Dodgers Clayton Kershaw bridged generations in his own way
Emmet Sheehan's concept of Major League Baseball has never existed without Clayton Kershaw. The Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher was just eight years old when Kershaw made his debut in 2008.
Kershaw revealed Thursday he will retire at the end of the 2025 season. Friday's game between the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants will be Kershaw's final regular season start at the venue he's called home his entire career.
No man has played more seasons for the Dodgers — a franchise that joined the National League in 1890 — than Kershaw's 18. There's an entire generation of children too young to remember Los Angeles, and baseball, without him, and they're old enough to be playing for the Dodgers.
"I have a ton of memories of watching him growing up," Sheehan said. "From the outside looking in, through high school, I didn't know pitching at all. I didn't understand what made him so great. And then now, getting a better understanding and idea of how well he keeps hitters off balance, how good his stuff really is — even now, just playing (pitches) off each other — it's super impressive to see and to see how he's adapted throughout his career."
By early Friday, inventory for what was expected to be a well-attended game at Chavez Ravine was down to standing-room only tickets. You didn't have to be Kershaw's teammate to appreciate what made him great. You just had to be watching.
The numbers speak for themselves. Kershaw is 226-96 with a 2.54 ERA entering Friday's game. His ERA and WHIP (1.02) are the lowest of the live-ball era (since 1920) among pitchers with at least 250 starts. Saturday, the Dodgers will give out a bobblehead commemorating the 3,000th career strikeout Kershaw recorded earlier this year.
Kershaw is no worse than the best left-handed pitcher of his generation. A book about his life and career went to print in May, months before he offered any indication his final season was upon us. The book will not be the last of its kind.
Dave Roberts is both old enough to be Kershaw's manager and young enough to have played against him. Roberts' last season as a major league player was Kershaw's first. In their one head-to-head regular season game, Giants manager Bruce Bochy dared not start Roberts, a left-handed hitter. Kershaw forced Roberts to come off the bench as a pinch hitter instead.
"It was his first spring training, Mark Sweeney was a member of the Dodgers at that time," · Roberts recalled Friday. "He was like, Doc, there's this guy — this rookie — this guy is like Sandy Koufax 2.0. Wait 'til you see this guy. So then you fast forward to this season, you see what he does. It was just great stuff. It was uncomfortable, and electric, all that stuff, and I'm glad I got to see it from the dugout."
The length of Kershaw's career is remarkable for a modern starting pitcher, most of whom are considered past their peak by age 30, if they are even fortunate enough to be employed by a major league team by then. Kershaw is not merely hanging on; he's 10-2 with a 3.53 ERA and coming off an All-Star Game appearance in July.
Kershaw didn't need his walk-up music — "We Are Young," by Fun — to channel an earlier version of himself. He's good enough as a father of four to hold down a spot in a major league rotation, just as he was as a clean-shaven newlywed.
A few hours before Kershaw's first pitch, the Dodgers' clubhouse had a surprise visitor. Russell Martin, the starting catcher for 63 of Kershaw's 452 career games, got his first look at a clubhouse that underwent more than $100 million in renovations since he retired.
Martin, 42, could marvel at the relocated bathrooms and Japanese-style toilets — two cool but completely unnecessary reminders how much the world around Kershaw had changed. Most things change. Even Kershaw changed over the years, in his own way. But how he changed, as much as anything, is what endeared him to the fans of Los Angeles.
Kershaw never changed teams, like Max Scherzer or Justin Verlander, the only rivals to the title of best pitcher of their generation. He never stopped leaning on a fastball, slider and curveball, even has the velocity of each pitch weathered their invevitable declines. He never changed walk-up songs, even though Fun stopped touring and recording 10 years ago.
Rather, Kershaw changed the way many of us change from young adulthood to middle age. He got married. He sprouted some gray hairs. He became more comfortable revealing bits of his personality as his place in baseball history became secure, as his retirement press conference Thursday attested.
From Bruce Bochy to Dave Roberts to Emmet Sheehan, the old adage about baseball being passed down through the generations needed only one man to bring it all to life. It took 18 years, but Clayton Kershaw found the perfect time to retire.
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