Happy Birthday, Mr. Koufax

Issue: Did you know today is Sandy Koufax's birthday?

Short Answer: Thanks to my brother, I do now; and on his birthday, we should celebrate his excellence.

Reasoning: Today is Mr. Koufax's 75th birthday.  I still wish he were pitching today.  Although I never did see him pitch (I'm not THAT old people!), I have heard stories from those that did, about how unbelievable he really was.  If his career had not been shortened by an elbow injury, we may talk about him today as if he were the best pitcher ever.  He pitched for 10 years, some, if not most of it in considerable pain.  He retired when he was only 30 years old.  For most good pitchers, 30 is still in the prime of their careers.  In Koufax's last years, from 1962-1966 (age 26-30), here are his stats*:

• Wins: 111
• Losses: 34
• ERA: 1.95
• Games started: 176
• Complete games: 100
• Shutouts: 33
• Innings: 1,377
• Hits allowed: 959
• Strikeouts: 1,444

Beyond that, Koufax was the first pitcher ever to allow less than 7 hits per 9 innings pitched (6.79) and strikeout more than 9 batters per 9 innings (9.28).  In his last 10 seasons (1957-1966), Koufax had a batting average against of .203, with a .271 on base percentage against and a .315 slugging percentage against.  In four World Series, Koufax was 4-3 with a 0.95 ERA (run support must have been awful in those days).  He won 3 Cy Young Awards (all by unanimous votes), was selected to 7 straight All-Star games (1961-1966 (I realize that would only be 6, but 1961 marked the last year MLB held two All-Star games in the same year, and Koufax was selected to both All-Star games in 1961)), had 3 25+ win seasons, and among National League pitchers with 2,000+ innings has the highest winning percentage ever (.655) and had the lowest ERA (2.76) until surpassed by Tom Seaver (2.73)**.  The guy was an absolute stud on the mound, and on his birthday today, we should all remember that.  Happy Birthday, Mr. Koufax.

*Stats taken from my brother (don't worry, I double-checked!)

**Stats taken from Wikipedia (not a trusted source?? I double-checked these too!)