Anyone who’s ever watched as much of an inning of baseball knows about Sandy Koufax — winner of 165 games, pitcher of four no-hitters and a perfect game and icon of the Jewish community in the 1950s and ’60s.
But did you know that it isn’t the first-ballot Hall of Famer who tops Major League Baseball’s list of most career wins by a Jewish pitcher? That distinction belongs to Illini Athletics Hall of Famer Ken Holtzman, who went 174–150 for the Cubs, A’s, Orioles and Yankees.
Once heralded as “the new Sandy Koufax,” the late, great left-hander threw two no-hitters, made a pair of All-Star Games and won three World Series rings from 1965-79.
As baseball mourned the death of Holtzman in 2024 at age 78, we asked two Hall of Famers, a rabbi and a couple of other admirers to share their favorite memory of the University of Illinois business administration grad.
“May 16th, 1976. Sunday afternoon. We’re all messing around in the clubhouse. We had the born-again Christian meeting in the training room, which was rather large. There were four tables. Reggie had been lamenting: If there was a god, why were his condo and his MVP trophy burnt down?
“(Orioles manager) Earl Weaver walks down the hallway and he hears us laughing. He has a stat sheet in his hand and says: ‘You want to see something funny?’ He says: ‘This is (bleep) funny’ and he throws the stat sheet at us in the training room. ‘Laugh at these numbers.’
“Then he looks at Kenny Holtzman, who’s going to pitch that day. It’s about 10 of 2. The game’s at 2:05. He says: ‘By the way, are you gonna warm up?’
“Kenny says ‘holy (bleep).’ He had his sanitary socks on, jock, stirrups, sweatshirt, so all he had to do was throw his uniform on.
“He races out to the bullpen, warms up in about seven minutes. Third inning, he gets hit in the shin with a line drive that almost goes in the dugout. Pitches a complete game. Nine innings, gives up five hits.
“I mean, that was vintage Ken Holtzman.”
“Holtzman was the Koufax of my generation, the perfect symbol of Jewish baseball in the 1970s, when there was more ambivalence about Jewish heroes.
“We acted like we didn’t care if Holtzman — or the Fonz — was Jewish. But we did care, of course, mostly because Holtzman — like the Fonz — was cool.
“I never met him, but you can’t go to a deli or a JCC anywhere in Chicago without meeting someone who claims to be his cousin and who says he’s a great guy.”
“I did not know Ken Holtzman personally but I used to love to watch him pitch when he was with the A’s. What a great four-man staff they had with Catfish (Hunter), Vida (Blue), Blue Moon Odom and Holtzman. And a great bullpen, too.
“What impressed me the most was the way he threw across his body and the great control he had. He had to be very tough vs. left-handed hitters.
“Ken wasn’t an overpowering pitcher and he didn’t walk many batters. He had a big roundhouse curve and great control on both sides on the plate with his fastball. He changed speeds well. This being said, Holtzman was a pitcher.
“I don’t know what the analytic departments in today’s game would say about him. They would probably say: ‘Release him because he doesn’t throw 95-plus.’”
“With two no-hitters, two All-Star selections and a 4-1 record in World Series games, Holtzman was probably the second-best Jewish pitcher.
“Holtzman was the winningest Jewish pitcher with 174, nine more than Sandy Koufax. He also won their only matchup as starting pitchers on September 25th, 1966, when Holtzman, a Cubs rookie, took a no-hitter into the ninth inning of a 2-1 victory over the Dodgers — the first major-league game in which both starting pitchers were Jewish.
“After his retirement from baseball, Holtzman was deeply involved in the St. Louis Jewish community and served as physical education supervisor at a JCC in St. Louis. He also coached briefly with the Petah Tikva Pioneers in the Israel Baseball League in 2007.
“I met Holtzman once — at the Jewish Major Leaguers program at Cooperstown in 2004. I asked him about his unusual friendship with Yankees outfielder Mickey Rivers. The players seemed to be complete opposite personalities.
“Holtzman said on days he wasn’t pitching, he’d sit in the bullpen and call out to Rivers in the outfield, giving him a running tally on the winning horses at a local race track.”
“Ken Holtzman was undoubtedly one of the greatest Jewish baseball players of all-time. After Sandy Koufax, there are a handful of pitchers who are in that second tier, including Steve Stone, Jason Marquis and Max Fried.
“But at the top of that list is Holtzman. Two no-hitters, three World Series championships and a two-time All Star, Holtzman’s resume speaks for itself.
“His involvement in the Jewish community through the JCC and the Israel Baseball League set an example for young Jewish baseball players everywhere. He will certainly be missed.”
