Latest / Foul Territory / FT Breaking News: Clayton Kershaw will retire following 2025 season

Transcript

FT Breaking News: Clayton Kershaw will retire following 2025 season · Foul Territory

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Eric, an interesting day today around Major League Baseball. I
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: knew it was going to happen. I was kind of
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: hoping it never did. But next stop Cooperstown for Clayton Kershaw.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: But Kersh announced this afternoon at Dodger Stadium that he
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: is in fact hanging it up after eighteen seasons as
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: a Los Angeles Dodger. He is retiring at the end
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: of the year. I've had the pleasure of covering Clayton
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: as a Dodger almost his entire career. But what is
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: a career it has been, Eric, what are your thoughts
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: about Kersh saying? Okay, that's enough.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: First, congratulations with Clayton Kershaw. Second lock in, the Dodgers
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: are going to win the World Series? No way, A superstar,
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: a first ballot should be unanimous. Hall of Fame pitcher
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: retires and announces it one week, one and a half
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: weeks left in the season and their team doesn't win
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: the World Series, get it. You don't play for the Gipper,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: or you don't do it like. This guy's still producing.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: This guy's still producing on a big league level. And
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: for him to announce this, we really like forget how
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: dominant he was because right now he's still been super
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: uber successful. Yes, he hasn't had a thirty two start
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: season in a little bit, but he's never not gone
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: out there undone. Well, So congratulations Clayton, everything you've earned.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: You're probably even a better person than you are a player.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: It's funny because that video that we were just watching
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: right there where Clayton just stuck his hands up in
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: the air. Obviously, that was his no hitter in twenty fourteen,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: and aj Ellis was behind the plate and I was
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: fortunate enough to cover that moment, Eric, And you know
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: how important and how special that is as a backstop
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: when you are the guy behind the dish that's calling
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: the pitches and putting the fingers down for a no hitter.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: And I remember that I was the second no hitter
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: I had ever covered in my career. And it was
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: cool because it was at home and Ellen Kershaw had
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: come down from the stands. And Clayton and Ellen today
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: as we sit here in twenty twenty five, are about
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: to have their fifth child. They're expecting their fifth child,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: but at the time in twenty fourteen, they had just
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: found out that they were pregnant with their first and
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Callie Anne is the first, the first of what is
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: now the Kershaw's four children about to be five, and
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: they are having another girl, so they have bookend girls.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: But that was such a special moment for the Kershaw
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: family because I remember distinctly Clayton is there. Obviously Ellen
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: comes down, and I just kind of got out of
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: the way because obviously the story is Clayton, and the
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: moment that he shared with Ellen in that moment with
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: all of the fans there at Dodger Stadium was such
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: a special moment. And I certainly thought that, man, every
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: time Clayton Kershaw takes the ball, Eric, and you know
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: this better, having been in this game as long as
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: you have, I felt like every time kirsh took the ball,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: a no no was in play, right, A no no
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: was a possibility. And the way that he has continued
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: the course of his career over eighteen seasons in one
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: uniform has been so special. And I think Dodger fans,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: and really baseball fans in general, I think we take
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: for granted how special it has been to witness not
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: only one of the best left handers in the game
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: in our generation, in our time, but one of the
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: best pitchers that this game has ever seen.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: And yes, we can look at all of his Baseball
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Reference has got a bunch of bold He's got his
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Cy Young's his you know, just World Series titles, all
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: that stuff. But I go back to a story and
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: I think Chase Outley told me it was two thousand
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: and nine when he was on the Phillies and you know,
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Dodger Stadium before they renovated. Everything was like a dungeon underneath.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: It was like a minor league stadium where you're always
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: passing guys, and he was he was walking to the cage,
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: which was on the other side, so you had a
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: sometimes you'd come across Dodgers and Chase out It was
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: affiliate at the time. I think Clayton had two or
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: three years in the big leagues at this point, and
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: he walks by and he sees his guy in a mirror,
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: a full length mirror, and he's going, you know, he's
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: he's doing his thing, and he's looking at the mirror
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: and he's doing his thing. He's looking at the mirror.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: And one of the coaches from the Dodgers was there
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: at the time too, not doing anything with Clayton, but
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: he was just there hanging out outside there, and he's like,
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: what's he doing? He goes this kid was told that
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: he was tipping, and so he comes out here to
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: this mirror and he does his motion so that he
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: is not ever tipping. Like this is a guy that
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: was dominant already in the game at an early early age,
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: and he was trying to fix the tiny little leaks,
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: the tiny little leaks in something that could allow somebody, Hey,
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: you know what, I need something to be able to
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: get a hit off of Clayton Kershaw, and he wouldn't
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: allow it. And so for me, Chase Utley saying those
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: things and seeing that stuff, that's like a great player
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: complimenting a great player, to see why great players become
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: elite players. Elite players become Hall of famers.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: And I think the competitiveness is one of the things
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: about Clayton Kersha. And you were just talking about it
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: right there, Eric talking about seeing himself and you know,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: pitching out of the stretch or pitching out of the
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: wind up, or tipping pitches and he's looking at the
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: reverse image of himself in the mirror. But every single
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: time we went to a different ballpark that at the
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: time Clayton had not pitched on before, goes out to
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: the mound, feels the mound, goes out to the outfield wall,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: does his things kind of like you know, scans the
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: areas taking in the ballpark. He was just such a competitor,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: and he was the guy that was always the stopper
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: or he was the guy that would always would get
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: you on a winning streak again. And he never took
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: anything for granted. And he still has. I mean, you know,
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: he's still pitching. Like Clayton hasn't passed. He's just announcing
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: his retirement. But he never took anything for granted, and
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: he always put just as much effort. And when he
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: didn't need to write, I mean, he's a certified first
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: ballot Hall of Famer. He didn't have to put in
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: all that work in, day in and day out over
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: the course of eighteen seasons, and he did it anyway.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: And he's figured out one thing Clayton's never lost. You know,
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: maybe the velocity isn't there right, maybe the curveball isn't
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: exactly as devastating as it used to be. Maybe, you know,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: the miles per hour aren't there, but the competitiveness has
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: always been there, and that's not anything that has ever
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: been in question for Clayton, and he has been the
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: epitome of what you would hope to be in the
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: same uniform, which I don't think we give enough. I mean,
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: there are very few guys that are the Todd Helton's
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: of the world, the Clayton Kershaws of the world, you know,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: the Joe Maers of the world. The guy that gets
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: to put on the exact same uniform for the entirety
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: of his career. That's pretty special.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: Took my thunder. That's what I was going to end with,
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: because if we don't talk about it once, we have
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: to talk about it ten times. The fact that he
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: played for the same team the whole time, a guy
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: that you were just saying, how many kids he has
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: at home? Much better? Much better go play in Texas.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: You get to stay at home. You get to stay
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: at home. The Rangers had interest in him, There was
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: always rumors about that. But you know what, good for
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: the Kershaw family, good for Dodgers organization for saying no,
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: that's not going to happen, and it really doesn't matter.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: It really ultimately doesn't matter. He would have done the
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: same thing in Texas. But for my baseball tradition, my
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: love of baseball, there's no way I wanted to see
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: Clayton Kershaw in another uniform. And now we get it.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: No doubt about that. You had mentioned the cy Young
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: zeric three times sy Young Award winner twenty fourteen nationally MVP.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: That is the same year in which he threw that
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: no hit or five ERA titles eleven times. I'll start
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: two time World Series champion and perhaps my friend a
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: third time World Series champion before Clayton Kershaw, number two,
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: one of the best left handers ever to pick up
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: a baseball, has announced his retirement today at Dodgers Stadium