- Dead Legends
- Posts
- THE DECISION
THE DECISION
Matthew Garringer
August 20, 2023
Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The daily newsletter that loves baseball as much as Michael Jordan loves chiefing stogies.
Let’s dive in.
Today’s story is about one of the most prolific pitchers in the history of the game and his decision to sit out of the World Series.
We all know who Sandy Koufax is.
Over the course of six years (from ‘61-’66), Koufax put together a Hall of Fame career and his abrupt retirement only added to his allure.
But Sandy’s journey to baseball immortality definitely had a few bumps along the way.
Probably the most controversial thing he ever did, though, was deciding to miss Game 1 of the '65 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.
As you can imagine, the entire world had an opinion about it, but to understand why Koufax would do something like this, you have to know who Sandy is as a person.
Koufax was one of the most fiercely private superstars to ever play the game.
Even his own mother requested one of the first copies of his autobiography “Koufax” so she could find out something about her son.
After he retired, he moved to Maine and bought a farmhouse in an attempt to live anonymously in a place where people didn’t care about his accomplishments on the baseball field.
He became an incredible cook and a phenomenal golfer.
Sandy loved to be excellent more than he loved anything else, and baseball wasn’t his “end all be all.”
He was a complex human being who understood that there’s more to life than just the game, and to him, the decision between playing in the World Series and honoring his faith wasn’t a tough one.
Plus, his teammates fully supported his decision.
“We respected him because he was doing it because of his religion. He was being true to himself.”
Sandy went on to dominate in Game 5 and 7 of the series, pitching two shutouts.
He got his fourth ring, and was obviously named the World Series MVP.
STRAIGHT OUTTA COOPERSTOWN
Our friends at Fanatics have official merchandise for pretty much every team and player that’s ever existed.
Whether you’re looking for an old-school Vlad Guerrero Jersey, or a Washington Senators lid - they’ve got a bunch of options.
Here’s a few of my favorite picks from the Cooperstown Collection:
Quick Links:
And of course, this is just a small sample of what’s available.
STRANGE NAMES
If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.
Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.
If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.
Today's winner is:
If Slow Joe was playing today, he would’ve been getting pitch clock violations left and right - he got his nickname because he liked to take his sweet time in between pitches.
Doyle played for the Highlanders (Yankees) pretty much his entire career, and he was one of 392 players featured in the T206 baseball card set.
Apparently, there was an error card in the set featuring Joe, and only eight of them exist in the entire world.
THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE
If you like this story, check out some of our past favorites: