Nobody Knows Anything

Welcome to Diane Patterson's eclectic blog about what strikes her fancy

The Koufax Awards

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So, the finalists for the Koufax Awards are up at WampumBlog. In case you’re wondering about the genesis of the name…what was Sandy Koufax famous for (besides that Sabbath thing)?

The Koufax Awards are also a good way to get an overview of the “top guns” of the progressive side of the blogosphere, in case you’re dipping your toes into the waters and are scared silly of the list of blogs I have over there.

Comments

  1. Okay, I’m stumped. Why ARE they called the Koufax Awards? As far as I know, Koufax is famous for:

    1) Being a mediocre pitcher who seemingly became a great pitcher, although this was mostly an illusion because he moved from a fantastic hitters’ park to the best pitchers’ park in the Majors at the same time the strike zone was enlarged and the height of the pitching mound raised.

    2) Holding out in the mid-60s with Don Drysdale for a better contract.

    3) Retiring in his 30s and becoming the youngest player voted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame.

    So I infer that this award is either given to a blog which “stepped up” in the last year (or, more appropriately, only APPEARED to step up, but in fact was helped a bunch by moving to a new ballpark), or a blog which ended far too early.

  3. I wasn’t joking… left-handedness is obviously far from the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Sandy Koufax.

    My guess is that his most famous characteristic is retiring early. It was big news at the time, and the press conference was replayed at some length in Ken Burns’ Baseball.

  4. I know baseball and it didn’t occur to me either. I don’t think about players’ handedness often, and don’t use the term “lefty” much, AND don’t get homophone jokes like this.

    So thanks.

  5. I don’t know a thing about baseball, but I did know that Sandy Koufax was left-handed! Jewish and left-handed, says the average girl on the street, represented by me. On the other hand, I didn’t manage to realize that they were using left-handed to mean lefty politically, so clearly I’m not that bright.

  6. okay, what do you mean mediocre….wow you must think ur so cool calling on the best pitchers ever mediocre… Sandy Koufax is my cousin, btw