Sandy Koufax Quotes

• I became a good pitcher when I stopped trying to make them miss the ball and started trying to make them hit it.

  Sandy Koufax

  Sports, Baseball, Athlete

  108 Copy quote

• Pitching is the art of instilling fear.

  Sandy Koufax

  Sports, Baseball, Art

  "Involvements : One Journalist's Place in the World". Book by Colman McCarthy (p. 243), 1984.

  50 Copy quote

• The only time I really try for a strikeout is when I'm in a jam. If the bases are loaded with none out, for example, then I'll go for a strikeout. But most of the time I try to throw to spots. I try to get them to pop up or ground out. On a strikeout I might have to throw five or six pitches, sometimes more if there are foul-offs. That tires me. So I just try to get outs. That's what counts - outs. You win with outs, not strikeouts.

  Sandy Koufax

  Baseball, Winning, Trying

  "My Greatest Day in Baseball, and Baseball's Greatest Quotations: An Illustrated Treasury". Book by Paul Dickson, 2008.

  54 Copy quote

• Show me a guy who can't pitch inside and I'll show you a loser.

  Sandy Koufax

  Guy, Pitching, Loser

  "Late Innings". Book by Roger Angell, 1977.

  28 Copy quote

• I can't picture people talking about me 50 years from now.

  Sandy Koufax

  Talking, Years, People

  20 Copy quote

• In the end it all comes down to talent. You can talk all you want about intangibles, I just don't know what that means. Talent makes winners, not intangibles. Can nice guys win? Sure, nice guys can win - if they're nice guys with a lot of talent. Nice guys with a little talent finish fourth, and nice guys with no talent finish last.

  Sandy Koufax

  Nice, Mean, Winning

  "Total Baseball: The Official Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball". Book by John Thorn, 2001.

  35 Copy quote

• People who write about spring training not being necessary have never tried to throw a baseball.

  Sandy Koufax

  Sports, Baseball, Spring

  72 Copy quote

• He's the strangest hitter in baseball. Figure him out one way and he'll kill you another.

  Sandy Koufax

  Baseball, Way, Figures

  34 Copy quote

• The game has a cleanness. 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.

  Sandy Koufax

  Sports, Jobs, Games

  "How Life Imitates the World Series: An Inquiry Into the Game". Book by Thomas Boswell, 1982.

  24 Copy quote

• A guy that throws what he intends to throw, that's the definition of a good pitcher.

  Sandy Koufax

  Sports, Guy, Definitions

  "22 Success Lessons from Baseball". Book by Ron White, 2003.

  46 Copy quote

• There is among us a far closer relationship than the purely social one of a fraternal organization because we are bound together not only by a single interest but by a common goal. To win. Nothing else matters, and nothing else will do.

  Sandy Koufax

  Sports, Winning, Organization

  Sandy Koufax, Edward Linn (1966). “Koufax”

  15 Copy quote

• It's better to throw a theoretically poorer pitch whole-heartedly, than to throw the so-called right pitch with feeling of doubt-doubt that's it's right, or doubt that you can make it behave well at that moment. You've got to feel sure you're doing the right thing-sure that you want to throw the pitch you're going to throw.

  Sandy Koufax

  Softball, Sports, Motivation

  21 Copy quote

• I think it's incredible because there were guys like (Willie) Mays and (Mickey) Mantle and Henry Aaron who were great players for ten years... I only had four or five good years.

  Sandy Koufax

  Player, Thinking, Years

  11 Copy quote

• I can't believe that Babe Ruth was a better player than Willie Mays. (Babe) Ruth is to baseball what Arnold Palmer is to golf. He got the game moving. But I can't believe he could run as well as (Willie) Mays, and I can't believe he was any better an outfielder.

  Sandy Koufax

  Baseball, Running, Believe

  11 Copy quote

• I don't know if cortisone is good for you or not. But to take a shot every other ball game is more than I wanted to do and to walk around with a constant upset stomach because of the pills and to be high half the time during a ball game because you're taking painkillers ... I don't want to have to do that.

  Sandy Koufax

  Games, Upset Stomach, Pills

  "Baseball: An Illustrated History". Book by Ken Burns, Geoffrey C. Ward, 1996.

  12 Copy quote

• I've got a lot of years to live after baseball and I would like to live them with the complete use of my body.

  Sandy Koufax

  Sports, Baseball, Years

  10 Copy quote

• If I could straighten it out (his golf swing), I'd be pitching at Dodger Stadium tonight.

  Sandy Koufax

  Golf, Swings, Tonight

  15 Copy quote

• If there was any magic formula, it was getting to pitch every fourth day.

  Sandy Koufax

  Sports, Magic, Pitching

  9 Copy quote

• I don't think I've ever seen anybody with quicker hands than Soriano.

  Sandy Koufax

  Thinking, Yankees, Hands

  10 Copy quote

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