The Jewish Pitcher Who Sat Out the World Series Opener — Then Won the Whole Thing

How did the best pitcher in baseball sit out the first game of the 1965 World Series — and win it eight days later? On October 6, 1965, Game 1 against Minnesota fell on Yom Kippur, and Sandy Koufax, 27 days past a perfect game, didn't pitch. — SOURCES: "Sandy Koufax Stats" — Baseball-Reference https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/koufasa01.shtml "Sandy Koufax" — Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Koufax "1965 World Series" — Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1965_World_Series "1966 World Series" — Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_World_Series "Hank Greenberg" — Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Greenberg "Shawn Green" — Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Green "Sandy Koufax" — SABR BioProject https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/Sandy-Koufax/ "Sandy Koufax: Symbol of Jewish Pride" — SABR https://sabr.org/journal/article/sandy-koufax-symbol-of-jewish-pride "Koufax honored with lifetime achievement award from Baseball Digest" — MLB.com https://www.mlb.com/dodgers/news/sandy-koufax-2026-baseball-digest-lifetime-achievement-award "Sandy Koufax retires" — HISTORY https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/november-18/sandy-koufax-retires "Myth and fact part of legacy from Sandy Koufax's Yom Kippur choice" — Sports Illustrated https://www.si.com/mlb/2015/09/23/sandy-koufax-yom-kippur-1965-world-series "Koufax's Yom Kippur Decision" — Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/koufaxs-yom-kippur-decision "Where Was Sandy? The Koufax Midrash" — TC Jewfolk https://tcjewfolk.com/2013/09/13/sandy-koufax-midrash/