“He is very self-aware. He was very stunned,” supervisor Dave Roberts stated. “However I believe that the following degree of pondering and appreciating who this honor has been given to over [the] years, the legends honor, I believe that he understood it sooner. And it is an ideal honor, and I believe that he took it the precise means.”
The veteran left-hander was Commissioner Rob Manfred’s first legacy choice since 2022, when Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera obtained All-Star nods in recognition of their illustrious careers with retirement on the horizon for each.
“I didn’t really know that was a factor,” Kershaw stated. “On the finish of the day, it’s bizarre but it surely’s cool, so I’m simply going to get pleasure from it.”
Kershaw, like Pujols and Cabrera, needs to be certain for the Corridor of Fame as soon as he decides it is time to dangle ’em up. He notched 3,000 profession strikeouts earlier this month, maybe the crowning achievement of his adorned 18 seasons within the large leagues.
Even after reaching that milestone, Kershaw has stored the main focus off what comes subsequent. The 37-year-old has been a priceless member of the Dodgers’ rotation since finishing his rehab from offseason surgical procedures on his left toe and left knee, going 4-1 with a 3.38 ERA in 10 begins.
Kershaw is a two-time World Collection champion, a three-time Cy Younger winner, the 2014 NL MVP and now the twentieth member of the three,000-strikeout membership. He has nothing left to show in baseball, however his focus is on giving the Dodgers all the pieces he has as they defend their World Collection title.
He is taking issues someday at a time, with out spending an excessive amount of time desirous about what the close to future holds.
“To not be not appreciative of moments like [the 3,000th-strikeout game], as a result of that was a extremely particular night time in L.A. I wouldn’t change something that that night time was. That was so particular,” Kershaw stated. “However I don’t know what will occur sooner or later. I actually don’t know in the case of the years past this one.
“So I’m simply attempting to get pleasure from it, be a part of a extremely good workforce this 12 months. We nonetheless have rather a lot to perform. We nonetheless have October. It’s actually laborious to take a look at stuff individually whenever you’re attempting to perform one thing as a workforce.”
Kershaw is seen as one of many biggest pitchers of his era due to these particular person achievements, however his teammates take much more away from the time they’ve spent round him.
“He does a wonderful job main by instance,” rookie lefty Jack Dreyer stated. “First one within the weight room, his prep work is dialed, his therapy — all the pieces that he is aware of he must maintain, he does as quickly as he reveals as much as the sector. … I believe that speaks volumes to who he’s as a participant and the way he carries himself. It makes you, as a youthful participant, need to do what he does and do it the way in which he does it.”
The Dodgers pleasure themselves on their tradition. For a lot of across the workforce, Kershaw has performed an enormous function in setting the precise tone. Along with the day-to-day work he places in, it wasn’t misplaced on his teammates that he reported to Camelback Ranch for this spring’s first pitcher and catcher exercise earlier than he had formally re-signed for the 2025 season.
“Being right here each single day, seeing him do what he does, going about his routine each single day, it is a very particular factor,” southpaw Anthony Banda stated. “These are recollections that I am gonna ceaselessly bear in mind and cherish, as a result of when he is inducted within the Corridor of Fame, I am gonna be like, ‘Yeah, I used to be his teammate.'”
These traits, to these round him, are nearly as large part of Kershaw’s legend standing because the profession achievements that helped ship him to this 12 months’s Midsummer Basic.
“You by no means take without any consideration attending to go to an All-Star Sport, whatever the circumstances,” Kershaw stated. “Clearly, I don’t should get to go this season. Haven’t pitched very a lot. However all the pieces that it encompasses to go to an All-Star Sport, I get to take my household — I’ll by no means cross up that chance. It’s an amazing honor.”
