Why You Can't Clone Koufax

Why You Can’t Clone Koufax is a book that relies on traditional statistical categories--rather than sabermetrics--to make our case. At the same time, however, we make no excuses or alibis for any events that may have occurred during a player’s career. In our book we compared Sandy Koufax to many of the greatest pitchers in baseball history. Our numerous comparisons are replete with irrefutable facts and figures to support our contention.

After reading an article on a baseball blog, I was prompted to write this book. Why You Can’t Clone Koufax is a book that utilizes the traditional statistical categories in analyzing and evaluating a player’s career. While there are some sabermetric categories that are relevant and useful, we believe that the traditional statistical categories and methods are sufficient to objectively measure how a player performed. In utilizing the traditional statistical categories, however, we emphasize stats that are often overlooked or unknown. In our view, many of the traditional statistical categories appear to be relegated to a lesser status by sabermetricians. In any event, our emphasis is on the comparing of pitchers--not on the everyday position player. In support of our contention, we’ve conducted a comprehensive five-year statistical analysis of Sandy Koufax’s record. We have also conducted numerous comparisons between Koufax and some of baseball’s greatest pitchers. Note: this book includes the statistics of all current pitchers for the 2014 season.

Arnold Silveri was born in Brooklyn, New York. After quitting New Utrecht High School, in 1952, he worked for a Wall Street Brokerage firm. However, he left his job as a clerk to earn more money as a laborer. Later, after working as a forklift operator on the Brooklyn waterfront, he entered the U.S. Army. He was stationed in Korea in 1956 and 1957. After his discharge, he worked as an IBM operator for Hayden Stone. In 1963, he began working as a computer operator for United States Lines. In 1966, he left U.S. Lines and worked for Automatic Computer Service for three years. He eventually worked as a clerk for the United States Post Office. He has authored four books in the past twelve years. They include: Baseball’s Best: From A to Z in 2001; The Laureate of the Poetasters in 2002; It Ain’t Shakespeare, But . . . in 2005 and Turning the Corner on Life in 2012. He currently resides in Staten Island, New York with his two daughters, sons-in-law and four grandsons.