseball fan.
Rating:
Summary: Sublime
Review: I lived through many of the events Jane Leavy describes. I grew up in Southern California, and it is beyond uncanny how accurately she captures the spirit of the times. I attended a Koufax no-hitter, but not the one described in the book. Everything rang true. I heard Vin Scully's voice. I smelled the cigar smoke at Dodger stadium. I felt Koufax's presence.But that doesn't even begin to tell the whole story. The real accomplishment is that this brilliant, gifted writer wrote a book about sports that -- while full of sports -- is not really a sports biography, at least not in the sense of the works typical of this genre. Leavy's book is a meditation on memory, heroism, and celebrity. How and why we elevate certain people to heroic stature? What that does for us. What that does to the hero. And most of all it is a character study of an American original, an ultimately not all that mysterious guy who defied the standard orthodoxy on how to exploit a persona for financial gain. And she places Koufax smack dab in the middle of the era in which he pitched so brilliantly. Sports biographies at their best are often triumphal, confessional, or bogged down in trivia. This is social history and philosophy in brilliantly crafted prose. OK, guys, I also cried. This wonderful book really transported me back to the night when, with my Mom and Dad and sister, we sat transfixed through Koufax's no-hitter against the Mets. These weren't cheap tears, but the product of emotion that only could be engendered by the kind of meditation on life and memory that Jane Leavy produced. I can only dream of what would happen if her skills as a historian, biographer, and philosopher were set loose on any number of personalities in and out of sports, especially somewhat secretive people who have genreally defied good description. In fact, I will wait patiently and eagerly for anyone she wants to tackle in her next book. Jane, why not try someone out of the sports world? My last point (I promise): There ARE other wonderful sports writers. And, while I would rather not name to whom I am referring, even the best of them often fall victim to injecting themselves into the story. God bless 'em, but they just aren't as interesting to us as they think they are. Jane Leavy's masterpiece is about America, about Koufax, and about memory. It is not about Jane Leavy, although -- with her skills -- even an autobiography would almost certainly be riveting. Think I liked it?
Rating: 
Summary: A good read, but overrated.
Review: I liked this book, but it certainly didn't live up to the hype. It's well written and all, but I've read many baseball bios that were better than this one (Moneyball immediately comes to mind). I was fascinated by the damage Koufax was doing to his body each time he pitched. The author does a great job covering this aspect of his career. However, I found it painful to read over and over again how reclusive and private Koufax is/was. Once is enough, thank you. I'd recommend this to Dodger and Koufax fans, probably not much beyond that.
Rating:
Summary: A Tip of the Cap to a Quiet Hero and His Memory!
Review: Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy is by far the best book about Mr. Koufax that I have read. My rating reflects that. Nevertheless, the book will be most meaningful to those who are interested on Mr. Koufax's effect on his fellow players and fans. A successful biography requires a sense of the subject's inner life, and Mr. Koufax's steadfast quietness about his thoughts makes that impossible. What's new in this book are a large number of interviews with those who played with and know Mr. Koufax. These interviews help fill in his legacy for us all. The book has an unusual format and focus that you will either love or hate. The continuing story line is Mr. Koufax's perfect game on September 9, 1965 against the Chicago Cubs. The game is related in 10 chapters that alternate with the biographical/sociological material that forms the rest of the book. The end leafs of the book also portray a scorecard from that game. The first chapter of this material is called "The Pregame Show" and sets the stage. Every other chapter covers an inning. It's nicely done, including little known facts like how a little of the game ended up being recorded for posterity. However, no one would buy a book just to read the details of this game. So the book's appeal rests on its biography of Mr. Koufax, and the related material on how his life affected others. The beginning of the book stresses the biographical, because he was more visible then to those who knew him than after he became the Dodger superstar. I found that that material was fresh and interesting, and added meaningfully to my understanding of his formative influences and early life style. As his fame rose, Mr. Koufax became less visible as a person and his sociological impact increased. His legacy is treated more seriously than in other books. Basically, it comes down to having had a pioneer's advanced understanding of the mechanics of baseball pitching, performing at an extraordinary level during his career without resorting to underhanded tricks, behaving with modesty and decency, and setting a good example because it was his nature to do so. Some aspects of that legacy have echoed more loudly than others, such as his choice to sit out the opening game of 1965 World Series because it was on Yom Kippur. His observant example seems to have had a large impact on many Jewish people and increased awareness of the Jewish faith among non-Jews. You will read a lot about that. The book also fills in with what else people were thinking and saying at the time. As these days recede, this contextual information becomes more important in understanding Mr. Koufax and his legacy. The end of the book seemed to tail off slowly like a hanging curve for me. The material goes into his incredible pain at the end a bit too much, his holdout with Don Drysdale to get a raise, his post-playing baseball activities, his failed marriages, and his continuing search for privacy in a world where many are obsessed with him. To me, those aren't really part of the legacy I feel. I became a Dodger fan in 1955 when I watched my first World Series on television and fell in love with the team. I felt like my life was complete when they soon moved to Los Angeles, near my home in Southern California so I could see them play in person. During the greatest of Mr. Koufax's playing years, I scraped together a few dollars by working after school and on the weekends, begged or borrowed a ride to the ball park, and tried to see every one of Mr. Koufax's starts I could. The experience at the park was what I imagine being in Heaven must be like. Often having seats in weird spots (because we couldn't afford to buy tickets in advance), I came to reflect on his fast ball and curve from dozens of different angles and distances. The degree that the curve broke and how rapidly it broke were almost impossible to believe. Your breath would catch when it happened. The pop in the catcher's glove from his fast ball would still be echoing in the stands after the ball was back in Mr. Koufax's glove. And he was so serious and yet so serene on the mound. It was as though an angel had joined us for a brief time. To me, Mr. Koufax will always be the unassuming, decent, and quiet man who was a truly worthy baseball hero. We could use more like him today. I believe that's his broadest and most important legacy. He deserves much credit for keeping that legacy pristine. Thank you, Mr. Koufax!! I feel indebted to Ms. Leavy for extending my understanding of Mr. Koufax and how he has affected the lives of others. Her persistence and effort have added important nuances to our understanding of that quiet hero. I would like to specially compliment Ms. Leavy for her choice of photographs. If she had only added one showing the time-lapse flight of one of his curve balls, they would have been perfect. My family also comes in for special praise for giving this book to me as a gift. I'll treasure it (and them) always. After you finish this fine book, I suggest you think about what your contributions have been and legacy will be. What would Ms. Leavy have to say about you? How could you improve upon that?
Rating:
Summary: A Great Biography of my Hero
Review: Sandy Koufax is one of the greatest players ever and my personal favorite pitcher. This engrossing book does justice to the legacy of this complicated man and sports icon. Leavy cautions, thankfully, in the introduction that she is not going to dish up any dirt on Sandy and she keeps her promise. The book focuses purely on baseball and Koufax's mighty legacy. And that's just perfect. Koufax is still somewhat of a mystery and in an age where we know too much about our heroes, I'd like to keep it that way. Sandy endures and this book will too. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Lefties, Lefties, Lefties
Review: What is it about lefties that makes for such good reading? I always argued that Koufax was the best pitcher I ever saw, although Bob Gibson came close, and Pedro Martinez is even closer. But Koufax' story is unique and it's a story that is well told by a fine writer. For a look into the warped mind of another notable leftie, check out Bill Lee's revisionist history of the Boston Red Sox, THE LITTLE RED (SOX) BOOK. It's as funny as Koufax' book is compelling.
Judd in Lowell
Rating:
Summary: This is an outstanding book
Review: From where I sit, this is an outstanding book, and one of the best baseball biographies I have read in many years. Leavy writes lyrically, for one thing, especially when she provides a cultural background for Brooklyn during Koufax' childhood. She also writes the baseball well, and has done a good job of tracking down those who knew him and played against him. I learned quite a bit about him and his time. He is a complicated man, and if you're expecting Leavy to overly-analyze him Gail Sheey-style, you'll be disappointed. What she does well is show how people drew conclusions about the private Koufax from the public Koufax, and how wrong they were. In private, he was much more typical than he appeared in public. He was a remarkable athlete, and Leavy is a remarkable writer who has written a very, very good book. One last comment: If you are a Walter Alston fan, you will be disabused of that notion here.
Rating:
Summary: More than a biography...
Review: What Laura Hillenbrand did for Seabiscuit (another extraordinary read), Jane Leavy does for Sandy Koufax (another sports hero). The format of alternating chapters/parallel story lines of his perfect game, and the impressions of what baseball and Koufax were like, works very well. The fact that Koufax insisted on a good measure of privacy concerning his personal life is a big plus. Who needs a People-magazine tell-all? The story you care about is all there.
Rating:
Summary: Fails to convey Koufax to a new generation
Review: First impressions are important, and the first impression one gets from this book is what Sandy Koufax meant to Jane Leavy. Frankly, Leavy's strong personal impressions of Koufax were tiresome and a poor start to this book. I wanted to read about Sandy Koufax, the great pitcher and the man. And although I more or less did get that from this book, I also got Leavy's message loud and clear. Leavy drones on endlessly about the significance of Koufax as a great Jewish baseball player. Certainly a reader would be curious about the complexities of Koufax's background, culture, and aquaintances. But before we get to that, we still have to trudge through several more chapters telling us the two things we already knew - he was great and he was Jewish. Sound redundant and simplistic? Well, get used to it, because that's what's you'll get page after page from "Sandy Koufax." I find it strange that Leavy's message is "How much do I have in common with this baseball player." Our heroes inspire us precisely because they are so much different than us. Having a similar background or heritage is the stuff sentences and paragraphs are made of, not entire books or even chapters. Finally, the insterspersed chapters of Koufax's perfect game were right out of Kevin Costner's movie "For Love of the Game." Didn't Leavy or her editor see that? I guess any biography is better than none, but in this case that is marginally true.
Rating:
Summary: Often interesting, but more often tedious-- NOT a biography
Review: Was Sandy Koufax the greatest lefty ever? If you go to the MLB web site and click on history, he does not even rank in any meaningful statistic. Better than Warren Spahn? That can best be answered by those more qualified than I.
Author Leavy paints an adoring picture of Koufax and never fails to point how the difference between Koufax the Jew and Drysadale the goy. She insists on hitting us over the head with Koufax's Jewishness, a role in which he was not so comfortable.
The book is structured in chapters that alternate between his 1965 perfect game and a linear exposition. Not particularly inventive. This kind of thing has been done before. But in a sense, she had no choice since Koufax did not cooperate in sharing a lot of biographical information and her hands were tied in being able to speak with certain people. Much of the book is interesting, but too much of it is repetitious and tedious. How many times do we have to know that he didn't pitch on Yom Kippur? Enough already! How many times do we have to hear about the kid whose tape recorder didn't go on until his father turned it on in the second inning? She beats us over the head with the same information (in case you forgot).
Because of the paucity of real biographical information, this cannot properly be called a biography. At any rate, authors have to be able to keep a distance from their subjects and she just kvells over him on every page. Many interesting things I didn't know are in here, but the book is weak in structure (something Koufax never did on the mound) and poorly written in a sophomoric, "gee whiz" style. I adored Koufax when I was growing up and more than a great pitcher, he is a true class act, but I think he needed a better writer. NB: I often find myself in the minority. I hated Les Miserables (the musical, not the book).
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