A statue of Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax will be unveiled in Dodger Stadium’s Centerfield Plaza Saturday, three years after it was announced and two years later than originally planned.
The 86-year-old Koufax is set to attend the 11:30 a.m. unveiling, which will be televised by Spectrum SportsNet LA. Dodgers pitching star Clayton Kershaw and Hall of Famer Joe Torre, now a special assistant to baseball’s commissioner, are also scheduled to attend.
The Dodgers announced in 2019 that Koufax would be the second person in their “statue series,” with the unveiling expected in summer 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic altered those plans.
The statue will sit adjacent to Jackie Robinson’s in the Centerfield Plaza. Robinson’s was unveiled on April 15, 2017. Both sculptures were created by Branly Cadet.
Koufax played his entire 12-season major league career with the Dodgers, the first three when they were based in his native Brooklyn.
Koufax was the National League MVP and MLB’s Cy Young Award winner in 1963 and also won Cy Young awards in 1965 and 1966, his final season before being forced to retire at age 31 because of an arthritic elbow.
Koufax was the first pitcher to average fewer than seven hits allowed per nine innings pitched in his career (6.79), to strike out more than nine batters (9.28) per nine innings and to pitch four no-hitters. In his last 10 seasons, batters hit .203 against him with a .271 on-base percentage and a .315 slugging average.