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He is not an old man. But Kershaw achieved so much, so soon, that his resume separates him from his peers. His accomplishments age him. He debuted when Buehler was in middle school. He won his first Cy Young award when Urias was 15 and his second when Bellinger was a senior in high school and his third when May was a sophomore. The year Kershaw struck out 301 batters, Brusdar Graterol turned 17. They were boys when he was a man, whose triumphs allowed him to grace the aport’s apex and whose failures felt like its nadir.

The Brooklyn Dodgers at Tropical Stadium in Havana, Cuba during spring training, 1942. This is their infield: (left to right) Dolph Camilli (1st base), Billy Herman (2nd base), Pee Wee Reese (shortstop), and Arky Vaughan (3rd base).