Koufax’s Act of Devotion Still Inspirational 50 Years Later

50 years ago, one of the greatest baseball pitchers ever made a decision during the World Series that stunned fans and inspired faith in millions.

After pitching a perfect game in the final month of the 1965 season, Sandy Koufax led the Los Angeles Dodgers into the World Series against the Minesota Twins.

It is what he didn’t do at the start of the series that has resonated for five decades, just as much as what happened after.

“It was incredible,” said Rabbi Stephen Leon of Congregation B’nai Zion.

Leon remembers when Koufax, a proud Jew from Brooklyn, sat out the first game of the series in observance of Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.

“It’s a day we ask God to forgive us for the sins we have committed during the year,” Leon said. “It’s also a time for us to go up to our friends and others who we have perhaps hurt during the year, and ask them to forgive us.”

Businessman Tanny Berg, a lifetime Dodgers fan, was 17 years old in 1965.

“Baseball back then was part of life,” Berg said. “We lived baseball.”

Berg recalls he also wondered what Koufax would do as the ’65 series approached.

“It was an opportunity for us to assert ourselves with our religion, with the love for our faith,” Berg said. “And at the same time be incorporated into the American melting pot.”

Leon said Koufax’s sacrifice created a lasting legacy for many of the Jewish faith.

“We were all united that day,” Leon said. “It’s very hard for me to describe. I get tears in my eyes, when I think about it. But when you were in synagogue that day, and knew that this baseball hero was with you, it’s an indescribable feeling.”

The Dodgers lost the game Koufax sat out. The star pitcher would return to help his team force a game 7.

Koufax started that final game with only two days rest, pitched a complete game shutout, and helped the Dodgers win a world championship.