Clayton Kershaw's wife Ellen fights back tears as Dodgers legend gets standing ovation on emotional final home start

LA Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw pulled the plug on his legendary career after 18 seasons. The three-time Cy Young winner announced his retirement in a press conference on Thursday.

His surprise announcement meant Friday's start against the San Francisco Giants would be his last at Dodger Stadium in the regular season.

As the perennial All-Star walked to the mound, he was greeted with a rousing ovation from fans and his Dodgers teammates. The Giants dugout, featuring veteran ace Justin Verlander, also acknowledged Kershaw on his last home start. In the stands, his wife, Ellen, wiped back tears as her husband geared up for the contest.

Kershaw and Ellen reportedly met in high school and have been together since. They got married in December 2010 and share four children: Cali, Charley, Cooper and Chance. They are expecting a fifth child this year.

“I would say we got closer when she went to college and I started playing professionally,” Kershaw had said in an interview with Risen Magazine.

Clayton Kershaw revealed when he made up his mind about retirement

While Clayton Kershaw surprised many with his announcement on Thursday, his Dodgers teammate Freddie Freeman knew about his plans in advance. Kershaw had made up his mind at the start of the season.

"Usually we wait to the offseason to kind of make a final call, but I think almost going into the season, we kind of knew that this was going to be it,” Kershaw said. “So I didn’t want to say anything in case I changed my mind.

"But over the course of the season, just how grateful I am to have been healthy, to be out on the mound and be able to pitch, I think it just made it obvious that this was a good sending-off point. And it is. I’ve had the best time this year. It’s been a blast.”

Kershaw missed the majority of the first half of the season due to toe surgery but has shown his class on the mound since the All-Star break. The three-time Cy Young winner also notched up his 3000th strikeout, joining Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander as the only other active pitchers to reach the milestone.

About the author

Chaitanya Prakash is an editor who covers US Sports at Sportskeeda. His first brush with sportswriting was in 2012 when the greatest football manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson, bid farewell to the beautiful game.

Although having started out professionally as a cricket writer in 2022, Chaitanya's curiosity and indiscriminate interest in all sports in general eventually introduced him to America's favorite pastime.

While Chaitanya's favorite player from the current crop is the dynamic Venezuelan Ronald Acuna Jr., his all-time favorite, however, is Pedro Martinez, for his self-belief and consistency. He also rates Jose Bautista's iconic bat flip in 2015 as his favorite moment in baseball history.

Chaitanya specializes in reporting on technical aspects of the game or analyzing patterns behind specific plays. He also likes pondering over players' self-assessments following the conclusion of a game as it helps him get an idea of how they think about the sport in general.

When not cheering for his favorites across sports, Chaitanya likes being transported to the past through a good war documentary or a historical documentary in general.

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash