I’ve read a few page-turners in my time, but this is the first biography that I’d put into that category. I was enthralled from cover to cover. The narrative is so strong and compelling—helped in part by Koufax’ decision to retire at the top of his game and not endure a dwindling twilight—that it only strengthens the legend of a man who’s already a living legend.

Even though I didn’t start attending Dodger games (at the league’s best ballpark :-) until a half-decade after Koufax retired, the Dodgers of the 1960s were my childhood home team. Many of the names in Leavy’s account—Drysdale, Lefebvre, Skully, Wills—linger in my earliest memories of professional baseball.

Of Koufax himself, it’s hard to speak too highly. He carried himself as a professional and a gentleman, difficult to imagine in these days when those terms are nearly antonymns. In particular, Leavy argues that Koufax’ decidedly Jewish presence made him all the more willing to befriend and stand by the Black athletes who were beginning to make their mark in the big leagues. Leavy avoids the topic of his two divorces, but I think that’s appropriate. Marriage is private, and a biographer of a man’s professional career can keep that sort of dirty laundry hidden without sacrificing any credibility.