I ran across this and figured it was worth sharing...

A great many of our Rogues, of American citizenship and who follow baseball but too young to really remember one of the greatest left-handed pitchers in Dodger history would probably be amazed at something he "didn't do" rather than what he did do. Especially in this day and age of "pay for play" and multi million dollar contracts with performance clauses.

It was the fall of 1965 and the Los Angeles Dodgers were up against the Minnesota Twins in the World Series. The opening game was scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 6 -- a date with little other significance than happening to fall that year on the Jewish high holiday of Yom Kippur. No doubt, that coincidence would have gone largely unnoted except for the additional fact that the Dodger's star pitcher, Sandy Koufax, also happened to be Jewish. Koufax was not particularly observant, but as he later stated, "There was never any decision to make ... because there was never any possibility that I would pitch. Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the Jewish religion. The club knows that I don't work that day."


Goto:


Rabbi Shais Taub: Why Sandy Koufax Sat Out the World Series on Yom Kippur

I remember that game quite clearly (I was a Twins fan), and that was the first I knew of Koufax being Jewish. Believe it or not I thought it was an odd reason to "not do something" at the time. Today I respect his decision much more.