By Bobby Ross Jr. | Religion Unplugged
LOS ANGELES — “Blue Heaven on Earth,” declares a sign behind the center field pavilion at Dodger Stadium.
That description seemed fitting as Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw and his wife, Ellen, appeared on the stage before a recent Sunday afternoon game.
A crowd clad in Dodgers blue cheered as the Kershaws reflected on their faith during a question-and-answer session with team chaplain Brandon Cash.
“I know some of you are like, ‘I hope Clayton is like that in real life,’” said Cash, a pastor-elder at Oceanside Christian Fellowship in El Segundo, California.
“Clayton is like that in real life,” the minister assured fans. “Like, this is who he is.”
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The 35-year-old superstar pitcher is in his 16th season with the Dodgers.
A 10-time All-Star, he has earned three National League Cy Young Awards as the league’s best pitcher. He was honored as the NL Most Valuable Player in 2014. He won the World Series with the Dodgers in 2020.
Clayton and Ellen, high school sweethearts who married in 2010, are natives of Dallas and the parents of four children: Cali Ann, Charley, Cooper and Chance.
The couple founded Kershaw’s Challenge after Ellen met a 9-year-old Zambian girl named Hope, who had battled the HIV epidemic her entire life. That nonprofit, which has raised more than $20 million, serves vulnerable and at-risk children in Los Angeles, Dallas, Zambia and the Dominican Republic.
This story appears in the online magazine Religion Unplugged.
Photo by Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers
Faith. Family. Fastballs. 