Sandy Koufax Joins Jackie Robinson As The Only Statues At Dodger Stadium

By Gabe Friedman July 25, 2019

(JTA) — The Los Angeles Dodgers will add a statue of legendary Jewish pitcher Sandy Koufax to their stadium as part of a $100 million renovation project.

The statue will be located next to one of Jackie Robinson, another Hall of Fame Dodger and Major League Baseball’s first black player, the Dodgers revealed at a news conference Tuesday. Both will sit in a new plaza beyond the stadium’s center field fence.

The team will dedicate the Koufax statue at some point during the 2020 season.

Opened in 1962, Dodger Stadium is baseball’s third oldest, behind only Fenway Park in Boston and Wrigley Field in Chicago.

Koufax, known for sitting out a World Series game to observe Yom Kippur, spent his 12-season career as a member of the Dodgers — first in Brooklyn, then in Los Angeles when the club relocated in 1958. The lefthander is widely recognized as the one of the best pitchers in history.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO