There’s an urban legend about Sandy Koufax that has circulated for years in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ community. It goes like this: Before the 1978 World Series against the Yankees, Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda asked the retired Koufax, then 42, to throw batting practice to his team.
Knowing his club would be facing Ron Guidry, the New York Yankees’ left-hander who would win the Cy Young Award that year, Lasorda figured the best way to prepare would be practicing against another elite lefty, even one who had ended his career 12 years earlier because of an arthritic elbow.
According to the tale, Koufax broke off one monstrous curve after another, inducing a series of swings and misses from batters a decade younger — including feared Dodgers sluggers Steve Garvey, Ron Cey and Dusty Baker. Koufax was blowing away the Dodgers before Lasorda finally called off the experiment.
The story, apocryphal or not, remains relevant because every conversational road about Koufax’s legacy leads to Clayton Kershaw, his modern-day counterpart and heir: a left-hander with a neck-to knees curveball, multiple Cy Young Awards, and now only a year older than Koufax was when he walked away.
The comparisons have raged for so long that Kershaw’s eyes glaze over when the subject comes up. But when he heard the story about Koufax and the ‘78 Dodgers in a recent interview, Kershaw’s eyebrows arched like half-moons.
“Did Sandy really do that? Wow. I’d never heard that,” Kershaw said. “But I’m not surprised.”
Kershaw mused how those Dodgers must have frozen at the sight of Koufax’s curveball, somehow still intact after years in mothballs.
“There was just so much power in Sandy’s delivery, the way he used his legs,” Kershaw said. “He had that long stride; he was so low, great drive from the back side. The ball would just explode in the zone. They didn’t have a word for it then, but today we call it spin rate; his curveball was devastating.”
While it’s hard to miss the admiration in Kershaw’s voice, his career trajectory — intertwined and linked to Koufax’s for so long — is beginning to diverge. In the last 26 days of Koufax’s career, including a loss in the 1966 World Series, Koufax was as unhittable as ever — five complete-game wins, with a 1.07 ERA. He clinched the pennant with a complete game on two days’ rest.
Kershaw, however, is headed for a softer twilight — older and less dominant than Koufax, forced to flourish in more subtle ways.
“Clayton is probably more like Andy Pettitte than Sandy at this point in his career,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “In a big spot, he always manages to make a big pitch to get out of trouble, just like Andy did. He somehow finds a way.”
As the Dodgers begin their postseason as the National League’s best team, they’re counting on Kershaw — again — to end a championship drought that has stretched to 31 years. Kershaw, who ranks among the NL’s top-10 pitchers in wins, ERA, WHIP and opponents’ batting average, has continued to succeed despite a decidedly less-threatening fastball than that of Koufax, who was estimated to throw in the high 90s. According to Fangraphs, Kershaw’s four-seam velocity has declined every year since 2015 and now sits at a modest 90.4 mph.
When asked if there was a way to regain his old sizzle, Kershaw, 31, grinned and said, “I sure hope so.” But the effects of age are emerging: He has been on the injured list numerous times for lower back and shoulder issues, prompting the Dodgers to ease up on his workout routines between starts.
The results have been encouraging. Kershaw said he has been pain-free for months, and he hasn’t missed a start since April 15. He has neutralized hitters by changing their eye level from pitch to pitch, adding and subtracting velocity throughout the at-bat to upset their timing. In his final regular-season start a week ago, he threw a gem against the San Diego Padres, striking out seven in six innings with just two hits allowed.
“It’s what pitchers do over time to remain successful — they become smarter,” Roberts said. “Clayton doesn’t throw as hard as he used to, but he’s made the necessary adjustments. Some pitchers can’t; they’re the ones who end up with shorter careers. But the ones who last are the ones who evolve.”
Of course, Kershaw still has that signature delivery, like a folding chair opening up on a windy day at the beach. No major league pitcher has such unorthodox mechanics.
“First pitch I saw from Kershaw, I was like, ‘Wow, that’s really different,’ ” Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge said after facing the Dodgers in Los Angeles last month. “It took me a couple of pitches to figure out where the ball was coming from.”
That’s only part of the way Kershaw attacks hitters. Plan B is to get in their heads with what Dodgers center fielder Cody Bellinger says is a competitive streak so fierce he needed an expletive to quantify it.
“He’s going to beat you no matter what it takes,” Bellinger said. “That’s something you feel when you’re on the field with him. He just gives off this vibe that he’s not going to lose.”
New York Mets infielder Todd Frazier added a second, salient thought about Kershaw’s artistry.
“He doesn’t throw hard at all, but that slider he’s got? Somehow when you take it, it’s a strike,” Frazier said. “But when you swing at it, he gets in just in enough on your hands that you pop it up. You’re running down to first thinking, ‘How did he just do that?’ That doesn’t happen on its own. You have to be a great pitcher to do that.”
Even rival pitchers like Jacob deGrom of the New York Mets admire Kershaw’s intangibles, specifically because he is no longer a Koufax clone in his own approach. In fact, it’s Kershaw’s lack of velocity that makes him stand out to deGrom, the defending NL Cy Young Award winner.
“In today’s game, all everyone wants to do is throw as hard as they can right down the middle. That’s not pitching,” deGrom said. “Kershaw is out there working in and out, up and down, changing speeds. That’s what made Maddux great. And that’s what separates Kershaw today.”
Kershaw politely waves away the praise. With the postseason here, Kershaw has unfinished business. He has had some memorable appearances but some whopping failures as well, notably the eight home runs he surrendered in the 2017 playoffs, including four in one game to the Arizona Diamondbacks in a division series.
In that sense, Koufax has Kershaw decidedly beat: The Hall of Famer won four titles with the Dodgers and was twice voted the World Series most valuable player. Kershaw knows he will almost certainly fall short of Koufax’s body of work but nevertheless offers encouraging news to the legions of fans at Chavez Ravine.
“My arm and everything feel great; this is the best I’ve felt in a long time,” Kershaw said. “I still want to be an elite pitcher. That’s what matters most to me right now.”