This last weekend I finished reading Jane Leavy's Sandy Koufax biography. I was highly impressed. I purchased it last year at a local friends of the library book sale. I'm glad I did.
The book alternates chapters between a biography and an inning by inning recap of Koufax's perfect game. Jane Leavey does a nice job letting us see what she learned about the pitcher and drawing us into the description of the game. He's a tough one to understand, seemingly aloof, but always a gentleman.
Leavy taps teammates, opponents, reporters, players that were still in elementary school when he retired, and more for stories and insights. Her writing style is relaxed, but with a purpose. The one thing that did jump out at me is the use of some words that didn't quite seem to fit in a baseball biography. An example is the word denouement. It is used four times in the book. A bit of a speedbump while driving the reading car. But that is a minor quibble on my part.
Take a look at the book page at Harper Collins. Go to the library and check it out. Better yet, go buy a copy. You'll want to share this with your baseball buddies and probably will want to reread it in a few years.
Great book! FYI --although I haven't read it yet, Jane Leavy published a book last fall about Mickey Mantle called The Last Boy.
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