Sax starred at James Marshall High School (now known as River City High School) in
West Sacramento, California, from 1975 to 1978. The
Los Angeles Dodgers selected Sax in the ninth round of the
1978 MLB draft. Sax was a late season call up in 1981, playing 31 games. Sax broke into the majors as a regular in 1982, earning the
National League Rookie of the Year award. Throughout his career, Sax was on the
All-Star team five times and had a
batting average over .300 in three seasons. He had great success on the basepaths,
stealing over 40 bases in six different seasons, finishing with a career total of 444 stolen bases. Sax was also a higher-up in the
Players Association during his career.
Steve Sax syndrome Though never regarded as one of the top fielding second basemen in the league, Steve Sax inexplicably became incapable of making routine throws to first base in 1983, committing 30 errors that season. This is referred to in baseball terminology as "Steve Sax syndrome", the fielder's variant of "
Steve Blass disease", named after the Pirates pitcher who suffered a similar breakdown of basic mechanics (also known as "the
yips"). As his accuracy suffered, fans sitting behind the first base dugout began wearing batting helmets as mock protection. Teammate
Pedro Guerrero, an
outfielder pressed into service at
third base in 1983, once reportedly stated that his first thought whenever he was in the field was "I hope they don't hit it to me", while his second thought was "I hope they don't hit it to Sax." By 1989, however, Sax seemed to be completely "cured", leading the American League in both
fielding percentage and
double plays. ==Post-career==