$100,000 for Sandy

With 48 games still to go, Los Angeles Dodgers General Manager Buzzie Bavasi last week passed the word that he would give Sandy Koufax a $30,000 raise next season, making him the first pitcher in history to earn $100,000 a year. "He's worth it," said Bavasi. "Sandy pulls an extra 5,000 people into the park every time he pitches."

Bavasi must be afraid Koufax will ask for $120,000 next year. The attendance figures show an average of an extra 8,600 fans every time Koufax pitches. Smart fans. Last week Sandy became the first pitcher in either league this season to win 20 games--and he has only four losses. He beat the New York Mets again, striking out 14 men in nine innings. That plus another 12 strikeouts in shutting out Pittsburgh 1-0 for his 21st victory at week's end brought his total K's this year to 279. With about twelve pitching turns to go, he seems a cinch to smash Bob Feller's alltime ma jor league record of 348 strikeouts.

Sportswriters are talking about Koufax winning 30 games, which would make him the first pitcher to achieve that since Dizzy Dean won 30 for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1934. "I would have to win almost every start the rest of the way and pick up some in relief," says Koufax. With the Dodgers clinging to a thin lead and three teams in pursuit, Manager Walt Alston was thinking along exactly those lines.

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