Koufax honored with lifetime achievement award from Baseball Digest

Dodgers legend Sandy Koufax, who won three Cy Young Awards, an MVP Award, five ERA titles, three pitching Triple Crowns and four World Series championships before being inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972, has been named the 2026 Baseball Digest/Love of the Game Auctions Lifetime Achievement Award winner.

Koufax joins Willie Mays (2021), legendary Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully (2022), Joe Torre (2023), Dusty Baker (2024) and Bob Costas (2025) as winners of the honor since it was established in 2021. The award is the game’s only such honor presented nationally on an annual basis.

“It’s a great honor to be recognized along with the previous award winners,” said Koufax, who turned 90 last December. “I thank the distinguished panel for this lifetime achievement award.”

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes a living individual whose career has been spent in or around Major League Baseball and who has demonstrated outstanding character while making significant contributions to the game.

The selection committee consisted of 21 longtime MLB participants and observers, including MLB.com senior director and executive editor Alyson Footer.

“The name Sandy Koufax has become a synonym for ‘great pitcher,’” said Baseball Digest publisher David Fagley. “It’s hard to believe it has been 60 years since he last pitched so brilliantly for the Dodgers but, since his retirement, Sandy has been a remarkable representative of our national game, a symbol of class and dignity.”

From 1962-66, Koufax authored one of the greatest peak performances of any pitcher in baseball history. Over that dominant span, the southpaw went 111-34 with a 1.95 ERA over 1,377 innings. He won three National League Cy Young Awards, threw four no-hitters and was an All-Star in each season.

Koufax was also a postseason hero for the Dodgers, earning World Series MVP honors in 1963 and 1965 (he also won a World Series championship with the Dodgers as a rookie in 1955 and again in 1959). Overall, in eight playoff appearances (seven starts), he posted a 0.95 ERA and pitched four complete games (two shutouts).

Following that tremendous run, Koufax decided to retire after 12 seasons at age 30 so that he wouldn’t do further damage to his arm. In 1972 at age 36, he became the youngest former player elected to the Hall of Fame.

Koufax went on to become a broadcaster, Minor League pitching coach and special advisor to the Dodgers in the years following. Today, he is a regular at Dodger Stadium and remains one of the most recognizable baseball figures of all time.