KOUFAX STILL MESMERIZING.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

VERO BEACH, Fla. - It was as sure a sign of spring in Florida as any flower, songbird or groundhog: In the newspaper is the photo of a lean man in a print golf shirt and slacks, his salt-and-pepper hair blowing back off his suntanned forehead, squeezing a baseball in the long fingers of his left hand as a man in a baseball uniform tries to copy the grip.

Sandy Koufax.

The name is magical. The image is riveting. The life is perplexing.

The photo was taken at the New York Mets' training camp in Port St. Lucie, where Koufax stopped to offer tips to Al Leiter. But it could have been any of the camps in Florida and Arizona at which the most spectacular left-hander of all time is liable to drop in at this time of year to greet old friends, act as an unofficial tutor to young pitchers, and cause camera shutters to snap and fans' jaws to drop.

And not only fans'.

Dodgers manager Jim Tracy had just joined the club as a coach in 1999 when he turned a corner outside the spring-training clubhouse and saw the man standing behind the practice mounds.

``I don't know if I completely stopped in my tracks,'' Tracy remembered recently. ``But I know my pace slowed down considerably. I kind of looked, and looked again, and said, 'That's Sandy Koufax.' I see our young (players) do that. I see some of our veterans do that.

``He can mesmerize a group of people or stop you in your tracks if you've never seen him before and not been around him.''

Dodgers executive Dave Wallace is one of the old friends around whom Koufax maps his wanderings. Wallace has seen the shock of recognition on other people's faces.

``Most people are, 'Whoa, there's Sandy!' '' Wallace said.

Thirty-five years have passed since his left arm couldn't take it anymore and he walked away from his playing career with four no-hitters, three Cy Young Awards and most of the credit for two Dodgers World Series triumphs. Koufax remains as fascinating as he ever was. If anything, the fascination grows.

When Joe DiMaggio died in 1999, Koufax inherited the designation as baseball's greatest enigma.

He is blessedly underexposed in an era when most sports stars have made themselves too familiar to the public for their own good.

Maybe there's a lesson here for immortals on their way up. The less we know about you, the better we're going to like you.

``He is a mystery, because he's not out there,'' said Steve Brener, the former Dodgers director of publicity who now is a sports publicist based in the San Fernando Valley. ``There's no marketing, no endorsements. Here's a guy who gave up a broadcasting career.''

It is only during spring training that one can expect to catch a glimpse of the great Koufax.

Now 66, he lives in Vero Beach but apparently travels frequently. He indulges his passions for golf, cross-country skiing and college basketball. Once or twice a year, he might put in an appearance in the Dodger Stadium clubhouse.

He hasn't worked for the Dodgers in any official capacity in at least a decade, since he served as a roving instructor. His coaching efforts are strictly voluntary, such as his work with Dodgers lefty Terry Mulholland this spring. When he is in Dodgertown now, he does not put on a Dodgers uniform, apparently because the sight of a blue No. 32 draws too much attention.

There will be no Koufax quotes in this column because, of course, Koufax does not do interviews. He is baseball's Jackie O, private without seeming repellent.

In the mid-'80s, when the Dodgers starting pitchers were led by Fernando Valenzuela and Orel Hershiser, it seemed like a good idea to compare that rotation to the Koufax-Don Drysdale unit of the '60s. I went up to Koufax in the Vero Beach clubhouse, introduced myself and said, ``I'm working on a story comparing ...''

Koufax said, ``I don't compare,'' shrugged apologetically and walked on.

That might have been the same spring in which Koufax, then 50, pitched batting practice to the Dodgers regulars and broke off vintage-'60s curveballs that inspired observers to muse fancifully about a comeback by the man who still leads L.A. in career ERA (2.64) and single-season shutouts (11, 1963), holds the top four spots in single-season strikeouts and holds the top three in single-season wins.

Comeback? He remains more deeply retired than any living baseball immortal, declining employment in the game and refusing even to work at being Sandy Koufax.

He is here, there and nowhere. A Koufax sighting is one of the joys of spring.

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Photo:

(color) Pitching legend Sandy Koufax, here giving advice to Dodgers pitcher Mike Trombley in Vero Beach, remains a riveting figure.

M. Spencer Green/Associated Press