The 15 greatest L.A. Dodgers of all time, No. 1: Sandy Koufax
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Continuing our countdown of the 15 greatest L.A. Dodgers of all time, as chosen by our readers.
No. 1: Sandy Koufax (6,284 first-place votes, 116,888 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, as well as the first pitcher to win a Cy Young Award by a unanimous vote. 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.
Koufax pitched four no-hitters, one of those a perfect game, and led the Dodgers to two World Series titles.
On the L.A. Dodgers’ all-time list, Koufax is third in wins (156), third in strikeouts (2,214), eighth in losses (77), eighth in games pitched (335), third in complete games (133), third in shutouts (38), fourth in walks (709) and first in ERA (2.64).
-- Houston Mitchell
Previously:
No. 2: Don Drysdale
No. 3: Vin Scully
No. 4: Tommy Lasorda
No. 5: Maury Wills
No. 6: Steve Garvey
No. 7: Orel Hershiser
No. 8: Fernando Valenzuela
No. 9: Mike Piazza
No. 10: Don Sutton
No. 11: Walter Alston
No. 12: Ron Cey
No. 13: Walter O’Malley
No. 14: Tommy Davis
No. 15: Kirk Gibson