A signed, game-worn Sandy Koufax jersey is up for auction with an estimated value of more than $1 million.
The listing at the Dallas-based Heritage Auctions notes that the No. 32 Los Angeles Dodgers jersey from 1966, Koufax’s final season, has been photo-matched to a May 14 game at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, an undated image from the same season at Shea Stadium in New York City, as well as two other outings in which Koufax did not pitch.
Koufax, 89, was one of the most dominant southpaws of all time and retired at age 30 at the end of the 1966 season after earning his third Cy Young Award and the nickname “the Left Arm of God.”
Hall of Fame left fielder and first baseman Willie Stargell said of Koufax that “trying to hit him was like trying to drink coffee with a fork.”
Koufax remains one of the most beloved Jewish athletes in the American sporting pantheon, in part for his refusal to pitch in game one of the 1965 World Series, because it fell on Yom Kippur.
The pitcher is routinely included on lists of the greatest players of all time and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1972 as the youngest player ever to be voted in and the second-ever Jewish player.
The auction house describes the jersey as “‘superior’ grade, indicating 100% originality and a marvelous state of preservation that lacks any of the staining or moth damage typical of decades-old flannel.”
At press time, bidding for the jersey was up to $370,000 and will close on Saturday.
