I am so happy to see this CR thread. Sandy Koufax not pitching in game 1 of the 1965 World Series was my real first Jewish memory.
This motzei Yom Kippur I took the time to research Koufax’s entire career. It appears that he never pitched on Yom Kippur at any point in his entire career. It took 45 minutes of internet searches, but I was able to compile this record from his 12 years in professional baseball, all with the Dodgers (first Brooklyn, then Los Angeles). The dates are the dates of YK (night, then day), and what follows are what Koufax did or did not do that year on or immediately before/after YK:
1955 September 25-26. The regular season ended September 25; Koufax did not pitch. (He had only pitched in 12 games all season.)
1956 September 14-15. Koufax did not pitch either day. (He only pitched in 16 games all season.)
1957 October 4-5. Regular season was over and Dodgers were not in World Series.
1958 September 23-24. Koufax did not pitch either day. (He had pitched and won 9/21.)
1959 October 11-12. World Series was over October 8.
1960 September 30-October 1. Koufax pitched in relief (7th and 8th innings) in the night game October 1.
1961 September 19-20. Koufax pitched 13 inning complete game victory in the night game September 20. (YK ended 7:30pm; night games started at 8pm back then.)
1962 October 7-8. Playoff was October 1-3 and Dodgers lost, ending their season.
1963 September 27-28. Koufax did not pitch. (He had won his 25th game September 25.)
1964 September 15-16. Koufax was on the disabled list.
1965 October 5-6. Koufax would have pitched game one of the World Series on October 6, but sat out the game, which the Dodgers lost. He pitched and lost game two, but won games 5 and 7.
1966 September 23-24. Koufax would have pitched in Chicago for a day game (the Cubs didn’t have night games yet) on September 24, but sat out the game, which the Dodgers lost (Ferguson Jenkins pitched a 4 hit shutout for the Cubs). Koufax pitched the next day and lost to another Jewish pitcher, Ken Holtzman, who was pitching on his regularly scheduled rotation day.
Sandy Koufax was not from a religious family and he was never religious himself in the way we think of being religious — except that he never pitched on Yom Kippur.