Sandy Koufax at 88

Sports Illustrated photo

Happy 88th birthday today – no, baby boomers, that is not a typo – to Sandy Koufax, who during the final seasons of his career from 1962-66 puts together the best five-year run of success for any pitcher in baseball history.

In those five seasons, Koufax goes 111-34 for the Los Angeles Dodgers with four no-hitters, 100 complete games in 176 starts and 33 shutouts. He also leads the National League in earned-run average for each of those five years, while striking out an astounding 1,444 batters in 1,377 innings.

Sandy Koufax during his 1964 no-hitter at Philly

“He throws a ‘radio ball,’ a pitch you hear, but don’t see,” says Philadelphia Phillies manager Gene Mauch.

Mauch knows of what he speaks, of course, as Koufax – in 20 appearances against Mauch’s Phillies from 1962-66 – posts a 14-2 record with two saves, two no-decisions, one no-hitter in 1964 and an average of 10 strikeouts per nine innings.

Koufax also earns three Cy Young Awards in an era when only one pitcher in recognized for both the National and American leagues rather than the now-customary of one selection for each league.

Five years after retiring, Koufax becomes the youngest player ever elected to the Hall of Fame, picking up 344 of 396 votes cast.

“The game has a cleanness,” Koufax once says. “If you do a good job, the numbers say so. You don’t have to ask anyone or play politics. You don’t have to wait for the reviews.”