Does Sandy Koufax belong in the Hall Of Fame?

Question

Honestly .. the guy was a very good pitcher and all, but if someone had the same last 4 years as him - would he/should he be in the Hall?

Many other pitchers won more games.

What do you think?

Answer 1

I absolutely understand where you are going with this question and I agree in part with what you are saying. Koufax had a 12 year career. The first 6 years were under .500 with an era well over 4 runs a game. By todays standards that's actually okay. Back in the 50's and 60's you were basically on your way out!! Somewhere during the off season between 1960 and 1961 something happened. What that was, who can tell. It's like a light went off in his head and he suddenly learned how to pitch. There is no denying the second half of his career but as you said many other pitchers have won more games. I can give you a list of pitchers with close to 300 wins that are not in the HOF. Baseball has many issues starting with Bonds right on down to a terrible playoff system. The powers to be really need to sit down and take a long hard look at their position on matters that really count. As for Koufax, we all know about his medical problems when he left the game. That may have helped him more than anything else. He was a very good pitcher who just happened to have 4 HOF seasons and then walked away from the game. I'd say based on what we've seen over the past 20 years, yes, why not. After all lesser players are in the HOF

Answer 2

Koufax won 5 consecutive ERA titles. He won 27 games his last season, the main reason the Dodgers got to the World Series his last year. He did that with an elbow that swelled to a grapefruit size every time he pitched. Koufax was the most dominate pitcher of his era, even more dominating than Bob Gibson and Juan Marichal.

Koufax deserved to be elected and he was over 30 years ago.

Answer 3

I guess it depends on your definition of what a hall of famer is. There's also a difference between a pitcher who lasted 20 or more years, pitched very well, but was never exceptional (ex: Nolan Ryan), or somebody who you couldn't touch for a short period but did not have a long career. Which one you would want is certainly a matter for debate.

I would say he is, because if you take the period 1962-1966 you'd be hard pressed to find ANY other pitcher who was that good in a span of 5 years. And you have to remember the Dodgers didn't score a lot of runs in those days. My Father used to joke that Maury Wills would walk, steal second, get to third on a throwing error, get home on a sacrifice fly, then walk to Koufax and say "there's your lead, now hold it!" . And he did!

Answer 4

1. Yes 2. Yes 3. Yes 4. Yes because think about it. He had over 2000 ks in his career(which was very short.) He had the best fastball and curve in his time and had a pretty good change-up (what else do you really need) Sandy also could just go and go and go and go i mean he had so many complete games. He was very good at knowing what to throw and when. He could take almost any game and make it amazing. He just was the guy who you would stay up all night about when you were facing him tomorrow. 5. Sandy Koufax was really the man for the dodgers he was the go-to guy (great under pressure.) he had 3 Cy Young's and he definitely would,ve had better numbers with a longer career so what else is there to be said except YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 5

Koufax as well as Don Drysdale belong in the Hall of Fame.

Answer 6

Sandy Koufax was a three-time Cy Young Award winner at a time when there was one award for both leagues (1963,1965,1966), Koufax struck out an amazing 2,396 batters in his short career.Yes he should be in the Hall of Fame.

Answer 7

There is no doubt in my mind that Sandy Koufax should be in the Hall of Fame. He had tons of strikeouts and his ERA numbers were consistently low

Answer 8

You can't keep a player out of the Hall of Fame just because he declined at the end of his career. Look at Mickey Mantle, for instance. His performance at the end of his career brought his career batting average below .300. Despite this, nobody doubts his greatness. Why should Koufax be looked at differently?

Answer 9

He definitely belongs. Arthritis cut his career short at age 30 or 31. Had he been able to avoid that, he surely could have registered much better numbers than some other Hall of Famers whose enshrinement doesn't get questioned.

Answer 10

165-87, not bad but there are dozens of non HOF'ers with more wins. In 12 years he had nearly 2400 K's, most coming in the last 6 years of his career. Mick "7" said it best. One day he was average, the next day he figured all out! Yes, I think he belongs in the Hall.