Sandy Koufax

High school

Lafayette High School

College

University of Cincinnati

Pro team(s)

Brooklyn Dodgers, Los Angeles Dodgers

Hall of Fame

⭐ National Baseball Hall of Fame

Sanford Braun (later Koufax) was born on December 30, 1935, in Borough Park, Brooklyn, and grew up in Bensonhurst before the family moved to the Flatbush section. He attended Lafayette High School in Brooklyn, where basketball was his first love — he went to the University of Cincinnati on a basketball scholarship before his fastball attracted the attention of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Signed as a "bonus baby" in 1955, Koufax spent his first six seasons as a wild, inconsistent flamethrower. Then, after a mechanical revelation in 1961, he became perhaps the most dominant pitcher in the history of baseball over a four-year stretch from 1963 to 1966. He won three Cy Young Awards (1963, 1965, 1966) in an era when only one was given for all of baseball, led the NL in ERA five consecutive years, struck out 382 batters in 1965 (a then-record), threw four no-hitters including a perfect game on September 9, 1965 against the Cubs, and was named World Series MVP in 1963 and 1965. He pitched left-handed for a Los Angeles Dodgers team that won three NL pennants and two World Series during his peak years. Severe traumatic arthritis in his left elbow forced him to retire at age 30, leaving behind a career ERA of 2.76, 165 wins, and 2,396 strikeouts — one of the most poignant "what if" careers in sports. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972 at age 36 — the youngest inductee in history at that time. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.