Dodgers to unveil Sandy Koufax statue on June 18

The Koufax sculpture will be the second in a series of larger-than life bronze statues in the Centerfield Plaza

March 14th, 2022

LOS ANGELES– The Los Angeles Dodgers today announced that the long-anticipated Sandy Koufax statue will be unveiled in the Centerfield Plaza prior to the Dodgers’ June 18 home game vs. the Cleveland Guardians at 4:15 p.m. The Koufax statue will be the second one of its kind to be installed by the club, following the Jackie Robinson statue, which was unveiled on April 15, 2017. The piece will be sculpted by Branly Cadet, who also created the Robinson statue.  

The first 40,000 ticketed fans in attendance at the June 18 contest will receive a replica Koufax statue. 

“I am very proud to announce that the unveiling of the Sandy Koufax statue at Dodger Stadium will take place on Saturday, June 18,” said Dodger President and CEO, Stan Kasten. “The statue will be located at our main entrance in the Centerfield Plaza, right next to Jackie Robinson’s statue, and fans entering those gates will be ‘greeted’ by Jackie and Sandy. Not only are both of these Hall of Famers part of our rich Dodger history, they are also continuously inspiring sports fans everywhere.”  

It was announced in 2019 that the next legendary name in the Dodgers’ “statue series” was to be Koufax, and the unveiling was intended to be in the summer of 2020, but the global pandemic altered those plans. The sculpture will sit adjacent to Robinson’s in the Centerfield Plaza. The former teammates were inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962 (Robinson) and 1972 (Koufax), respectively, and both had their numbers retired by the Dodgers on June 4, 1972.

At age 36, Koufax was the youngest player and first pitcher inducted into the Hall of Fame. Throughout his illustrious 12 seasons, he had a career record of 165-87, a 2.76 ERA, 2,396 strikeouts, 137 complete games and 40 shutouts. He was also the first major leaguer to pitch four no-hitters, including a perfect game.

From 1962-66, Koufax led the National League in earned run average and shutouts. He was the first pitcher to average fewer than seven hits allowed per nine innings pitched in his career (6.79) and to strike out more than nine batters (9.28) per nine innings. In his last 10 seasons, batters hit .203 against him with a .271 on-base percentage and a .315 slugging average.

Koufax was the MVP and Cy Young Award winner in 1963 and also won Cy Young Awards in 1965 and ’66. He was a member of Dodgers’ world championship teams in 1955, ’59, ’63 and ’65, earning MVP honors in 1963 and ‘65. His postseason record was 4-3 with a 0.95 ERA. He was selected to seven consecutive All-Star Games from 1961-66.