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Lot # 182: Sandy Koufax Single-Signed Baseball w/"HOF 72" Notation (PSA)

Starting Bid: $100.00

Bids: 15 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "2023 Summer Pop-Up",
which ran from 6/11/2023 7:00 PM to
6/25/2023 10:00 PM



Presented is a Sandy Koufax single signed and inscribed baseball on which the Hall of Fame southpaw, considered by some to be the greatest pitcher in history, has inscribed "HOF 72." Koufax, a native of Brooklyn, joined his hometown Dodgers in 1955, and although the 19-year-old was a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers' only World's Championship team, he pitched little. From 1955-60, Koufax was a pitcher with a flaming fastball and little control. Koufax was potential personified, but he couldn't consistently find the plate. In 1961, now on the Los Angeles Dodgers, Koufax was pitching in a spring training game in Florida against the Minnesota Twins, and he had walked three batters in a row. His catcher, Norm Sherry, walked out to the mound and gave Koufax the advice that turned around Sandy's career: "Why don't you take something off the ball... Don't throw it so hard... Let them hit it," said Sherry, who hit only .215 in a five-year Major League career but was an excellent defensive catcher who understood pitching. Koufax followed Sherry's suggestion and got out of the jam. Then Sherry told him, "Sandy, I don't know if you realize it, but you just now threw harder than when you were trying to." Koufax had his best season, so far, that year as he went 18-13, with a 3.52 ERA. Now really getting the hang of it, Koufax, from 1962-66 had five seasons that are regarded by some experts as the greatest five seasons of pitching in baseball. Koufax averaged 22.2 wins for those five years, for a record of 111-34, with earned run averages of between 1.73 and 2.54 each season. In those seasons, in 1963, '65, and '66, he won a Cy Young Award each year as well as the pitching Triple Crown in all three years and the NL MVP in '63. Koufax had to retire at only 30 years of age after those wondrous years, and those miraculous seasons took him straight to the Hall of Fame. The Rawlings Official Major League Baseball (Selig) has Koufax's signature and inscription on the sweet spot, neatly signed with a blue ballpoint pen. The baseball has just two small spots of toning; otherwise, it is clean and white. The Koufax signature and notation are 9/10. The ball comes with a PSA LOA.

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