The 20 greatest Dodgers of all time, No. 1: Sandy Koufax

By Houston Mitchell

May 17, 2013 11 AM PT

We recently asked you to list your choices for the 10 greatest Dodgers of all time, and vote you did, as we received an amazing 12,231 ballots. So many people voted that we have decided to expand the list from the top 10 to the top 20. Each weekday at 11 a.m. PDT, a new person will be listed as we count down all 20.

Remember, any Dodger, Brooklyn or L.A., was eligible, including managers, owners, announcers, etc. Points were assigned based on where you listed the person on the ballot. Your first choice received 12 points, second choice 10, third place eight, all the way down to one point for 10th place.

So without further ado, here is No. 1:

No. 1: Sandy Koufax (6,333 first-place votes, 127,297 points)

When you talk about the greatest left-handed pitchers of all time, you start with Koufax, add in Warren Spahn, Lefty Grove, Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton and figure it out from there.

Koufax was the first pitcher to win multiple Cy Young Awards (1963, ’65 and ‘66), as well as the first pitcher to win a Cy Young Award by a unanimous vote (1963, when he went 25-5 with a 1.88 ERA). Many people will tell you that the greatest pitcher in baseball history was Sandy Koufax on four days’ rest. Second greatest? Sandy Koufax on three days’ rest.

PHOTOS: 20 greatest Dodgers of all time

Koufax pitched four no-hitters, one of those a perfect game, and led the Dodgers to two World Series titles.

In 1999, the Sporting News came out with its list of “Baseball’s 100 greatest players”. Koufax was No. 26 on the list. He was also one of the 30 players on the Major League Baseball All-Century team.

On the Dodgers’ all-time list, Koufax is fifth in wins (165), first in hits per nine innings (6.79), third in strikeouts (2,396), 11th in complete games (137), third in shutouts (40) and 10th in ERA (2.76).

ALSO:

The 20 greatest Dodgers, No. 20: Don Sutton

The 20 greatest Dodgers, No. 19: Don Newcombe

The 20 greatest Dodgers, No. 18: Zack Wheat

The 20 greatest Dodgers, No. 17: Branch Rickey

The 20 greatest Dodgers, No. 16: Walter Alston

The 20 greatest Dodgers, No. 15: Mike Piazza

The 20 greatest Dodgers, No. 14: Steve Garvey

The 20 greatest Dodgers, No. 13: Walter O’Malley

The 20 greatest Dodgers, No. 12: Orel Hershiser

The 20 greatest Dodgers, No. 11: Gil Hodges

The 20 greatest Dodgers, No. 10: Fernando Valenzuela