Dodgers Unveil Statue Of Sandy Koufax 56 Years After His Retirement

The Dodgers unveiled a statue of Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax ahead of the team's game against the Guardians on Saturday.

Koufax is immortalized alongside the great Jackie Robinson just outside Dodger Stadium in the Centerfield Plaza -- 67 years after he made his debut for the then Brooklyn Dodgers. Quite the wait for the three-time National League Cy Young Award winner, but worth it to be enshrined next to Robinson.

"At that time sharing this space with him would have been absolutely unimaginable," Koufax said, via ESPN. "And today, it's still one of the greatest honors of my life."

The announcement of Koufax's statue was originally made in 2019 and was slated to be unveiled the following year. The COVID-19 pandemic altered the timeline, causing the 19.5-ton statue to be revealed this year.

How fitting it comes 50 years after Koufax's number was retired with Robinson and Roy Campanella. ESPN reports it's also the golden anniversary of Koufax being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972.

(Photo by Focus On Sport/Getty Images)

Koufax, 86, helped the Dodgers win three World Series titles in '59, '63 and '65. He threw four no-hitters over the course of his 12-year career and won the ERA Title each of his last five seasons in the league.

Among those to speak at the ceremony was current Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who will likely find his statue sitting next to Koufax's in the future.

"I hope a kid sees the statue and his mom or dad about Sandy Koufax and I hope that they tell him he was a great pitcher," Kershaw said. "But more than that he was a great man who represented the Dodgers with humility, kindness, passion and class.

"And for every rookie who sees it for the first time and asks if he was any good, I hope the veterans tell him simply that he was the best ever do it."