Clayton Kershaw is renowned for how he pushes his body to prepare, and yet between that and being a workhorse, he somehow had never needed surgery in his first 15 major league seasons.
Now, he has had procedures three times in the past two seasons — shoulder, knee and toe. He won’t only tell you the toe was the most diabolical. He will show you, opening a video of the post-operative foot stitched, discolored, engorged and so generally grotesque it looks more like a slasher film prop than part of one of the best pitchers ever.
Kershaw turned 37 in March. He has not one but two of those World Series rings that he put himself through a physical and mental odyssey to land. He is a Hall of Fame cinch. In other words, why is he back pushing his body anew to try to get back on the mound yet again?
He mentions his family is good with it. That being two years removed from the shoulder surgery, his arm feels so much better and “I really didn’t have the feeling like I wanted to stop.” Then Kershaw stared through the breadth of the star-laden Dodgers spring training clubhouse in Glendale, Ariz., to the locker areas of Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, but he used that invaluable left hand to sweep the room; every finger seemingly touching a star in the galaxy that forms a record $400 million-ish payroll:
