NEW YORK (AP) — Sandy Koufax has won the sixth Lifetime Achievement Award presented by Baseball Digest.
The Hall of Fame pitcher was honored Thursday with an annual distinction that “recognizes a living individual whose career has been spent in or around Major League Baseball and who has demonstrated outstanding character and has made significant contributions to the game."
Willie Mays won the inaugural award in 2021, followed by Vin Scully (2022), Joe Torre (2023), Dusty Baker (2024) and Bob Costas (2025).
“It’s a great honor to be recognized along with the previous award winners,” the 90-year-old Koufax said in a news release. “I thank the distinguished panel.”
Koufax made his major league debut for his hometown Brooklyn Dodgers in 1955, when they won the franchise's first World Series championship. After the team moved to Los Angeles, he became one of baseball's most dominant pitchers during the 1960s.
The left-hander won three Cy Young Awards, an MVP trophy and five consecutive National League ERA titles. He had three 25-win seasons, leading the majors each time, and made seven All-Star teams from 1961-66.
Koufax threw four no-hitters, including a perfect game, and was the World Series MVP twice, after leading the Dodgers to crowns in 1963 and '65. He also was a member of Los Angeles' championship squad in 1959.
After retiring at age 30 following the 1966 season because of traumatic arthritis in his pitching elbow, Koufax became the youngest player inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. Later that season, the Dodgers retired his uniform No. 32. He was named to MLB’s All-Century Team in 1999.
“The name Sandy Koufax has become a synonym for ‘great pitcher,’” Baseball Digest publisher David Fagley said. “It’s hard to believe it has been 60 years since he last pitched so brilliantly for the Dodgers but, since his retirement, Sandy has been a remarkable representative of our national game, a symbol of class and dignity.”
Koufax was selected to receive the award in voting by a 21-member panel of longtime MLB participants and observers, including writers, broadcasters, former players and executives.
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Statues of Sandy Koufax, foreground, and Jackie Robinson stand outside Dodger Stadium before a baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets, Wednesday, April 15, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — President Donald Trump has ordered the U.S. military to “shoot and kill” small Iranian boats that deploy mines in the Strait of Hormuz, he said Thursday, a day after Iran again displayed its ability to thwart traffic through the channel.
Trump’s post on social media came shortly after the U.S. military seized another tanker associated with the smuggling of Iranian oil, ratcheting up a standoff with Tehran over the strait through which 20% of all crude oil and natural gas traded passes.
“I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be ... that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump posted, adding that U.S. minesweepers "are clearing the Strait right now.”
“I am hereby ordering that activity to continue, but at a tripled up level!” he added.
The Defense Department released video footage earlier Thursday of U.S. forces on the deck of the Guinea-flagged oil tanker Majestic X, which was seized in the Indian Ocean.
The move unfolded a day after Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards attacked three cargo ships in the strait, capturing two of them, in an assault that raised new concerns about the safety of shipping through the waterway.
The powerful head of Iran’s judiciary, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, said three “violating ships” in the strait were “subject to enforcement” on Wednesday.
“The show of strength by the armed forces of Islamic Iran in the Strait of Hormuz is a source of pride,” he wrote Thursday on X, claiming that the Americans “lack the courage” to approach the strait.
Ship-tracking data showed the Majestic X in the Indian Ocean between Sri Lanka and Indonesia, roughly the same location as the oil tanker Tifani, which was seized earlier by American forces. It had been bound for Zhoushan, China.
The vessel previously had been named Phonix and had been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2024 for smuggling Iranian crude oil in contravention of U.S. sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
There was no immediate response from Iran about the seizure.
Trump this week extended a ceasefire to give the battered Iranian leadership more time to come up with a “unified proposal” on ending the war, while maintaining an American blockade of Iranian ports.
In a separate post Thursday, Trump claimed a leadership rift between moderates and hardliners was confounding Iran.
“Iran is having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is! They just don’t know!” Trump said.
The president has repeatedly said over the course of the ceasefire that began on April 8 that his team is dealing with Iranian officials who want to make a deal, while acknowledging that his decision to kill several top leaders has come with complications.
Elsewhere on the diplomatic track, Lebanon and Israel were set to hold a second round of talks in Washington to discuss the possibility of extending a truce between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group.
The latest war between Israel and Hezbollah started two days after Israel and the U.S. launched attacks on Iran, after the Tehran-backed militants fired rockets into northern Israel.
In a new show of the fragility of the ceasefire that went into effect Friday in Lebanon, Hezbollah said it attacked Israeli positions in southern Lebanon, targeting Israeli soldiers in the village of Taybeh.
Each side has accused the other of breaching the 10-day truce.
The standoff between the U.S. and Iran has choked off nearly all exports through the strait with no end in sight.
On Thursday, Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi was splattered with red liquid as he left a building after a news conference in Berlin. The person believed responsible was immediately detained by police.
During the event, Pahlavi criticized the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, arguing that the agreement assumes the Iranian government’s behavior will change and “you’re going to deal with people who all of a sudden have become pragmatists.”
Pahlavi, 65, has been in exile for nearly 50 years. His father, Iran’s shah, was so widely hated that millions took to the streets in 1979, forcing him from power. Nevertheless, Pahlavi is trying to position himself as a player in his country’s future.
Since the Feb. 28 start of the war between Iran, Israel and the United States, over 30 ships have come under attack in the waters of the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman.
The threat of attack, rising insurance premiums and other fears have stopped traffic from moving through the strait. Iran’s ability to restrict traffic through the strait, which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has proved a major strategic advantage.
Jakob Larsen, the head of maritime security for BIMCO, the largest international association representing shipowners, said in a note Thursday that most shipping companies need a stable ceasefire and assurances from both sides of the conflict that the strait is safe for transit.
The threat of mines, he wrote, was a “particular concern” if traffic might return to normal levels one day.
The ceasefire has been strained by the dueling U.S. attacks on Iranian ships and those by Iran on commercial vessels. It also remains unclear when, or if, the two sides will meet again in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, where officials say they are still trying to bring the countries together to reach a diplomatic deal.
The conflict already has sent gas prices skyrocketing far beyond the region and raised the cost of food and a wide array of other products. Officials around the world have warned that the effects on businesses, consumers and economies could be long-lasting.
Madhani reported from Washington and Keaten reported from Geneva.
Zainab, the sister of Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil, who was killed on Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike, hugs her helmet as she mourns over her coffin in the village of Baysariyeh, southern Lebanon, Thursday, April 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Mourners carry the coffin of Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil, who was killed Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike, during her funeral procession in the village of Baysariyeh in southern Lebanon on Thursday, April 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Mourners hold posters that show portraits of Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil, who was killed Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike, during her funeral procession in the village of Baysariyeh in southern Lebanon on Thursday, April 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Iran's Reza Pahlavi, exiled son of Shah Reza Pahlavi, waves to supporters after he was attacked with a red fluid following a news conference in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, April 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
A cargo ship sails in the Persian Gulf toward the Strait of Hormuz, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo)
Police officers stand guard at a checkpoint to ensure security in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
A ballistic missile is displayed by Iran's Revolutionary Guard during a pro-government demonstration at Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) Square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (Alireza Masoumi/ISNA via AP)
Iran's Reza Pahlavi, exiled son of Shah Reza Pahlavi, reacts after he was attacked with a red fluid following a news conference in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, April 23, 2026. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)
A ballistic missile is displayed by Iran's Revolutionary Guard during a pro-government demonstration at Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) Square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (Alireza Masoumi/ISNA via AP)
The Jordan flagged cargo ship "Baghdad" sails in Persian Gulf towards Strait of Hormuz in United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo)
