L.A. Dodger Clayton Kershaw Trades Baseball for Ping Pong

Discussing the Dodgers turning point this season, he told Mario, “I think it was a lot of things, obviously getting Hanley [Ramirez] back, getting [Yasiel] Puig back… Getting guys healthy was the main thing, once we had our team out there we started playing the way we’re supposed to.”

Clayton is also combining his other two passions, ping pong and charity work, to raise money for his foundation, Kershaw’s Challenge.

On Thursday, he will host Ping Pong 4 Purpose at Dodgers Stadium. All proceeds will go to his organization to “challenge and encourage people to use whatever passion, purpose or talent that they have been given to make an impact on the lives of others in need.”

Kershaw explained, “Ping Pong's one of my favorites. I play it all the time. It's probably a close second to baseball in my favorite sports.”

Clayton also talked about how he got involved in charity work. “It started with Africa. My wife [Ellen] had been going since she was in college... We met this little girl called Hope over there and it blossomed into this orphanage. We started taking care of her over there and from there we kind of figured we might do some stuff where we lived in LA and back home in Texas where we're from.”