Friday, February 21, 2003

KOUFAX'S BRUSHBACK: Remember that item I posted in December about the Page Six rumor that Sandy Koufax was gay?

Well, Koufax himself saw that Page Six item, and has responded in kind:
Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax, whose brilliance on the mound captivated fans in the 1960s and defined the Dodgers' greatest era in Los Angeles, has severed ties with the club in protest of another News Corp. subsidiary.

Koufax, a very private man who established a standard for pitching excellence in four of the most dominant seasons in the game's history from 1963-66, recently informed the Dodgers he would no longer attend spring training here at Dodgertown, visit Dodger Stadium or participate in activities while they are owned by the media conglomerate, because of a report in the New York Post that apparently intimated that he is homosexual. The Post is owned by News Corp. . . .

Contacted Thursday by The Times, [Jane] Leavy, a former Washington Post reporter, said she assumed the item was about her book [on Koufax]. She called it "thoroughly erroneous on all counts. [The item] was blatantly unfair, scandalous and contemptible. It was thoroughly without basis in so far as it had to do with Sandy or any relationship I had with him professionally. It's not the kind of journalism I practice."

Can't say I blame him. Not one bit. The initial gossip item was as far from "blind" as can be, and such baseless, invasive rumor-spreading has no business in legitimate publications. Or The New York Post, for that matter.

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