Sandy Koufax is back in Dodger blue.
The Brooklyn-born Hall of Fame pitcher will be in Glendale, Ariz. for the next 10 days or so, donning a Dodgers uniform and serving as a pitching instructor for the only franchise he’s ever known. The position could even stretch into the regular season, depending on both parties’ take on the experience.
“I’d like to see this organization be a winner again,” Koufax said. “I don’t know if I can do that much, but I can try and help.
“This is the only organization I’ve ever played in or been in. I came here with Jackie [Robinson] and Gil [Hodges] and Duke [Snider] … and played with great people like Don [Newcombe] and Tommy [Davis], Willie [Davis] and Maury [Wills].”
Koufax, 77, was a three-time Cy Young Award winner before retiring after the 1966 season after developing an arthritic condition at the age of 30, while still the game’s best pitcher. Koufax served as a minor league pitching coach for the Dodgers from 1979-90 and has made sporadic appearances at Dodgers spring training since, but he received some criticism for also making appearances at Mets camps.
“Anyplace else they said I was ‘working with pitchers’ — I went to see friends; I wasn’t working with pitchers,” said Koufax, who went to high school with Mets owner Fred Wilpon.
Koufax was even asked to put on a Mets uniform, but the lifelong Dodger refused.
“They’ve asked,” Koufax said. “And I said, ‘I can’t.’ I wasn’t looking for a job so there was no reason to put on a uniform.”
Koufax isn’t sure who he’ll work with yet, or what he may specifically help with, but he believes that he can contribute to a team that with the highest of expectations and will likely hold the highest payroll in all of baseball.
“I’ll say this,” Koufax said. “Throwing hasn’t changed, not since the caveman. Pitching may have changed a little bit. I think there’s more emphasis on changing speeds than there used to be. Pitching itself has changed a little but it’s still throwing. It’s precision throwing.”