Sandy Koufax was one of the greatest pitchers in the history of Major League Baseball (MLB).
Al Campanis, then a scout and later an executive in MLB, witnessed a tryout of the young pitcher.
Campanis later said about what he witnessed, “There are two times in my life the hair on my arms has stood up: The first time I saw the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the second time when I saw Sandy Koufax throw a fastball.” Injuries and an arthritic arm forced Koufax to retire at the age of 30 after a 12-year career. In a way, the story about Sandy Koufax is like that of a heating and cooling system that is overworked and under-maintained and thus breaks down early. Koufax relied on a fastball, known in baseball as a “heater.” He also threw a devastating curveball that “cooled off” many batters. The stress of those pitches along with the “science” of pitching and the state of arm care in the 1950s and 1960s were likely factors in his early retirement. On the other end of the pitching spectrum are the knuckleballers. They rarely achieve greatness like Koufax but their careers last much longer because the relatively slow pitch causes little or no stress on the arm. Knuckleball pitchers often pitch into their 40s. Pitchers who master the pitch that flutters in a gentle breeze are like a well maintained and gently used HVAC system that yields years of comfort. Koufax has a plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame. If there was an HVAC Hall of Fame, the walls would be full of plaques honoring the “knuckleball” types of heating and cooling units.