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Show SPORTS after blanking the New York Mets xone night thissummer, Sandy Kou-fareeking of the hot poultice he had applied to his shoulder before the game, explained in the mellifluous tones of a matinee idol why he is baseball's best pitcher: er x, "A lot is mental I had to learn how to throw the ball down the middle. I used to try to overwhelm the batter. I had to learn control." ' Obviously, Koufax is a thinker. He is also a worrier. If he weren't both, his story would concern only another bonus baby who never made the grade. Instead, it's the story of how thinking made a promising athlete into a record-breakistar and then, ironically, nearly wrecked his career. "It was a 'B' game in Orlando (Fla.) during spring training two years ago," the Los Angeles Dodgers' lefty says in recalling what started him toward greatness. "Norm Sherry was catching , me, and we had talked things over earlier." Sandy had been worrying. This was his sixth season in the majors and, except for such flashes of brilliance as striking out 18 batters in one game, he was still a "brick thrower" with no control and, hence, little future. "What you want to do," said Norm Sherry, a .200 hitter but a slugger in the brain circuit, "is let up a little. Don't force your fast ball Use some strength in control" In that "B" game, Koufax followed the advice with success for a while, then the temptation to let go with all his power became too great "I walked three in a row," Koufax says. "Just like old times. Norm came out and said to let up. I told him a fast ball was my best pitch. 'Try it my way,' he said. I did and found I could throw fast without total effort and still control the ball" That was a sorry lesson for batters. In 1961, Koufax won 18 games and broke the National record. In 1962, he got off to League strike-otime he was an incredible start: by and again struck 14-- 4, had pitched a out 18 in one game. bread-and-butt- er r x ff I, i ji I '4 if All-St- ar no-hitt- er, now revel in the rewards of star Sandy He'd never been the hungry kid of baseball legend, of course. His father was an attorney in Brooklyn, and Sandy lived the good life. In 1954, Dodger scout Al Campanis shook hands COULD withH a $14,000 bonus. One reason Mr. Koufax signed his son with Brooklyn was that the youth could live at home. But owner Walter O'Malley subsequently moved his team to Los Angeles, so Mr. and Mrs. Koufax packed up and moved with Sandy. They bought a new home but Sandy purchased one of his own in Studio City, in which he installed stereo, an impressive library, and contemporary, paintings. During the season, he had little time to tool around Hollywood with beauty-conte- st auto, but during winners in his bronze-hue- d the off season he cut a romantic figure. hi-- fi J v - ar - - 1 i:S J - - 5 k. y , jaramecLislefLpalm ' "if tit",.-- ' - f1 if er ut A : ng fast-ball- With all this, a worrier-thinknaturally starts worrying and thinking. The thought that haunts all pitchers arose: what if, while batting, Harm? Koufax I get hit on my came up with a bright solution. By batting lefty, his precious left arm would always be away from a pitched ball So Koufax, normally a right: handed batter, switched. In this awkward stanceT a pitch by Earl Francis of the Pittsburgh Pirates i . ' UH didn't think too much about it after all, it wasn't the arm. It's a fair guess, though, that this minor mishap caused what sports writers refer to as "the mysterious Raynaud phenomenon," which the articulate Koufax doesn't think mysterious at all: "A blow or trauma simply caused a blood clot in the fleshy part of the palm, cutting off circulation to the finger." In midseason 1962, when Sandy appeared en index finger '"went" route to several records, numb and, to lesser degrees, his thumb and fore-- ; finger. Later, the pitching finger turned purple from broken blood vessels. Doctors considered amputating it at one time, but anticoagulants reduced the clot Koufax was through for the season, however and so were the Dodgers, who then blew a shoo-i- n pennant Hot stovers added an ominous afterthought: "Koufax? he's through for good!" During an agonizing winter, Koufax never that the whispers bothered him. He added to his $35,000 salary by touring Las Vegas and Miami Beach night clubs with Milton Berle. On stage, he laughed off remarks about his precious pinky; off stage he would angrily cut off "'in my O OSLL ti n usm bd8lci& off the Year Last year doctors considered amputating his pitching finger; this year he's using it to break pitching records questions about it Spring training this year added to the pressure. In 18 innings, he allowed 11 runs. When it came time for his season opener in Chicago May 11, Sandy hadn't completed a game since the previous July 4. The temperature in Wrigley Field was near freezing, and even the warming pad Sandy sticks his hand into between innings couldn't relieve the numbness for long. ButfKou-fa- x was determined to make this the test He went out and beat the Cubs, 1, striking out 10. A month later, he doused the last doubter by against the champion San pitching a Francisco Giants. In early August, he was apmark, had nine shutouts, proaching the and a very low earned-ru- n more than 200 strike-outaverage around 2.00. "I wasn't worried about my spring trouble," he said. "I start slow." . ..JBut later Jn the season, when he was sure he had his comeback cinched, he revealed what he really felt in those troublesome days. "I to get mad at what happened to me. I felt like Job, but I couldn't get angry at anybody but the Lord, and if I did that I was afraid things would get worse. So I took what came." Does he think the ailment could recur? "Listen," he says, patient now with questiona disease. It won't ers, t was an injury-n- ot come back." Then he pauses, half worried, half thoughtful "Not unless I bat lefty against Francis again and that I'm not about to do!" 2-- no-hitt- er 20-w- in s, was-'-afr- aid By JOHN KENT Family Weekly, September 22, 1963 IS -- |