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Earning $30 million a season means you don’t have to go to the zoo when you want to pet a kangaroo.
“No, they just brought it up to me,” said Los Angeles Dodgers superstar pitcher, Clayton Kershaw, of his first full day in Sydney.
It was his birthday, but welcome to the life of the highest-paid pitcher in Major League Baseball.
In January, Kershaw signed a seven-year contract extension worth $238 million.
At 26 years of age, Kershaw has already pocketed every award and an All Star nomination a left-handed pitcher from Dallas could ever dream of.
But the one thing is missing is a championship.
World Series rings aren’t hand delivered to your door like kangaroos.
LA have the biggest payroll in the MLB, so anything short of the top prize will be a disappointment for Dodgers supporters.
And Kershaw is the man on the mound who holds the key.
As a high school student at Highland Park High School, he pitched an all-strike-out perfect game which resulted in the mercy rule being enforced for the opposition.
Kershaw isn’t fazed about being hated for his bank balance and his talents – even though tall poppy syndrome is as big in the big leagues as it is in Australia.
“I can’t answer that. Putting myself in other people’s shoes. If I’m pitching against someone who is one of the best in the game, nothing really changes,” he said.
“Everyone’s got their own style, that’s kind of the cool thing about pitching. But the mindset more than anything is the most important thing.”
Speculation out of LA was that Kershaw wasn’t going to travel down under because they wanted to preserve their No.1 commodity.
Even though he did make the trip and is slated to start on Saturday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks, it’s still a touchy subject.
“No comment,” he offers when asked if he almost didn’t come.
So far Kershaw is yet to be noticed walking down the street in Sydney.
It’s the first steps towards realising his dream of being mobbed as a World Series champion at an LA victory parade come October.
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