I reminded the young Los Angeles Dodgers lefty of this after approaching his table during the media day sessions. Back in 2007, he started the Midwest League All-Star game as a member of the Single-A Great Lakes Loons. The game was held at Elfstrom Stadium in Geneva, Ill., home of the Kane County Cougars. I had covered it for a suburban newspaper.
Kershaw was the biggest star in the park that night ? everyone had him tabbed as the surest thing ? so I asked him what he remembered about the experience.
"I gave up a homer," he said, laughing.
That part was true. In the second inning, Kershaw allowed a homer to Matt Sweeney of the Cedar Rapids Kernels, an event that apparently has stuck with him. But Kershaw was also credited with the win that night, earning one of his first big headlines in a parade of positive coverage that has yet to stop. By the next year, Kershaw was called up to the big league club and hasn't looked back, becoming one of baseball's brightest young stars. This year's All-Star appearance will likely be his first of many.
"It doesn't seem like too long ago that I was doing that," Kershaw said of the Single-A All-Star game. "Now I'm here. It's weird. It's weird to look around and see all of these other guys. It's a cool experience."
So what are the differences between making a minor league all-star game and a major league edition?
"It's obviously a lot bigger scale ... a lot more people are involved," Kershaw said with a smile. "Probably just a few more fans."
Because I find it cool that I saw a 19-year-old Kershaw pitch at the beginning of his career, I went back in my files and tried to find what I wrote about him in a general game column that night. Kershaw was a lot less experienced with the media then, but he did give a gem of a quote that's pretty cool to read today.
"This is a fun event to participate in, but you have to remember that it doesn't promise anything in the future," Kershaw said in 2007. "All it means is that you've had a good season and it's time to shoot for another. You have to keep going."
As for Sweeney, the Angels prospect who tagged him for a homer?�He missed the entire 2008 season with an injury, was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays as part of the Scott Kazmir deal and has yet to proceed past Double-A. The contrast in the path of each player really highlights what Kershaw was saying back then.
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