Clayton Kershaw carves name into baseball history books with 3,000th career strikeout
Los Angeles – By a hot July evening at Dodger Stadium, under the light of lively lights and the weight of the history of baseball on his shoulders, Clayton Kershaw did what he did better than almost anyone for a better part of two decades: he struck someone.
Kershaw caught the third basic player from Chicago White Sox, Vinny Capra, looking at an 85 mph cursor to sculpt his name in records.
Wellet with stick n ° 3,000.
Picked the roar. Play the party assembly.
Dodger Stadium trembled – not with surprise but with respect.
Eighteen seasons. 439 begins. A team. A city. A legend.
Kershaw, now only the 20th launcher in the history of the Major Baseball League to reach 3,000 stick withdrawals, joins an exclusive pantheon of grandeur. More than 23,000 players appeared in the big leagues. Only 19 before him had reached this sacred stage. Only three left -handers – Randy Johnson, CC Sabathia and Steve Carlton – had ever done it. And only two other launchers – Bob Gibson and Walter Johnson – did it while wearing a single uniform.
Now make room for n ° 22.
“I think I can speak for everyone. We have witnessed the story, “said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, the Kershaw stage. “It’s the last box for Clayton to check his great career. To be able to do it at home in front of our fans, we are all looking forward to. I can’t wait to celebrate it.”
Baseball has always venerated the longevity, dominance and the kind of endurance which transforms “could” into “all the time tall”. Wednesday evening, Clayton Kershaw did not just accumulate another withdrawal – he chopped his name alongside the legends and will be forever known as King of K of the Dodgers.
What made him softer? He did it in front of a closed window crowds at home, at Dodger Stadium – the same Baseball Cathedral where Max Scherzer, bearing Dodger Blue, marked his own 3,000th withdrawal in 2021.
But it was different.
It was Kershaw’s cathedral. His clay. His mound. His inheritance.
Since his beginnings at 20 years at 36, Kershaw has made more than challenge the father’s time – he has danced with it, reinvented and survived generations of strikers and pitching philosophies.
“He has been playing in the big leagues since the age of 9,” said his teammate Jack Dreyer. “The way he adapted through each version of himself … This is what makes him special. This is what makes him eternal.”
For almost two decades, Kershaw has been the heart rate of a franchise and the face of consistency in a game that changes day by day. He dominated with a fast flamboyant bullet and a caricatured curve ball in his early years. When the speed has dropped, the command has sharpened. When the arm needed rest, the mind took over.
“I think he sums up the idea of adapting or dying,” continued Dreyer. “Most guys fall. He has evolved.”
It’s true. Baseball now promotes the weapons of enclosures that shed light on the radar pistols and the analysis departments which warn against the strikers against the third time in the programming. But in one way or another, Kershaw endured.
Manager Dave Roberts said the best: “The guys no longer hit 12 or 13 guys per game. They no longer get 33 departures. It is simply not supposed to occur.”
However, this is the case.
Consider this: only two active launchers – Max Scherzer (3,419) and Justin Verlander (3,471) – crossed 3,000 stick withdrawals. Gerrit Cole (2,251) and Chris Sale (2,528) are closest closest. And no longer a guarantee to get there, thanks to injuries, sleeve limits and a game that no longer lets the starters go deep.
There were 326 recorded no-eightrs and 24 perfect games, and 33 different players recorded 3,000 strokes. This means that 3,000 stick withdrawals are a category with an even more radified air.
To even flirt with 3,000 stick withdrawals, a launcher needs more than stuff. He needs time. He needs health. He needs shine. And he needs opportunities.
“It’s just a product change product,” said Kershaw earlier this week. “There are a lot of guys who could do it. They just don’t have the opportunity. In the end, there are a lot of guys capable of removing 3,000 people. They just need the opportunity.”
This is why this moment is important.
In a sport increasingly allergic to longevity, Kershaw was standing, stubborn and always turned on sliders that strikers cannot touch.
Kershaw’s curriculum vitae was already on a ticket office for CoopStown – three cy Young Awards, a MVP, a World Series ring, 10 star selections, a boost, a career time that hovers about 2.50 and now a new badge: 3000 withdrawals.
But the figures tell only half of the story.
Kershaw gave everything to the Dodgers. Every fifth day. Each playoff series. Each enclosure session of spring raising in camelback Ranch. This is the kind of pitcher that has never had a foot on the door, regardless of the injury, regardless of the contract, regardless of the suitors.
“The best left -handed launcher I have ever seen,” said Southpaw Justin Wrobleski recruit. “It’s crazy. We may never see this again. ”
While Kershaw left the mound, the closed window crowds of almost 53,536 fans stood up to give it a standing ovation. Kershaw stood in front of the dodgers canoe, the hat, waving the crowd, surmounted by emotion.
He switched his cap with the crowd that loved him since 2008. The dashboard lit up in daring white letters: 3,000 stick withdrawals – Clayton Kershaw.
The ovation lasted a few minutes. The fans stood. The teammates have grown. The cameras flashed.
His wife, Ellen, suffered the tears of his seat in the stands. Next to her, her children radiated pride. His teammates got up and applauded, whether in the canoe or in the field.
And everyone in baseball stopped for a man who has never wanted a spotlight, but has never struck the moment.
On July 2, 2025, inside the emblematic stadium under the palm trees and the papa beard sky, Clayton Kershaw engraved in the eternity of baseball.
Land. A stick with stick. An important step.
Forever a dodger. Forever a legend.
