clayton kershaw's regular season career has come to a close. i was not surprised to hear his retirement announcement a couple of weeks ago, and i appreciate that he did it with one home start remaining so that the fans could celebrate him one last time, but i will admit that i am a bit concerned that it came too early in the year such that he may not appear in topps' 2026 flagship set. maybe the rules will be different for someone like kershaw - i think derek jeter and paul konerko were both featured in 2015 topps series 1 even though it was known well in advance that 2014 was their final season - so i am hopeful.
following his announcement, kershaw made that last home start, and then appeared in relief for just the fourth time during the regular season in a game against the diamondbacks. he took the ball for the last time in the regular season earlier today as the starting pitcher against the mariners. he went five and a third innings, allowing no runs and striking out seven (!) including the final three batters he faced.
kershaw retires with 3,052 career strikeouts in the regular season, good for 20th place on the all-time list. he has the fewest strikeouts of any member of the 3k club, but his k/9 is fourth among the 20, with only randy johnson, max scherzer, and pedro martinez ahead of him. i believe i heard that his start today was the 102nd scoreless start of his career, meaning that he was more likely to not allow a run in a start than he was to lose (he finishes with 96 career losses). his 223 wins fall short of don sutton's franchise mark by 10, but everything else points to kershaw as certainly the best dodger pitcher since sandy koufax, if not ever.
i stopped publishing the "k is for kershaw" posts once he reached 3,000 as it was meant to be a countdown, or "kountdown" if you will. this means that there are 52 strikeouts that occurred after he reached the milestone that have not been recognized by this blog. let's correct that with 52 cards from my collection not previously seen on this blog.
3,001 - 2008 topps update & highlights
i've shown this card before - over at garveyceyrusselllopes - but not on this blog. kershaw's definitive rookie card, of which i kept only one copy. i had duplicates.
3,002 - 2008 upper deck timeline (1995 sp prospects design)
3,006 - 2012 topps update walmart blue parallel
3,007 - 2013 panini father's day team pinnacle (back)
matt kemp is on the front, and i did show his side of the card previously, but not kershaw's
3,008 - 2015 bowman silver parallel
3,009 - 2016 topps factory set foilboard parallel (league leaders)
3,010 - 2018 panini donruss optic mound marvels insert
3,011 - 2018 topps black & white
3,012 - 2019 topps gallery masterpiece insert green parallel
3,013 - 2019 topps opening day red parallel
3,014 - 2020 panini absolute spectrum blue parallel
3,015 - 2020 topps stadium club chrome emperor of the zone insert gold refractor parallel
3,016 - 2021 panini contenders green parallel
3,017 - 2021 topps 15th anniversary 1986 all-star insert green parallel
3,018 - 2021 topps stadium club sc greats insert
3,019 - 2022 panini chronicles revolution astro parallel
3,020 - 2022 panini mosaic fusion red & yellow prizm parallel
3,021 - 2022 panini national convention red parallel
with text referencing his april 2022 start at target field that i was fortunate enough to witness in person
3,022 - 2022 topps 1987 35th anniversary all-star insert
3,023 - 2022 topps 582 montgomery set 4
3,024 - 2022 topps x bobby witt jr crown collection bigger in texas insert
3,025 - 2023 topps stars of mlb insert
3,026 - 2023 topps stars of mlb insert chrome parallel
3,027 - 2023 topps flagship collection
3,028 - 2023 topps big league wrapper redemption
3,029 - 2023 topps chrome xfractor parallel
3,030 - 2023 topps pristine
3,031 - 2023 topps update rainbow foil parallel
3,032 - 2024 topps 582 montgomery foil
3,033 - 2024 topps archives black foil parallel
3,034 - 2024 topps black & white
3,035 - 2024 topps chrome pink refractor parallel
3,036 - 2024 topps chrome xfractor parallel
3,037 - 2024 topps cosmic chrome star command insert
3,038 - 2024 topps holiday silver glitter parallel
3,039 - 2024 topps update mystical insert
3,040 - 2025 topps 1990 35th anniversary chrome silver pack insert
3,041 - 2025 topps diamante parallel
3,042 - 2025 topps gold parallel
3,043 - 2025 topps holiday foil parallel
3,044 - 2025 topps holo foil parallel
3,045 - 2025 topps pink holo foil parallel
3,046 - 2025 topps rainbow foil parallel
3,047 - 2025 topps spring training parallel
3,048 - 2025 topps tinsel parallel
3,049 - 2025 topps fanatics topps logo foil parallel
3,050 - 2025 topps all-star game
3,051 - 2025 topps heritage through the years insert foil parallel
3,052 - 2025 topps now (3,000th strikeout)
here's the back of that card
i have one of these in my dodger stadium collection, too. i've also purchased the topps now card that was released after his last home start, and i am sure i will pick up the one for his last career start, too.
here's the back of his 2025 topps flagship (the gold parallel shown above)
there is definitely room for one more year of stats on the back, and i am looking forward to seeing it next year.
what a joy it has been to follow the dodgers during the kershaw era. i still remember watching the highlights from a spring training game in 2008 during which kershaw buckled the knees of sean casey with his curveball and elicited a chuckle from vin scully. it was just a hint of things to come, and what came were three cy youngs, an mvp, a pitching triple crown, and a world series title (at least two during his tenure, but just one that he was able to participate in). sure, there were a couple of crappy games in the postseason, but i will take the full breadth of his career regardless.
speaking of the postseason, it starts tuesday and i am hopeful that the dodgers perform well enough that kershaw gets to appear in some additional games. my understanding is that he won't be on the wild card round roster, so that means that they need to beat the reds for him to pitch again. regardless, i am now left with a couple of things to consider - who will become my favorite dodger, and what card should i use to represent kershaw and number 22 in my retired number collection. i have five years to contemplate the latter (unless the dodgers forego tradition), but i already have a good idea on the former.
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