Leaving as an L.A. legend

Texas left-hander's career as a Dodger forever endears him to the city

- BILL PLASCHKE COLUMNIST

CLAYTON KERSHAW lets out a yell after striking out the Mets' Tommy Pham in a 2023 game. He has been with the Dodgers for 18 seasons.

He came to town as a quiet Texas kid charged with carrying Hollywood's team.

For 18 years, in greatness and in grief, through sweet dreams and bitter despair, he did exactly that.

He was splendid. He was awful. He set records. He ruined seasons. He was passionately embraced. He was loudly booed.

For 18 years, Clayton Kershaw pitched through the gamut of emotions as both a hero and a villain, moments of euphoria addled with spells of despair, picturesque summers disappearing into the wicked wilds of October.

But carry the Dodgers he did, with courage and dignity and grace, and in the end, he will be surrounded only by love, a deep and abiding roar of affection from a city to a simple man who willed himself into legend.

Clayton Kershaw announced Thursday he is retiring at the end of this season.

The greatest Los Angeles Dodger ever is leaving the building.

He is more enduring than Sandy Koufax, more accomplished than Fernando Valenzuela, more impactful than any hitter in the team's 67-year history in Los Angeles.

He is not only the greatest Dodger, but also resides at the top of a list of the greatest athletes in Los Angeles history, joining Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant as Hall of Famers who spent their entire careers with one Los Angeles team and left behind a legacy that indelibly altered their franchise's culture.