Front Yard Sandy Koufax
Newton, Massachusetts
The statue was sculpted in bronze by Robert Gaynor, a former immigration lawyer and self-taught artist. Sandy Koufax was a Hall of Fame left-handed baseball pitcher (career wins totaling 165 games) for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers. Gaynor admired him from afar as a childhood hero because of his talent and because, like Gaynor, he was Jewish.
When Gaynor retired from the law, he took up sculpting as a hobby and fashioned Koufax for his front lawn. It's a fine depiction, and -- as far as Gaynor knew until 2020 -- the only statue of Sandy Koufax anywhere. In July 2020 a more official bronze rendering of Koufax was installed at the new entrance to Dodger Stadium.