Rating: 
Summary: incomplete picture
Review: From 1962 to 1966, Sandy Koufax posted some of the greatest pitching numbers of all time. But if you consider both longevity and peak value, he faces stiff competition from Bob Gibson, Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver, Warren Spahn and Gaylord Perry. I don't think Jane Leavy adequately answers the question of what makes Koufax so much more of an icon 35 years after he retired. He was a quiet guy, with virtually no hint of scandal as a player, and yet demand for his biography clearly exceeds the demand for the five hall of famers above combined. Jane Leavy doesn't take us close to understanding Koufax, and while she tries to give some sociological context for the events taking place in baseball, she doesn't really offer a good analysis of why it means so much to people to have a jewish baseball star. So what about Leavy's discussion of Koufax's on-the-field performance? She briefly hints that Dodger Stadium's mound was very high...But what effect did this have on Koufax's performance? In 1962, the major leagues raised the mound and expanded the strike zone. Batting averages dropped substantially - Yaz won the batting title with .301 in 1968 - and ERAs dropped with them - hence Gibson's unbelievable 1.12, also in 1968. In 1969, the changes were reversed to get baseball out of its offensive funk. So when Sandy Koufax goes from being an ordinary pitcher in 1960 to a dominant one in 1962 - how can Leavy ignore the effect of such a significant rule change? This takes nothing away from Koufax because he was the best in the majors for five years - but it's important to remember that he was a dominant pitcher at a time when pitchers could be even more dominant.
Rating:
Summary: An admiring biography in the raw
Review: This biography is also the history of the sport, of post-war Jewish culture, and of the broader culture of the early 1960's. It is an admiring bio that focuses on Koufax as a Jewish icon due to his excellent pitching prowess and his refusal to pitch a World Series game on Yom Kippur. Interwoven with the writer's coverage of his perfect game, she paints a lively portrait of an elusive man, and there's plenty of raw language, so let the reader beware.
Rating: 
Summary: Doesn't live up to the subject
Review: I was very let down by this book. First of all, I don't deny that 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). Jane Leavy, there's nothing wrong with you being in love in Sandy Koufax, but please, lock it away in your private journal -- there's no need for us innocent people to be subjected to this self-indulfent, one-dimensional sacred look at the man. It's almost like a children's book in that there is no sense of a "critical" look at Sandy Koufax the human being; not that I'm asking for Leavy to show any faults he had just for the sake of it, but man she lathers it on thick. Secondly, the info on the book says Leavy is a sportswriter, and I'm not sure what kind, but it seems to me she probably writes for a newspaper, because that's just how the book reads. The sentences are short and sometimes read like headlines. There are hardly any complex thoughts in the book. This is something I find in common with most sports biographies: why is the writing usually so poor? I can understand it in most autobiographies, because even with a ghost writer, I want to think the actual athlete had a hand in writing it; not being professional writers, I give them a little more leeway. But Leavy is supposed to be a professional writer. Instead, it sounds like she was writing for fifth-graders. That's a shame, because the pleasure of reading fine "literature" is just as important to me as reading about an interesting subject. And what was with those "Time Marches On" capsules of history we were given every once in a while? What did you do? Go through a timeline and just pluck out certain events? Again, it wasn't presented in a critical manner -- it just seems lazy. I will give credit to Leavy for a couple of things though. I thought the structure of the book was original, alternating the innings of Koufax's perfect game with more biographical chapters. Um, there must be other stuff as well...just not coming to mind. Anyway, as I was saying, I was let down by this book and often annoyed by it. I know there's some other Sandy Koufax literature out there, so maybe I'll hunt those down and see if they're more equal to the task of living up to the subject.
Rating: 
Summary: Most Over-Rated Book of the Year
Review: Not your typical sports book, not written for hardcore baseball fans. I can't believe that this book is on the best seller list. Oh what a disappointment. I learned very little about Koufax by reading this book, except that Koufax wrote his own autobiography and that he didn't coorperate with the writer of this book. This book full of gushing quotes telling you how great Koufax was, but you never get a feel for the man. I found all of the lavish praise to be boring. This book also includes much too much social commentary/histroy by the author that doesn't really belong in a 'sports' book. The long lists of celebrity name dropping, Milton Berle, etc. also adds NOTHING to the book; as well as the references to names that must be a who's-who in Jewish America - names that most people who aren't Jewish & don't live in New York - have never heard of. Don't waste you time on this one.
Rating:
Summary: Great Read, But Not A Complete Biography, Leavy Gets an A+
Review: Very worthwhile read especially for any one (like me) who remembers Sandy Koufax and his legacy from their childhood when he was pitching. Jane Leavy did a commendable job of documenting the person that he was, considering that she was working with a subject that was reluctant to have his personal life story documented. As a result, the reader is often times left with only shadows of insights provided by those friends and associates interviewed by the author. Jane Leavy does an excellent job of weaving those shadows and Koufax's remarkable accomplishments into a coherent and entertaining documentation of Koufax's legacy. But we are left with wanting to know so much more. For example, we are told that Mr. Koufax was married and divorced two times. We want insights into the marriages and the nature of these relationships and why they failed. Yet this subject was obviously put off limits by Mr. Koufax. That there is so much in his life that is "off limits" is of course, also part of his legacy. There is enough of his remarkable athletic accomplishments and the incites into his (and our) times provided by Jane Leavy to make this book an entertaining and worthwhile book. I read it in three sittings. I came away feeling that Sandy Koufax was an extraordinary athlete, and just a regular guy with strengths and weaknesses, many still unknown and undocumented. Mr. Koufax is an interesting person but not extraordinary, at least not from any thing provided by Jane Leavey in the book. I think Mr. Koufax would agree with that as well. If that's his legacy, then the book is exactly as advertised. A+ to Jane Leavy
Rating: 
Summary: Another Win for Sandy
Review: This is truly a great book. Growing up in Los Angeles during the Koufax era was and incredible time and this book rekindles the many wonderful moments, especially Koufax's perfect game against the cubs. This book also goes deep into Koufax's life with great respect, honor and appreciation for the person he is. Contrasted with the current crop of baseball players, Koufax's accomplishments as well as his humility stand out as exemplary. I recommend this book to anyone, baseball fan or not.
Rating:
Summary: Legacy lives on
Review: This book will take you inning by inning of his perfect game. Ms. Leavy gives a great description of the insights to Koufax and his legacy. She details the good things that Koufax did for the game and for his fellow player. She raised him another notch in my eyes as I now have complete and utter respect for this ace of the 60's. His struggles with arm problems to his demands off the field give a great insight to this remote and very private superstar who still radiates greatness today to any event that is lucky enough to have him.
Rating:
Summary: You don't have to be a baseball fan . . .
Review: This is a great book. I couldn't put in down. The story of Sandy Koufax, as told in this account, is fascinating and illuminating. The way the author intertwined each inning of Koufax's 1965 perfect game with his life (one chapter on each inning of the game, the next chapter about a phase of his life)was brilliant. Whether or not you are a baseball fan should be irrelevant to the enjoyment of this book. The commentary about life in the '50s & '60s comes through clearly within the context of an extraordinary persona. Put this book at the top of your wish list.
Rating:
Summary: Too Little for One So Great
Review: Leavy almost had it. Not Koufax's cooperation, that is clear, but the right approach to the man. Among the understandable and justifiably hero worship for her subject, she diminished him by writing far too much about a Jew who played baseball rather than a baseball player who happened to be Jewish (by heritage but, largely, not by religion). It's too bad that Koufax didn't intervene and (1) give us some insight into his greatness, and (2) squelch the unfortunate theme of the "Big Jew." He deserves better.
Rating:
Summary: Great Pitcher, Chaotic Book
Review: Having read a number of baseball biographies, I found this one difficult to read, for the following reasons. First, the author writes not so much a biography of an interesting man and great sportsman as a paeon to a Jewish superstar. Every page contains quotes from Koufax's contemporaries about his greatness, his uniqueness, his awesome power, his this, his that. Second, the chronology is fractured, with the author jumping from Koufax as a kid playing ball in the streets of Brooklyn to Koufax in retirement to Koufax at his first training camp. The overall narrative does progress through Koufax's life, but the constant back-and-forth throughout each chapter is unsettling. I wonder how many of the positive Amazon.com reviews reflect respect for Koufax's accomplishments, rather than a dispassionate view of this particular book. A much better-written biography, by the way, of a ball-player from an earlier era is "Walter Johnson: The Big Train". Johnson and Koufax were alike in many ways: modest, sober, hard-working, team-oriented, and showing in retirement that they had lives and interests apart from the pitchers mound. One big difference is the length of their careers: Walter Johnson was productive for over 20 years, and had one of his biggest years near the end of his career, when he brought the 1924 World Series home for the Senators. Bill James' Baseball Abstract, by the way, ranks Walter Johnson as baseball's all-time best pitcher, while Sandy Koufax is at #10. Despite the foregoing criticisms of this book, it is worth purchasing if you are a fan of Koufax or the Brooklyn Dodgers, or if you enjoy baseball history in general. The author did a great many interviews and gather quite a lot of detail; she just didn't get it to hang together terribly well.
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