>>Following up on the earlier discussion, did you know that Sandy Koufax's birth name was Sanford Braun? It was changed when his mom remarried. That last name must be a good marker for baseball talent.
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>Probably the finest pitcher the game ever saw.
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For sure he is in the conversation. He only really had five seasons between his early wildness and his early retirement due to arthritis but wow, what a five seasons. It can be said without equivocation that no one was ever that dominant for five years. Check out 1962-1966 --

http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/23910/sandy-koufax

Lots of interesting stuff here. It makes you smile reading that what Koufax and Don Drysdale got in their famous holdout was $125,000 and $100,000 a year respectively. What really jumps out is how long it took for his career to ignite, nearly quitting at one point. Lucky us that he didn't.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Koufax