Apr. 23, 1964 - Sandy Koufax flew home to Los Angeles today for treatment of his left arm by an orthopedic surgeon.
The Los Angeles Dodgers’ star southpaw, who won the Cy Young award and the MVP award in 1963, started treatments immediately for what was described as a muscle strain.
Dr. Robert Kerlan, who examined Koufax, said it would be 48 hours before he could determine the seriousness of the injury. “We need to see the response to these [cortisone] injections before we will know how long he will be sidelined,” Dr. Kerlan said. He refused to conjecture as to the extent of the damage which was described as “a strain of the musculature on the inner side of the left elbow and upper half of the forearm.”
In addition to three injections in the affected areas, supportive therapy including the use of ice packs, hot whirlpool submersion, and ultrasound treatments are being given. An X-ray examination revealed no fractures.
The Dodgers said Koufax suffered the injury last night. He was removed after the first inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. He yielded three runs and was charged with the loss, the Dodgers’ seventh in a row.
Koufax said: “I’ve had it for three weeks. I didn’t say anything about it, just hoping it would go away. I haven’t had anything on the ball in any of my three starts. I was just lucky to get by until now.”
Koufax was sidelined after 14 victories in the middle of the 1962 season, when the Dodgers were in first place.
In St. Louis today, Dodger manager Walter Alston said, “Sandy didn’t want to come out of the game.” Joe Becker, pitching coach, confirmed this, adding: “Sandy thought he could pitch the pain out.”
“I didn’t see anything wrong with Koufax’s fastball and change-up,” said John Roseboro, Dodger catcher, “but he didn’t want to throw a curve. He was hanging a few.”
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