SOUTH DAKOTA STRAIGHT TALK

December 30 is Sandy Koufax’s 70^th birthday.

Move over Big Train and Big Unit. Koufax, a personal hero, may be the greatest pitcher in baseball history. Always a hard thrower, Sandy was forced into an early retirement because of his arthritic-pitching elbow. Sandy Koufax is the youngest player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown.

What a record – 165-87. With four career no hitters, he was the first major league pitcher to pitch more than three. Consider among National League pitchers with at least 2000 innings, he has the highest career winning percentage (.655) and the lowest career ERA (2.76). What is truly amazing is that in his career he allowed fewer than seven hits per nine innings pitched and he struck out more than nine batters per nine innings pitched!