World Series Champion Clayton Kershaw: The T-Shirt Guys Are On-Point

0:00I'm the only parent in the history of my son's high school to get kicked out of a game. What'd you do?

0:19Hey, everybody. Welcome to Literally. As the Spike Lee of the Dodgers, this is a very, very, very special podcast in celebration of the back-to-back World Series win. So listen, if you are a Toronto Blue Jays fan, or anybody else, and you want to not listen to this podcast, I would understand. But I urge you to listen to it in spite of the fact that we have Dodger champion and future first ballot Hall of Famer, Clayton Kershaw. Let's just give, people who know baseball know the man needs no introduction, but I'm going to give you some stats. He's only won three Cy Youngs Oh, nothing, only three He's a Golden Glove winner He's won his win-loss record 223 wins to 96 losses Career ERA, 2.5 And oh, by the way, he's struck out over 3 ,000 batters An 11-time All-Star The guy knows ball, this is it, he's retired He goes out, storybook ending And he's one of the great guys Let's bring him out of the bullpen Clayton Kershaw

1:48There's champion in the house It's Clayton Kershaw How we feeling? Feel great, feel great man It's been a crazy last 10 days or so It's been awesome I mean, just as a fan I still wake up every morning And go, was that a dream? Did that happen? I know, I know I still put it on We Are the Champions every morning With the kids getting ready for school So we just rock it for another Maybe forever at this point Because I'm not going to play another game So it's pretty awesome I'm just glad I was there to see your last Mound strikeout Yeah, Dodger Stadium base is loaded. They bring you in. I'm like, Jesus Christ, Dave.

2:33Jesus, God, just a little pressure on your way out the door. Thanks for your service. Come in with the bases loaded in the World Series. Damn. I know. I think Ellen, my wife, is going to have a heart attack up there. She's basically eight months pregnant now. And so she's not cut out for reliever wife. She's used to being a starter wife. So seeing that coming in. But what a cool way that it actually worked out. And last time I ever pitched, like, that was the best. It was awesome. I know. It's so interesting because you're so, as you should be, so at peace with the next chapter. And, I mean, and going out like this, who wouldn't?

3:10I mean, so many guys don't get this, to go out literally on your own terms as a champion, crushing it right up until the end. It's, you must, like, pinch yourself. It's been the best, man. I mean, you've been a fan for a long time. Like you've seen the Dodgers and the ebbs and the flows and everything that's happened. It's just been like, yeah, you couldn't script a better way to go out. And I'm just so thankful for it. It's been just amazing. And then you look around, you see all these guys are throwing 100 miles per hour and they're throwing balls that move six feet, you know, one way or the other.

3:46And I'm just like, you know what? It's probably time. It's probably time to get out of here. What do you? Okay, I want to get to that. I got to pick your brain on all the crazy pitching, but I got to walk through. We deserve it. As Dodger fans and a Dodger player, we need to savor this thing. So first of all, your kids are now old enough. They really get it, right? Because earlier in your career when you were crushing, they're so young. I was like, Dad, what does he do? I guess he pitches, whatever. But now they have to like know, right? Oh, yeah. They were in it this October for sure. They were all in.

4:23It was a lot of fun. I could tell like out on the, I liked you're taking all the pictures, seeing you take the pictures with the family and the grounds crew and everybody at the end of Dodger Stadium. I thought that was super cool. Yeah, you know, this year was special too because Charlie, my oldest son, he's almost nine. So like he's getting into baseball, like really likes to play. So for this whole season to get him to like come to the field, come hang out with the guys, like take batting practice, go shag in the outfield, all that stuff. Like, um, that was an unforgettable year for that. Like he had a blast and, um, my daughter was super excited and my younger two, like they're, they love Yamamoto.

5:03They're like, that's like their favorite player. Oh, that's their play. So they were early on the Yamamoto train. They knew before everybody. Long before everybody else saw this October. So Yama, and he's, he's so nice with them. Like takes pictures, talks with them. It's, it's awesome. So, uh, for Yama to have that post season, they were just, they were just so excited. It was a blast. Let's talk about him. Okay, give me from your, no pun intended, inside baseball view. What is it that's so special about that guy? How does he do what he does and what do you see going forward for him? Yeah, I think we might need to look into just the Japanese style a little bit.

5:44I mean, I think they, uh, does when you watch Yama in the weight room, like he, uh, he doesn't really pick up a weight. He doesn't really, uh, but he's working so hard. Like his body strength is in range, um, doing all sorts of crazy body movements and flexibility. And, um, so it starts there, you know, I think his, uh, his body control and his, like, he's almost like a gymnast. You know how like body strong gymnasts are like they can just, you know, jump around, do pull-ups, do headstands all that stuff like yama can do all that stuff so um i think it starts with that and then the way he throws like like i'm not an artist i don't love art like i don't know anything about art i don't know anything but watching him throw baseball is beautiful like it's just like it's just pretty it's just the way he does it is so um effortless and it's so good and it's the same every time and so um that repeatability i think is really special and then i mean he's got he's got huge balls.

6:44I mean, just what he just wanted to go out there and pitch like he's been pitching on a week rest his whole life. And then for him to say, hey, yeah, I'll pitch in game three when it was 18 innings and ended up started warming up or hey, I'll pitch game six. I'll pitch game seven on no day's rest. I ended up throwing almost three innings like that's unheard of, man. That was just it was just unbelievable. I'm just so happy Yama got the credit, the MVP, all that stuff. And he's just the best, man. He's so fun and I'm happy for him. It's amazing. he uh he i i remember when when when we signed him the the the um the ceiling on him was so high it's almost amazing that he was able to not only live up to it but exceed it that's the other thing it's not like he and he's a kid i mean he's old is he now he might be what 25 or 6 maybe yeah yeah so uh yeah 10 more years with the dodgers so it's gonna it's gonna be really fun to see how that all plays out.

7:40But they got a good one, man. It's awesome. When the, and that bang, bang, play at the plate with Will. Yeah. And, and Miggie's throw. I mean, dude, can you, I just, and then, okay, let me ask you this. Also, just, I have a bet with people. Do you think that ball in the outfield was gonna, would have been caught had Pod has not trucked Kike over? Yeah, Kike says he would have caught it. Kike says he was right there. He was going to do the Willie Mays over-the-head catch. But what Pai said was awesome. He just came in for a defensive replacement. Tommy's ankle is a little banged up, so having Pai out there to run around, and then he truck-sticked Kike to make that.

8:28Just truck-sticked. I just bought online this great t-shirt. I don't know if you've seen him yet. It's the silhouette of them colliding in midair. That's awesome. It's super sick. Oh, that's great. Yeah, we have a t-shirt for everything. Everything that happens, there's a t-shirt in our clubhouse the next day. Oh, there is? Oh, great. Yeah, like when I said to Vas say the hardly wear pants thing, there was t-shirts of that within 24 hours. It was just the t-shirt guys are on point. It's amazing. Oh, that's great. I have... Yeah, they are... The Dodger t-shirt game is very, very, very on point.

9:09How's the new clubhouse, by the way, the new facility? It's beautiful. Yeah, it's, I mean, our ownership group has been awesome. They're just the best. They've done so much for us. Obviously, they spent a bunch of money on players to get us the best talent we can. But yeah, the weight room's amazing. Clubhouse is great. There's a little game room now, food room, all this stuff, man. It's just, they're definitely top of the line with all that stuff. So it's a great place to hang out. it's funny everybody i love by the way i thought dave was fucking so great with let's ruin baseball let's go get another one that was so good because you know he's such a politician he's like a mayor right like nobody has a better bedside manner yeah yeah and so you know i mean which is a huge part of the job particularly in la yeah um and i love that um but i also love when he shows his edge yeah you know i think that's super sick yeah i was like yeah i mean he uh you know how did you noticed that in the parade he must someone must have said like hey you can't say that anymore because he was like I guess I'm not supposed to say that he said something like that in the parade um so yeah for him to say that and yeah because I think I mean I think that was the way the Yankees were when like when I was growing up the Yankees were the best team in the world series winning all those but I think that's good for baseball like I really do like having a team that you either love because that's your team or you hate because they keep winning like that is that's good for baseball.

10:34You don't want just like, you don't want to be indifferent. You know, you're like, ah, whatever. You know, like, I think it's good to have that. That's what viewership is. I mean, I think this postseason, you know, obviously with our, you know, Japan fan base and then with being in Canada, it was like the highest watched postseason in a long time. So, I mean, I think that's, I think it's all good for baseball, man. Yeah, you can't argue with the numbers. And I always say, I said, you shouldn't be mad at the Dodgers who, for putting amazing players on the field, you should be mad at the owners, the other owners.

11:07I don't want to name names, but I'm going to right now. And he's a good dude. I know him. My kids went to school with his kids, but like David Rubenstein owns the Orioles. He's a multi-billionaire. They were right in a window, right there. Yeah. Right there. Yeah. And nobody did anything and they're not in the window now. Yeah, that's what I've been saying that for a long time. I don't understand some of the ownership's arguments with this stuff because there's so many, not that there's so many, there's probably hundreds of multi-multi-billionaires that would love to own a professional baseball team.

11:48I bet we could get a list of 100 guys right now that are uber wealthy that would love to run a baseball team. and knowing that, yeah, year in, year out, it might not make the money that you would want it to make. But over time, it's just like a stock. It's going to continue to appreciate. And it's just like anything else. When the Dodgers were bought by our ownership group, it was worth three times. And now it's worth 3x of what it was. So I don't understand that either. I don't really get that part of it, the owner's pension pennies and different things like that. And I agree. I think it's kind of a wild thing for any owner to say, honestly.

12:29Also, just think about the fans. I look at, again, I don't want to name names, but there are teams out there and you go, well, let's, okay, fuck it. The Pirates, are they going to, what are they going to do with Skeens? What's Detroit going to do? With Scoobl, yeah. With Scoobl? Yeah. And we just step up and take them. Yeah. Yeah, there was a, I forget who said it, but there was like a, everybody's mad at the Dodgers, but like the Red Sox could have re-signed Mookie. The Rays had Glass and Blake Snell. And then like the trades that we've accumulated, these guys, the Braves with Freddie, like whatever the circumstances, like there was situations for those teams to hold on to those players.

13:15And I think that's good for baseball too. Like Paul Skeens is going to have a choice of where he wants to play. You know, he's going to, and however much longer he is with Pittsburgh. But I hope the Pirates realize that their window with Paul Skeens is four more years or whatever it is. You know, and Scoogle, you know, the Pirates, the Tigers have been good. They've been in the postseason. They've had a chance. But yeah, I think it's great for guys to stay in one spot. I mean, I think that's also really good for baseball. So I hope that works out. I love people. And that's the other thing about your career.

13:44You stayed 18 years in the same place. And I mean, listen, man, we grew up with that legendary Dodger infield. Yeah, yeah. As a kid. I mean, I can still name. You know what? I can almost name the starting lineups probably for almost every team from my childhood because people stay. People stay. Yeah, yeah. I can too. I can too. Just great for the game. It's just, that's fun to have guys that you can root for year in and year out. It's fun.

14:29I saw, I was glad they picked up months. He's, he's back. Yeah. I mean, it's almost like it's a new season. It's a season of who's going where and what's, what's happening. And you wake up every day and go, oh, you know, how are we doing? Who's bringing somebody where, you know? I know it's going to be an interesting off season for the Dodgers. Cause I mean, they don't really have to do anything, you know, they've got, they've got everything they need. Um, You know, obviously Mikey, you know, Conforto is a free agent. So Teo might go back to left, I would assume, and then maybe like have a right fielder.

15:00But other than that, I feel like they're pretty set. How about Mookie going from Gold Glover and right field? And look, I felt like he, you could really literally, watching as much Dodger as I do, you could see the learning curve. You really could see it right in front of your eyes. Yeah. And like anybody learning anything, you realize how hard it is. Yeah. Because, you know, there were times where you're like, is this experiment going to work? Right. And now he's literally as good as any shortstop in the league. You'd think he'd played shortstop his whole life. It was amazing. He worked so hard.

15:37I give Mookie so much credit, man. He just, he continued to work. He spent hours upon hours every day. Didn't take the day off. And you know those guys, Rob, that if they put their mind to it, they can kind of do anything. I'm not that guy. I can throw a baseball, and I can hang out and raise my kids. But there's really nothing else that I'm great at. And Mookie can... Mookie's learned how to play guitar. He can bowl. He can play ping pong. He can shoot a basketball, throw a football, all that stuff. So he's just one of those guys where if he puts his mind to it, and he likes that. He likes to have a challenge.

16:15He likes to be challenged. And so it's a great quality. And you saw it playing shortstop, man. It was amazing. Since you've only been in one place your whole career, you don't really have any perspective, really, of how good a clubhouse you guys have. Because you have nothing to compare it to. Yeah, yeah. Like, you've never been in the San Diego clubhouse.

16:40And I always think, it's funny, when I think about the Dodgers, If I have one, and it's been disproven, obviously disproven, but there were times where I felt like we were missing, for lack of a better term, a dick in the clubhouse. Because when Kirk Gibson came to the Dodgers, the Dodgers were nibbling around, nibbling around, nibbling around. And then in spring training, there was that famous incident where they put the shaving cream in Kirk's hat. Yeah, yeah. Remember that? And he's like, are we here to screw around or are we here to win a championship? Right, right. And everybody all of a sudden was like, oh, maybe there's something to that.

17:16But we've now, you guys have now done it with just camaraderie and love. And like, there's never been like that kind of edge. And you've managed to make it happen. Yeah. You know, I think I felt that too. Like, I felt like, yeah, like we were the professional team. And all these other teams were just like going to do anything they could to beat us. And we were just very professional. And we'd go about our business the right way and kind of do all that. But I think I underestimated it. I think it's been proven like how much of how much we all wanted to win just in general. Like, I think that supersedes pretty much everything because a lot of times in different clubhouses, there's different motivations.

17:57Right. And they're not bad. Like, they're not bad. Like, hey, I'm here because I want to provide for my family or, hey, I'm here because I have a goal to stay in the big leagues. Or, hey, I'm here because I want to be an all star or an MVP or Cy Young or whatever it is. Those are all not bad things in and of itself. But when it supersedes wanting to win over that, that's where you have a problem. And it's amazing how much like, how much Shohei wants to win every single day and how much, I think that's one of Freddie's best qualities is Freddie comes every day. Hey, we just need to win the game.

18:30You know, like winning today and everything else will take care of itself. And so when it's like a uniform goal of like, hey, whatever anybody has to do to win this game today, that supersedes all like, oh, we got to have edge, or oh, we got to, you know, all that stuff. Like, that is, I think that's what made that clubhouse tick. And you got to give Doc a lot of credit with that. Like, Doc instilled that in us. Like, it doesn't matter what we did yesterday. We just need to win the game today. Because, I mean, you remember September, we were playing so bad. We were playing so bad. I have the text to Andrew Friedman to prove that.

19:08I think the worst thing he ever did was give me his cell phone number. Yeah. Oh, man. But yeah, I mean, it's true. And then Doc had a meeting in Baltimore with us after, you know, Yama's no-hitter that we lost, ended up losing. And just like, guys, we're still in first place. It does not matter how bad we've played. We just have to play tomorrow and win tomorrow. And like, that's relaxing. That's like, okay, he's right. Like, we can control tomorrow. And so we started doing that, started playing better. and, you know, sure enough, we ended up winning the whole thing. Do you find, well, it's clearly true that the regular season doesn't mean what it used to be because of the playoff format, obviously.

19:51So it affects load management, it affects everything. I mean, and no one's done it better than you, right? Where they're like, and Shohei, where they like rolled him out so slow. Like, you know what? We don't need Shohei pitching in August. Yeah, yeah. You know what? We don't need him pitching. is like, keep our guys healthy for when we need it and get out and do it. The game is, how does it change? As you head off into the sunset, what are the biggest changes in the game that you go, wow, this is different than when I came up for you? Yeah, like, I don't know how I feel about the postseason because it's basically, if you're a 500 throughout the regular season, you have a chance.

20:30You know, you have a chance. And I understand that postseason is where MLB makes the most money. And so the more teams that are in is better. But it really does devalue the regular season, you know? And you talk about load management and all those things. Like, the Dodgers can take advantage of that because we have so much depth, you know? Like, we basically had Glass and Snell, like, ready for October, right? And that's where, like, I got to be... I was healthy during those times. and Emmitt Sheehan. And we had all these guys come in and help pitch. And not a lot of guys have that backup. You know, not a lot of teams have that.

21:10So definitely an advantage for us. I don't know if it's the best thing to devalue the regular season. But I do understand that the playoffs are more exciting and all that. So I think right now it's probably the best situation for MLB. As far as, like, changes, I mean, you've seen it. Like the starting pitching, relieving, all that stuff has just changed so much. And everybody's just so good. It's just. How about we've seen people do complete games, though, for the first time in years and years. I think it's going back. Don't you feel? Do you? I do. I hope so. I do, too. I hope so, too. As a fan of the game, like, like I love watching baseball.

21:50Like, I've always loved baseball. I love the game. It's just so I just love it. So, you know, when you see the full slate of games, the first thing you do is, well, who's the starting pitchers? You know, and if you see like, you know, if you see Scoobl versus Crochet or Scoobl versus Keens or Skeens versus, you know, Christopher Sanchez, like, oh, I want to watch that. You know, I want to see that matchup. And it's no disrespect to Bullpen Orange because they're unbelievable. And that's why we're using them more is because they're so good. But at the end of the day, like having those starting pitcher matchups is what's so fun, you know?

22:29It also affects, like as a guy is going to Cooperstown in the first ballot, it affects people's numbers. Yeah. Like, you know, complete games, innings thrown, all that stuff. It almost asterisks what people do because they don't get the opportunities to pitch as deep into games as they used to be. I mean, your stats are insane. And then you look at people from the earlier era of, you know, how many complete games they threw. It's like, what? Sandy Koufax is, it's insane. I don't know if we'll ever get back to that. But, you know, hopefully having starters, you know, 110, 120 pitches, you know, seven, eight innings, going every fifth day.

23:13Like, hopefully we get back to that. And then you'll have, you know, more guys throwing 200 plus innings. and maybe you'll see the, you know, the more wins, which I know wins don't matter, but like it still feels good to see a win by your name, you know, and maybe you get another guy with 3 ,000 strikeouts if we kind of go back to that, you know, so I hope so. As a fan, I love that stuff and I hope it goes back to that. Okay, so who's hit the farthest shots that you've seen? Shohei, I'd been saying, Shohei's going to hit one out of Dodger Stadium. I didn't think it would be within a week of me saying, Isn't that amazing?

23:50Oh my gosh. So I don't know, you've obviously seen, you're there so you can't really see it. It did not hit the roof of the pavilion. It didn't hit it. It went over, didn't it? It went over. No, it went over. I've never seen a lefty do that. Never seen a lefty do that over the pavilion. I mean, I can remember Piazza. Yeah, going to right. Giancarlo Stanton, which bounced. but that's and people always talk about the Willie Stargell home run they talk about that like it's like it's this legendary hit it the 76 sign it's like nobody can really ever tell you where the hell he really did it but I think that Shohei thing was it's just how about the noise of the ball coming off his bat yeah it's different I mean we call him a unicorn for a reason you know it's just it's amazing It really is.

24:45He does everything so well. He's so big. He's so strong. He's so powerful. He's so fast. He's just an amazing athlete. He really is. And you don't, I hope there's somebody else that can do that pitching and hitting. But, you know, in today's day and age, like if you're, if you're not elite at both, you're not going to have a chance to do it. So I don't know. I don't know if we're ever going to see that again. I think Shohei might be the last to do both like this. well because the way that the leagues are set up you know travel leagues and all that stuff yeah and now that there's no pitchers are are being raised in a world where they know they don't have to hit i know don't get me started on youth baseball oh my gosh don't get me started okay okay okay clayton kershaw i'm making i'm making you the commissioner of youth baseball what are your what are your first three acts as the new commissioner of youth baseball wow Okay.

25:41I don't think kid pitch should start until you're 10. This coming from a dad that has an eight-year-old that is pitching right now. Is it developmental, mental, injury? What's the thinking behind it? Developmental for sure. I think it gives kids time to figure it out. I think it's also on the hitting side. The number one problem is kids being scared of the ball, being timid you know, when you're that age. And so if you get a machine, a machine pitch type thing that throws the ball harder, so they get used to hitting faster velocity, but they know it's coming down the middle, they kind of develop a sense of confidence.

26:21You know, like, okay, I can take a swing. I can time this up. So developmentally, it gets better. And then from a parent perspective, you're not watching, you know, six walks a game, you know, 16 strikeouts. And then like when somebody puts a ball in play, it's like a standing ovation. You know, it's like, it's like faster pace, you know, and it's like, that's good. Get kids attention span going. And so that would be, that would be the biggest one for me. Well, kind of, you know, I got kicked out. I'm the, I'm the only parent in the history of my son's high school to get kicked out of a game. What'd you do?

27:00I, well, they had, apparently, I found out later, there had been a league-wide CIF rule that the coaches weren't supposed to get thrown out of games. Or that they were supposed to. And I come from, like, it was such bad home umpiring. Oh, okay, yeah. egregious home umpiring that like our coach who's great who I loved should have gotten in that umpire's face and gotten himself thrown out of the game yeah he should have that's what it's that's the job so I was like well if he's not gonna do it I'm gonna do it got him and so I literally from the stands was doing what you know you know whatever pick your uh Earl Weaver yes would have been doing with an amp and he tossed me and I had to go to the parking lot and be on a cell phone to the other dads.

27:58Oh, man. It's kind of legendary. I kind of like it. Yeah, that's amazing. I can see though, now having watched Charlie, my son pitch a few times now, I can see how I want to buy my tongue, but sometimes it just comes out, right? Like, just strike. Or just like, you want to say something like I can see it's a different feeling like you're nervous when you're pitching but when your kid's doing like that's a different it's a different feeling different isn't it yeah yeah it really how do you how do you feel give me the scouting report on Charlie um great he's doing well he really is he loves the game um right now just fastball he he thinks he has a curveball um but I I'm not sure if he actually knows what he's doing but he he says he's he like shakes his glove to let the catcher know he's throwing a curveball.