There are Cy Young Awards and World Series titles. And then there is another kind of meaningful accolade: high praise from Sandy Koufax. The Hall of Fame pitcher saluted Clayton Kershaw on the announcement of his impending retirement by calling his fellow Dodgers lefthander a friend and the kind of person who inspires teammates.
“As great of a pitcher as he is, or was, or whatever the timing is now, that’s as great a person as he is,” Koufax tells Sports Illustrated. “He’s one of these people who your teammates want to win for. And they think they’re going to win because of you. And that’s a tribute to him as a human being.”
Kershaw announced Thursday he will retire after this season, ending an 18-year career in which he has compiled a record of 222–96 with a 2.54 ERA. He will make his final regular season start at Dodger Stadium Friday night.
Koufax and Kershaw have been friends since February 2010, when Dodgers manager Joe Torre invited Kershaw to join them as they traveled round trip between Arizona and Los Angeles for a program at the Nokia Theatre LA Live to benefit Torre’s Safe at Home Foundation, which he and his wife, Ali, created to end domestic violence through education, counseling and providing safe spaces. Kershaw was about to begin his third major league season.
“On the ride back and forth to Arizona, Clayton and I talked for quite a while,” Koufax says. “Basically, we’re friends. I care about him. I care about his family. There’s not much more to say. He’s a special guy.”
During the 2010 program, Kershaw held his left hand against Koufax’s left hand, palm to palm. Kershaw’s hand practically disappeared behind Koufax’s much bigger hand.
Koufax says the key change in Kershaw’s growth as a pitcher was when he added a slider to complement his curveball and fastball.
“It’s because of the break,” Koufax says, “which makes it hard to hit. Anything that has a vertical break makes it harder to hit. If you look at a bat you know where the difficulty is: up and down.”
Kershaw, 37, and Koufax, 89, rank first and second in strikeouts (3,039 and 2,396) and wins (222 and 165) among Dodgers left-handed pitchers. When asked about Kershaw’s famous competitive streak, especially when pitching through and around injuries in the back half of his career, Koufax says, “Whether he was right or not right, he was going to compete. And, you know, that’s what it boils down to. Everybody has their good days and bad days, so the idea is to try and figure out how you win on the bad days—or not necessarily the bad days, but the less than good days.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Sandy Koufax Salutes Good Friend Clayton Kershaw on Retirement Announcement.
