Baseball legend Sandy Koufax turns 90! Inside the star’s private life after retirement and what he looks like now

On December 30, 1935, Sanford Koufax Braun was born to Evelyn and Jack Braun in Borough Park, Brooklyn. When he was just three-years-old, his parents got divorced, meaning for most of his childhood, Sandy was raised by his maternal grandparents.

When he was in high school in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, Sandy was better known for his basketball skills than for his baseball ones. He even made newspaper headlines for his play. During his last year of high school, Sandy joined the baseball team as a first baseman, but he didn’t love the sport at first.

It wasn’t until a local coach noticed his “God-given” arm strength that he was convinced to move from first base to the pitcher’s mound.

He went on to walk-on to the basketball team at the University of Cincinnati and averaged 9.7 points per game. While at the school, he also joined the baseball team as a pitcher and ended the season with a 2.81 ERA.

Sandy made his Major League Baseball debut in June of 1955 for the Brooklyn Dodgers, a year after he was signed by the team. During his first season, the Dodgers won the World Series against the New York Yankees.

In a move that would never happen today, Sandy was also enrolled at Columbia University during his rookie year. After the final out of Game 7 in the World Series, Sandy went straight to campus to attend a class.

In his third season with the team, Sandy and the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. A year after they relocated, they won the World Series against the Chicago White Sox with Sandy pitching two perfect relief innings.

From the 1961 season onwards, Sandy was dominant in the league. He tied his own record of 18 strikeouts in a game, threw four no-hitters, and had an enviably low ERA of 1.23. During his career, he won four World Series.

On November 18, 1966, Sandy announced his retirement from baseball in a press conference in Beverly Hills. He was just 30-years-old.

“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,” he explained during the conference, citing the chronic pain in his pitching elbow. “I don’t regret one minute of the last twelve years, but I think I would regret one year that was too many.”

After he retired, Sandy signed a $1 million, 10-year contract with NBC to be a broadcaster on the Saturday Game of the Week. But, ever the shy man, he didn’t enjoy the work and ended up quitting after six years behind the microphone.