LOS ANGELES – Cedars-Sinai Hospital is unusually quiet these days. But in a room on the eighth floor, an 89-year-old man is still whispering to the nurse, trembling as he signs envelopes to send to the flood-hit Texas – where thousands of people are struggling to overcome the disaster. That man is Sandy Koufax, the immortal legend of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Sandy Koufax – the legendary pitcher who won the Cy Young award four times and won three World Series championships – is undergoing long-term treatment for heart complications and pneumonia, according to relatives. He no longer has the strength to talk for long, his hands are shaking and his eyes are blurry… but his heart has not stopped “throwing” to where he is needed most.
Message from His Hospital Bed: “Don’t Forget Texas”
Despite lying in a hospital bed on a ventilator, Sandy asked his son, David, to print out a series of handwritten cards and send them to evacuation centers in Texas.
“To those I’ve never met: I can’t help put out the fires, I’m no longer on the mound, but if this old man who once wore Dodgers blue can warm your heart – please know that I’m thinking of you, every second.”
Each envelope was signed “#32 – Sandy Koufax.”
A Box of Toys, Two Boxes of Handwritten Letters – and Three Things He Wanted
When the Dodgers organized an emergency relief operation, Sandy Koufax – who was no longer able to move – quietly sent:
Two boxes of old toys that he and his wife had kept for their grandchildren – “They were supposed to be keepsakes, but now the memories should be a child’s smile.”
A handwritten note he dictated and recorded, then rewritten by volunteers to be printed, was sent to homeless people in Kerrville and Fredericksburg.
A vintage Dodgers cap – asked to be delivered to a 9-year-old boy in an evacuation center, with the message:
“You may lose your home, but don’t lose your dream.”
Dave Roberts: “He was the heart of this team”
When he learned that Sandy was sending letters from the hospital, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was moved to share:
“He’s no longer on the field, but he’s still the silent heart of the Dodgers. We brought relief supplies to Texas, but Sandy carried the spirit.”
A final throw – not with his hands, but with his heart
At 89, with every heavy breath and a struggling heart, Sandy Koufax needs no more trophies, no more bronze statues. But he still managed to leave behind a “last pitch” – a pitch of love, of memory, and of a legend who knew that time was running out… but kindness was limitless.
And somewhere in the ashes of Texas, there will be a child holding an old teddy bear, reading a trembling piece of paper with the scrawled words: “An old Dodgers man believed in me.”
Sandy Koufax may have left the field, but he never left the heart of America.